The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 290 Maintaining growth is already quite good.
After Zhou Zhiqiang hung up the phone, Zhang Yaoguo, who was helping to tidy up the office, asked with his hands free, "Factory Director, our factory has achieved another good result?"

"Yes, and the results are even better than last year's. They should be about the same as last year's, excluding composite CNC machine tools."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang said that if we only count CNC machine tools, there are still 100 fewer than last year, which means that they have taken composite CNC machine tools this year.

Then France bought 600 units in one go, and other countries contributed 100 units.

Otherwise, this year's results might not be as good as last year's.

In an effort to curb China's industrial growth, America has taken a series of measures, and it can only be said that the initial results of these measures are promising. The sales of CNC machine tools, which should have been growing rapidly, seem to have come to an abrupt halt.

However, if Amazon doesn't lower the prices of its domestic CNC machine tools, Huaxia CNC, which is half the price, simply cannot compete with Amazon.

After the price and performance of Huaxia CNC machine tools became known, even many factories owned by Amerindian businessmen wanted to buy machine tools from Huaxia.

These capitalists don't consider patriotism; they only care about whether they can make money and how much money they can make.

Zhang Yaoguo said with a smile, "Then this year is another happy year for our factory. Next year's output value will increase even more. Factory director, this is all thanks to you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang laughed and said, "It's all thanks to the whole factory, Yaoguo, you deserve some credit too."

These 4,700 CNC machine tools need to be shared with other factories.

Their factory invested in the previous few years, and the following year is a time to digest the results. The State Planning Commission has not made any particularly large investments in their factory.

Although more than 200 new job openings have been approved for next year, this will not bring about a significant change in overall productivity.

The composite CNC machine tools will definitely be produced by their factory. Next year, the production plan will need to be adjusted. For ordinary G1 CNC machine tools, it is estimated that their factory can only take on the task of 2,500 units.

So, the total output value is slightly higher than last year, but the growth rate has slowed down, without the tens of percent or even doubled increase of the previous two years.

However, that kind of improvement was originally a result of rapid development in the early stages, and could be considered a false impression of prosperity.

Moreover, this year Zhou Zhiqiang also suggested to the ministries that more composite machine tools should be allocated to important domestic factories to replace old machine tools and complete production replacement. Otherwise, composite CNC machine tools might be sold even more.

Furthermore, Amer International is also curbing their Canton Fair this year, otherwise the scale of the event would definitely be much larger.

Under these circumstances, it is a miracle that Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory still maintained a large number of export orders.

Moreover, they once again won the title of the nation's number one heavy factory, which can be considered as living up to the inscription given by the old man.

"Yaoguo, by the way, isn't Deputy Factory Director Liu here at the factory today?"

Just as Zhou Zhiqiang was about to mention that there was a meeting of the factory's Party Committee today, he remembered that he seemed to have seen Liu Wenzhou go out in the morning, so he asked about it.

Zhang Yaoguo nodded and said, "Yes, Deputy Factory Director Liu went to a meeting at the Changping branch. Factory Director, should we call Deputy Factory Director Liu back?"

"There's no need to rush. Let's do it tomorrow. Notify everyone that we'll hold an expanded Party Committee meeting tomorrow, and that all department heads should be present. The meeting will start at 10 a.m.

Zhou Zhiqiang figured that since the person wasn't there, there was no need to rush into a meeting.

Right now, I'm just sharing this news with my colleagues at the factory. We'll need to discuss with the ministry how much work their factory will be allocated.

Zhang Yaoguo nodded and said, "Okay, factory director, I understand."

Zhou Zhiqiang still had some things to say to Liu Jingchuan, so he went back to his office on the fourth floor.

It has been almost three months since Zhou Zhiqiang decided to build cars. The engine development is one-third complete, and the transmission system has a clear design direction and ideas.

The main R&D and design personnel is Zhou Zhiqiang alone, so it seems a bit slow. This is even though more than 70% of the parts are purchased from car factories.

If we let the factory do everything themselves, we probably won't see any cars for two or three years.

Now that the Second Machinery Plant has finished producing the car bodies and chassis, and they've bought all the parts back from Jilin Province, it's fair to say that their car manufacturing business is 70% complete, even though they're using readily available domestic parts.

