Old Li wants to retire by year-end. We still don't have someone to take his QC seat.

Bringing this up because Old Li (Li Shifu, our senior QC) came up to me last Wednesday and said he wants to wind things down by December. He's 62 next month and his back has been bad for two years. Honestly I've been seeing it coming.

The thing is, Old Li is the only person in this workshop who can look at a tray of finished sticks and tell you without measuring whether the moisture is right. He learned it from his father, who was in a different wood factory in the 1980s. We've sent two younger guys to follow him around for the last 18 months, and I keep telling myself they're getting there. But truth is neither of them is at his level. One — Xiao Zhang — is patient and careful, the other — Xiao Wei — is faster but not as careful. Either of them alone, we'd have problems.

What worries me more is the audit. The big German buyer requires an annual QC walk-through, last one was October 2025. They specifically asked who's signing off the moisture and dimension reports. If I tell them Old Li is leaving they'll want a name. They don't accept "we're training someone". So between now and October I either need one of the young guys to be solid enough to put down on paper, or I find someone external.

External is hard. People with real wood-QC experience in our region tend to already be at the bigger factories. I've asked around twice this year, no good leads. Salary would have to go up at least 25% from what we pay now, and even then its not guaranteed.

David thinks I should formally split Old Li's job — Xiao Zhang takes moisture and material grading, Xiao Wei takes dimensional and packaging QC. Two people, neither paid as much as Old Li. On paper that works. In practice when something weird shows up on a tray — and weird things happen, knots in places you don't expect, color drift after a humid week — you want one person who's seen everything and trusts their hands.

We'll figure something out. Probably we keep Old Li on a half-time basis through Q1 2026 to overlap with whoever takes over. He hasn't said yes to that yet but I think he'll agree.

Anyway, this is the one thats been on my mind.