The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 99 The Tsinghua University Professor's Shock [Please Subscribe]

"Foreign exchange earnings of US$17.1 million and RMB41 million!?"

Zhou Zhiqiang clicked his tongue in surprise upon hearing the news; it was beyond his expectations.

He recalled that small tractors were well-suited for family-style farming, Southeast Asia, and some countries with small and scattered farmland.

But he never expected to sell 9,500 units at the Canton Fair. He originally thought that selling 2,000 or 3,000 units and earning more than 10 million yuan would be the most glorious achievement of Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

"It's not going to be easy. With our factory's current production efficiency, how could we possibly make it in time?"

Zhou Zhiqiang stroked his chin and said that he was the head of the technical department and had the responsibility of guiding and supervising the production processes of each workshop.

Naturally, one would also learn about the production efficiency of all workshops and take a look at the data along the way.

It was precisely because he understood this that he felt it was unlikely to be done, equivalent to asking a normal person to eat more than ten kilograms of grain in one go.

Even if I'm starving, I can't eat.

"Section Chief Zhou, think of a solution."

Secretary Yan encouraged him with hopeful eyes, "You are the one in our factory who knows the technology and processes best. Do you think there are any other ways to improve production efficiency?"

We considered working overtime, but that's not a long-term solution. Working overtime for a month or two is fine, but working overtime continuously for a whole year...

Their factory was truly the first one since the founding of the People's Republic of China; only the unscrupulous capitalists of the past would make their workers work overtime for a whole year.

"Production process. Even the best production process requires people to work with it. Our factory currently has less than a thousand skilled workers. The rest are apprentices. Even if I provide the production process, it won't be of any use."

Zhou Zhiqiang thought for a moment and then shook his head. Training every day is already the limit, why would we expand training?

He himself is in good health and can persevere, but the rest of the technical department will probably all fall ill and be hospitalized.

Zhou Zhiqiang looked up and asked, "Factory Director, Party Secretary, why haven't we hired anyone for our technical department? Our factory has achieved such great success and glory, it's a bit unreasonable that the higher-ups haven't assigned us any technical personnel."

"I wish I could split these fifteen people in the technical department in half. Tonight, I'll be covering the shifts of two other people, so I'll be working the shifts of three people in total."

Upon hearing Zhou Zhiqiang's words, Secretary Yan, Factory Director Zhao, and Deputy Factory Director Liu all felt embarrassed and were too ashamed to look at Zhou Zhiqiang any longer.

An Xiangjie chuckled, but his expression quickly returned to normal; his task was complete, and now he just needed to do his own job well.

The factory's logistics department gave him half of its power, and the power he had previously lost was back in his hands, which made An Xiangjie somewhat excited.

Moreover, before the public-private partnership, the factory where they settled was just a small factory with four or five hundred employees.

It has now become a large factory with more than 2,000 employees in the main factory and nearly 2,000 employees in the branch factories, and he is the deputy director of this large factory.

It's hard to say who has more or less power now compared to before.

Seeing that the others remained silent, Secretary Yan had no choice but to speak up and comfort them, saying, "Section Chief Zhou, I will go to the Municipal Bureau of Industry tomorrow to ask Deputy Director Xu for more people to address the staff shortage in the Technical Section."

But export orders are the most important thing; you have to figure out a way to get them.

"Secretary, even if you say that..."

Zhou Zhiqiang frowned and thought for a while before saying, "How about we give up another part of the production tasks?"

From now on, our factory will only be responsible for producing small diesel engines and final assembly. Everything else will be coordinated by the Municipal Industry Bureau, with other factories handling the production.

"Although they don't have dedicated machine tools, the most difficult parts to produce are in our factory. Other parts can be processed slowly by our workers, but they require lathe and fitting skills."

After setting aside other production tasks, skilled workers will only produce small diesel engines, while apprentices will only learn parts assembly. Production efficiency should increase by 40-50%.

This means transferring the production tasks that should have belonged to them to other machine processing plants, freeing them up to focus on their work.

They can ensure the completion of core engine production and maintain assembly speed, leaving the remaining pressure to other factories.
This is a bit unethical, like shirking responsibility and pressure; but it's also a last resort. If they were to complete the task themselves, they definitely wouldn't be able to deliver those 9,500 small tractors by the end of next year.