After tidying up his office, Zhang Yaoguo left Zhou Zhiqiang's office and went to the factory office to discuss the matter of holding an expanded meeting of the factory's Party Committee at 10:00 AM the next day.

As soon as the workday ended, the factory workers went home one after another, and the workers who were to take over the night shift came to the factory to start work.

Normally, the workday ends at 6 PM, but the factory has a tight production schedule.

After implementing a two-shift production system, the workday ended at 8 PM.

Zhou Zhiqiang initially called on dozens of worker representatives, along with representatives from the labor union and women's federation, to hold a meeting and explain to the workers the reasons for the heavy production workload in the factory, and that this two-shift system might continue for a long time.
Anything that directly affects the workers should be discussed with them. Zhou Zhiqiang also spoke with the worker representatives about the last long overtime period.

As for the workers' representatives' opinions, they naturally agreed to Zhou Zhiqiang's words without hesitation.

Director Zhou was the best factory manager they had ever met. The factory provided regular benefits, the food was quite good, and there was an employee reward conference at the end of the year, where they would find all sorts of ways to give them honors and prizes.

Moreover, they have been allocated welfare housing for two consecutive years, and will continue to do so every year thereafter.

Furthermore, the factory built a bus route exclusively for its workers and their families, and also planned to build primary and secondary schools so that their children could have access to education.
'The factory treats them like their own home, so what's wrong with them contributing a little to that home?'

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking at the meeting, all the worker representatives who attended the meeting rushed to agree, saying that they would listen to Director Zhou and do whatever he said!
The union representatives on the sidelines remained mostly silent throughout, while Director Li and Deputy Director Bai essentially acted as witnesses.

The workers themselves rushed to agree, so what could the union say? The union is supposed to fight for the workers' interests, but now the workers don't need their help.

So that was settled, and the closing time of Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory was changed from 6:00 to 8:00.

After finishing work, Zhou Zhiqiang left the factory office building to take a car home. He rarely works overtime now unless he is particularly busy.

The car manufacturing project was not mandated by any higher authority; it was purely an unplanned research and development task that he initiated on a whim.

When leaving the factory office building.

Seeing that the car hadn't arrived yet, and just then spotting Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun, Zhou Zhiqiang stepped forward and called out, "Tiandong!"

When Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun heard someone calling them, they turned around and saw Zhou Zhiqiang walking towards them, so they stood still.

As they approached, Zhou Zhiqiang asked with a smile, "Brother Xiaojun, Tian Dong, you're off work too? Come with me, it'll be faster to get back by car."

Although the ride was a bit crowded, it only took a few minutes to get home, which was still pretty good.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tiandong immediately smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Zhiqiang."

Wu Xiaojun also said, "Zhiqiang, thank you." "Why are you being so polite about something that's on the way? Oh, right, I was so busy I forgot to ask you anything. Why don't you want the dormitory apartment provided by the factory?"

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "I remember you two were both allocated spots this time, right? But it seems you both declined?"

Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun were allocated welfare housing quotas not because of connections.

Firstly, both couples were factory workers, and the probability of dual-income couples being allocated housing is naturally higher.

Secondly, there are Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun, who are among the most hardworking and dedicated employees in the factory.

Last time, they were qualified to be model workers, but they withdrew from the selection because of gossip. They were genuinely qualified that time, and their workload was even greater than that of some veteran workers in the factory.

Moreover, their work grades are not low; they are all level five workers.

After various selection processes, both of them should have been allocated rooms this time, but it seems they gave up their spots again.

"Is this another case of gossip? They're all too idle. Who did this? I'll have the factory's union have a serious talk with them."

Upon hearing Zhou Zhiqiang's words, Zhao Tiandong quickly said, "Brother Zhiqiang, this time it's not because of gossip, but because Brother Xiaojun and I discussed it and decided to give up."

We've gotten used to living in Nanluoguxiang, and our current place isn't any smaller than that. We're planning to save up enough money to buy an even bigger house there later.

They now live in rooms of 40 to 50 square meters. If they lived in a tenement building, it would be like losing a room altogether.

Moreover, both of them do indeed plan to buy a house, and they are well aware that the house they are currently living in is rented from Zhou Zhiqiang.

Moreover, during a casual chat, Zhou Zhiqiang mentioned that the sale of houses would gradually be opened up in the future, so the couple had been trying to save money.

Moving to the factory's welfare building now would probably be very crowded, so the two of them gave up on that idea.

