The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 33 Returning to the Factory to Reclaim Personnel
"Okay, I'll call the workshop foreman later and ask him to find some senior workers with less demanding tasks to help you."

Zhao Guangzheng was initially reluctant to do this kind of thing, but if he did it well, the first person to benefit would be Zhou Zhiqiang, and the second person to benefit would be the Second Steel Rolling Mill.

As the factory manager of Dafeng Machinery Factory, he didn't benefit from any of the advantages. In fact, the large number of senior workers transferred out actually affected the factory's own production tasks.

However, Zhao Guangzheng was also a cadre who had experienced the war years, and he also had the spirit of building the country in his heart.

After listening to Liu Fuhua's report last time, Zhao Guangzheng roughly knew how important this project was.

If they can develop new alloy steel, their country's heavy industry can be upgraded by half a step, shortening the process of catching up with the US and Russia.

Even the top leaders of the Ministry of Metallurgy are paying attention, which is enough to show the importance of this project. As the factory director, he has no reason not to provide assistance.

Besides, according to the senior workers in their factory, they would also get credit for it afterward.

Zhou Zhiqiang was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, and immediately smiled and said, "Factory Manager, thank you so much!"

"Alright, alright, enough with the empty words. Getting this done as soon as possible is the best way to thank me and the country."

Zhao Guangzheng waved his hand and said that after making his decision, he did not delay any longer and directly asked Zhou Zhiqiang to call Hao Zhili from the factory office in.

This is a clerk in the factory office, who is also a shared clerk for the factory director and deputy director. He does the work of a secretary but does not have the official position of a secretary.

Their factory isn't even big enough to provide a dedicated secretary for the factory director; these days, only deputy leaders of ministries are entitled to a full-time secretary.

Soon after Hao Zhili arrived at the office, Director Zhao asked him to call all the workshop directors of Workshops 1, 2, and 3.

Upon receiving the task, Hao Zhili immediately ran out to call for help.

A short while later, the three workshop directors were called over.

Once everyone had arrived, Zhao Guangzheng got straight to the point: "Now, report on the production tasks of your respective workshops."

The three workshop directors didn't understand why the factory director was asking this, especially since Deputy Factory Director Liu and Technician Zhou were also in the room.

However, they still honestly reported all the production tasks of their workshop.

They reported everything to Zhao Guangzheng, the factory director, including what they were doing, how the work was divided, and when it was expected to be completed.

"Okay, each of your three workshops should send out three senior workers. Then go to workshops three and nine and listen to Zhou Zhiqiang's arrangements. At least two of them need to be level eight workers."

Workshop Nine has the fewest people and also has new machines, but we plan to assign intermediate and senior technicians to train apprentices there after the New Year. Zhou Zhiqiang, you can use them for now.

Factory Director Zhao was quite familiar with the factory's situation and directly arranged a place for Zhou Zhiqiang.

"Do you leave anything in the workshop at night?"

"We definitely have to keep it. This isn't something that can be done in a day or two. Even if everything goes very smoothly, it will take at least a month or two."

Factory Director Zhao said, "Then I'll tell the security department to keep a close eye out during the night patrols."

"Factory manager, we need to transfer three senior technicians? What will happen to production? Losing three people, especially senior technicians, will definitely cause delays."

"Yes, factory manager, things are very tight here too."

"That's right, factory manager, what does Technician Zhou need to do? Do you think you can help?"

The three workshop foremen understood that this meant they were being asked to transfer people from their departments, and they immediately objected. Senior technicians were invaluable in every workshop; some intricate tasks depended on them, and without them, production would be delayed for a long time.

However, before the three of them could finish speaking, Director Zhao interrupted them, saying, "Alright, I made this decision after considering the production tasks. Everyone is doing this for the sake of the tasks."

"If you all manage to coordinate your schedules and make more arrangements, the production tasks can be arranged properly. As for the level eight workers, try to find someone in workshop four to reassign them. I'll call a meeting with you all later."

After finishing his arrangements, Director Zhao paused for a moment, and then, seeing that the three workshop directors still wanted to say something, he continued, "Let's do it this way. Didn't you report earlier that you had extra time?"

Zhou Zhiqiang's matter is also very important; it's being monitored by high-ranking leaders. Please try to overcome your difficulties.

Upon hearing this, the three workshop directors felt aggrieved, unable to express their grievances.

They had indeed assured the factory that they would complete the production task ahead of schedule, and they are indeed proceeding according to plan, delivering the task a little ahead of time.

But suddenly removing three senior workers from the workshop made their production schedule much tighter.

However, the factory manager spoke so decisively, leaving no room for negotiation, that the three workshop directors knew they had to comply.

In production matters, the factory director has almost absolute initiative. As long as he doesn't mess things up, he can do whatever he wants, and even the Party Secretary can't object.

And if they went to the Party Secretary to complain about such a trivial matter, would they not want to stay in the factory anymore?

The three workshop directors had barely left the office when Zhou Zhiqiang gave chase.

After offering each of them a few good cigarettes, Zhou Zhiqiang also poured out his grievances to the three workshop directors.

The cigarettes were obtained from Liu Fuhua after leaving the office. Zhou Zhiqiang's sudden return to demand a beating ultimately caused trouble for the three workshop directors and disrupted their plans.

Zhou Zhiqiang will continue to work at the factory, and he will need the workshop director's cooperation on production matters. He will not hesitate to use kind words to resolve any issues that can be resolved.

After accepting the cigarette and hearing some kind words from Zhou Zhiqiang, the three workshop directors' anger subsided.

It's all for the sake of production targets. In the past, when the dozen or so workshop directors were anxious about production targets, they would bang on the table and get impatient with each other, but afterwards, things would go back to normal.

Moreover, Zhao Guangzheng only considered how many people to draw after hearing their report on the production tasks.

At most, three workshops will have to catch up temporarily, but it won't really delay production.

The three workshop directors spoke a few words with Zhou Zhiqiang, and after learning what kind of senior workers Zhou Zhiqiang needed, they went back to transfer personnel.

Zhou Zhiqiang, carrying Director Zhao's orders, went to Workshop 9 to clear out a space for himself.

He had never been to Workshop 9 before; he usually spent more time in Workshops 1 to 7, the first five of which were the main production workshops of Dafeng Machinery Factory.

Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at it and saw that the machinery in Workshop 9 was indeed relatively new, but not brand new; at most, it was well-maintained.

Moreover, only a small part of the furnace equipment he was making required machine tools; the rest had to be hand-made.

Not long after Zhou Zhiqiang communicated with the workshop director of Workshop 9, the senior workers from the other three workshops were brought over by their respective workshop directors.

The workshop foreman sighed and said, "Technician Zhou, I'm entrusting Master Tian and the others to you. But once you've finished your task here, you need to get Master Tian and the others back as soon as possible."

Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and smiled, "Don't worry, Director Qi, I'm definitely the one who's most anxious."

(End of this chapter)