Moreover, outsourcing some production tasks is equivalent to giving some of the production benefits to other factories.

However, there's nothing that can be done about it; even if they give it all to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory, they can't swallow it all at once.

The office fell silent as Secretary Yan and Factory Director Zhao pondered the feasibility of the matter.

However, after thinking about it for a while, the two of them felt that it was very feasible.

Lightening the load and going all out is indeed a way to improve production efficiency; now all they need is for the Municipal Bureau of Industry to find them a suitable machine processing plant.

Even if it can't be found in Beijing, it can be reported to the Ministry of Machine Building so that it can be searched in other provinces.

Factory Director Zhao spoke up, "I think Section Chief Zhou's method is acceptable. What do you think, Secretary?"

"As for production matters, you, as the factory director, can handle them as you see fit. As long as it doesn't violate any principles, I think it's fine."

After pausing for a moment, Secretary Yan continued, "I think we can give Section Chief Zhou's method a try."

"That's settled then. When we go to the Industry Bureau tomorrow, we'll mention this to the leaders. Director Qiao shouldn't refuse, but there might not be a suitable factory in Beijing."

After thinking for a moment, Director Zhao said that he was quite familiar with the machine processing plants near Beijing and there shouldn't be any suitable machine parts processing plants around.

Ultimately, this matter will fall to the Ministry of Machine Building, which will have to coordinate with mechanical parts processing plants in other provinces.

"Section Chief Zhou, you know the production process best. Tomorrow I'll call all the workshop directors to adjust the production tasks. Please give me a report."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately felt that his precious afternoon rest time was gone.

However, given the importance of foreign exchange earnings, Zhou Zhiqiang had no choice but to say, "Okay, factory manager, I'll definitely get it to you before I leave work."

Factory Director Zhao nodded and then asked, "Section Chief Zhou, you haven't filed it yet, have you? Deputy Factory Director Liu, please take care of this."

Upon hearing this, Liu Fuhua immediately smiled and said, "Alright, I'll be the introducer."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang realized that he hadn't joined yet, which was a good thing; only after being officially registered could one be considered a member of the organization.

There will be many intangible conveniences in the future, and of course, if something happens, the staff will be the first to rush to the front line.

After discussing production issues for a while, the top leaders finally finished their discussion.

As soon as Zhou Zhiqiang left Secretary Yan's office, he was grabbed by Liu Fuhua and pulled into Liu's office before he could take two steps.

After Zhou Zhiqiang filled out a form there, he was chased away by Liu Fuhua. All he had to do was wait for further instructions.

------

Government compound.

After preparing breakfast, a woman knocked twice on her daughter's door: "Lili, breakfast is ready, get up quickly."

"Mom, you guys eat first, I'll wait a bit."

"There's no such thing as waiting to eat."

Hearing that her daughter was already up, the woman pushed open the door and went in. Seeing her daughter sitting at her desk so early in the morning, she asked in surprise, "Lili, what are you doing? Why are you looking at these things so early in the morning?"

"Mom, I'm studying our section chief's insights on improving machine tools. You guys eat first, just leave me a bite." Chen Li said without looking up, while simultaneously noting down her doubts and questions as she read.

She stayed up until after 2 a.m. last night before finally falling asleep, but she only slept for a few hours before getting up again at 6 a.m. to continue watching.

She could barely understand some of the design concepts, such as multi-point support to reduce machine tool vibration, and increasing precision to reduce errors.

However, Chen Li found it more difficult to understand other design improvement concepts that were quite different from those in mechanical engineering.

It didn't involve her major, and she had to flip through the book while reading it. There were many things that bothered her, and she couldn't find the answers in the book.

The woman said anxiously, "You're really obsessed, girl. You only come back for one day a week, and you're still reading that tattered notebook."

"Mom, this isn't a tattered notebook. The contents here can help the development of our country's heavy industry. Do you know what our factory has achieved so far?"

Chen Li argued forcefully, "Our factory has already achieved the best foreign exchange earnings in the country. You'll see how amazing our factory is once it's in the newspaper in a couple of days."

Moreover, the reason our factory has been able to achieve such remarkable results is all thanks to our section chief; this notebook is another testament to his hard work.

The woman waved her hand and said, "Don't talk to me about that. I just want to ask if you're going to eat."