"Is that so? As long as no one is gossiping, that's fine. You should take the honors that are rightfully yours. Why not fight for what is rightfully yours? It's unreasonable to give up honors just because others say a few words of gossip."

Zhou Zhiqiang then continued, "If you want to buy a house, you'll probably have to wait a while. But if someone is selling their private property recently, you can buy it. The Nanluoguxiang area is a very good location."

It's surrounded by parks and so close to a hospital, making it convenient to go anywhere. You should keep an eye out for it in advance.

It was thirty years ahead of schedule, but that's okay, we'll just consider it a way to make money later.

"Okay, then Xiao Jun and I will keep an eye out for it when we have some free time, but it might be a bit of a rush to buy it."

Zhao Tiandong said that houses in Beijing are in high demand now, and more and more people are coming to the city to work.

A few years ago, some workers would rather queue up than live in the factory's multi-person dormitory; but this year, even factory dormitories are being applied for by people scrambling to apply.

After chatting for a short while, the driver drove up to Zhou Zhiqiang, who then invited Zhao Tiandong and his group to get in the car and go home.

------

The next morning.

After finishing breakfast, Zhou Zhiqiang took a car to the factory early. When he left, his son wanted to go to school with him, but Zhou Zhiqiang refused.

How can they learn this so early in school? They have bamboo sticks and calligraphy scrolls from their elders at home.

Zhou Zhiqiang immediately said that he would teach Zhou Bocai a lesson, but he didn't have time now because he had to rush to the factory to work, so he would teach him a lesson when he got back in the evening.

After arriving at the office, Zhou Zhiqiang tidied up his desk and prepared to continue his engine design research.

A while ago, Zhou Zhiqiang was still debating whether or not to use a carburetor. After making another trip to the CNC branch and Factory 190, and confirming that electronic fuel injection technology was feasible, he began to push forward the research and development in this new direction.
After a short while of being busy, the phone on Zhou Zhiqiang's desk rang.

"Hello, this is Zhou Zhiqiang."

"Zhiqiang, you really managed to stay calm this time. I thought you would call me first."

Director Ren on the other end of the phone laughed and said, "I didn't expect to wait for almost two days and still not receive your call. You're really showing the demeanor of a great general now."

However, Ren Licheng's tone showed no blame whatsoever; on the contrary, it revealed his great joy. This year's overall performance was even better than last year's, making it another year of glory for the Ministry of Machine Building.

In recent years, thanks to Jiuzhou Machine Tool Plant, the Ministry of Machine Building has been a department that has been specifically commended at the national development summary conference.

After summarizing the work, they would always say something like, "I hope everyone will learn from the First Ministry of Machine Building."

"Haha, Director Ren, I was planning to finish talking to the factory before going to the ministry to find you."

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "The factory hasn't had a meeting yet. Deputy Factory Director Liu wasn't here yesterday, so I was planning to go see you this afternoon."

"Since you've already called, let me ask in advance, Director Ren, how many machine tool factories are planning to produce CNC machine tools next year?"

"If we don't count your Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory, there are five in total!"

Director Ren paused for a moment before continuing, "Zhiqiang, you need to do a good job in guiding the technology handover next year. However, earning foreign trade orders and foreign exchange earnings will always belong to your Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory."

CNC machine tools manufactured by other machine tool companies are prioritized for supply to domestic factories.

After all, Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory is now their public brand, and they even have an English company name and logo.

Moreover, the CNC machine tools exported also come with operation and maintenance guides; not to mention, this year they not only exported CNC machine tools, but also a lot of maintenance and replacement parts.

These parts alone cost over three million yuan, all of which went into their factory's own coffers.

Zhou Zhiqiang immediately replied, "No problem, we will definitely follow the leaders' arrangements."

Their position in foreign exchange earnings is irreplaceable, unless other machine tool manufacturers can surpass Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory in R&D technology.

Director Ren on the other end of the phone said, "By the way, Zhiqiang, do you have time now? If you are, please come over this morning. I need to give you all some instructions in advance."

"Now, Director Ren?"

"What? Are you busy? If you are, the afternoon is fine too. I haven't notified the factory managers of the other machine tool factories yet."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately said, "Then let's do it this afternoon. I notified everyone yesterday that we'll be holding an expanded meeting of the factory's Party Committee this morning. The meeting will start soon."

(End of this chapter)