"Eat! But don't bother me while I'm studying after you're done eating."

After Chen Li finished speaking, she carefully placed the notebook in the drawer, then got up and walked towards the living room.

She sat down at the table and began to eat. After finishing, she planned to continue studying. Unfortunately, some things were too difficult to learn, making Chen Li want to go back to her old teacher.

At the dining table, a middle-aged man who had already sat down asked, "Lili, why did you get into a fight with your mother as soon as you came back?"

The woman who walked over immediately said, "You heartless daughter, who am I cooking for so early?"

Chen Li couldn't help but interrupt, saying, "Mom, I didn't say anything about you, but there are important things happening at the factory, so don't worry about them."

"If you don't believe me, ask my dad. Seventeen million US dollars in foreign exchange—isn't that a big deal for our factory? Even the ministries are taking it seriously!"

The last Canton Fair, which was the first one, only sold a little over ten million US dollars. This time, one of their factories sold that much.

The older generation probably already knows how honorable this is; it's just that her mother, who usually stays at home, doesn't realize the importance of this matter.

"It is indeed very important. I am not from your Ministry of Industry, but your factory's security work will definitely be a top priority."

The middle-aged man said, "This news can't be kept secret. Although it's encouraging once it spreads, we should be even more wary of saboteurs targeting your factory."

After all, this is a factory that generates over 17 million US dollars in foreign exchange. If it were severely damaged, it would be a significant blow to our country's export trade and economic recovery.

Chen Li said while eating with her head down, "With superiors around, it's not my place as a deputy section chief to worry about going to see the teacher after I finish eating."

Upon hearing this, the woman quickly said, "Aren't you going to stay with your mother? I've introduced you to a potential partner today, the son of your Uncle Liu."

You need to go and talk to them at noon; you're already twenty-two.

"I'm stuffed."

Chen Li couldn't stand her mother's urging her to get married, so she grabbed a steamed bun and turned to go back into the house.

"Aren't you going to say anything to this child?"

Hearing the woman scold him again, the middle-aged man kept his head down and ate his breakfast in silence.

After finishing her steamed bun in her room, Chen Li quickly took her notebook and left the house, ignoring her mother's calls.

After going downstairs, I got on my bicycle and headed towards the teacher's residence.

The Tsinghua University faculty and staff dormitory compound.

After registering at the entrance of the residential area, Chen Li pushed her cart inside, found the teacher's residence, and went directly to the door to knock.

"Who?"

When Professor Fei Yunzhi opened the door and saw Chen Li outside, he asked with delight, "Chen Li, what brings you here? Have you come to see your teacher? Please come in."

After welcoming Chen Li into the house, Fei Yunzhi asked again, "How's work lately? Are you doing alright at the Ministry of Machine Building?"

Chen Li shook her head and said, "I've gone to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory now. Teacher, how are you? Is Tsinghua University doing well?"

"Why did you go to the agricultural machinery factory? But it's all the same no matter where you are, it's just research and helping to improve technology."

After Fei Yunzhi finished speaking, he asked, "It's the same for me wherever I go. What brings you here this time? It can't just be to see your teacher, can it?"

"Teacher, you have a keen eye. I've come to ask you a question, but please take a look at this first."

After Chen Li finished speaking, she handed Zhou Zhiqiang's notebook to her teacher Fei Yunzhi, and then continued, "These are some ideas about machine tool improvement. Teacher, please take a look."

Is this surface treatment technology feasible? And what about this heat treatment process?

"Wait a minute, let me take my time looking at it."

After Fei Yunzhi finished speaking, he took out his glasses and put them on, preparing to take a closer look; however, he remembered something and casually said to Chen Li, "The hot water is in the kettle, pour it yourself."

After saying that, Fei Yunzhi focused on reading the contents of his notebook.

At first, Fei Yunzhi didn't pay much attention, but as he looked at the notebook, he found that the contents analyzed some of the problems of the existing machine tools very thoroughly.

Moreover, the proposed processing principle and corresponding technology made him think deeply that it was feasible, at least from the perspective of principle analysis, and he was willing to give it a try.

Looking at it this way, it's been about two and a half hours.

Fei Yunzhi kept watching until his eyes started to ache before he stopped and rubbed them to rest.

At this moment, Chen Li handed over a glass of water and asked, "Teacher, why don't you take a break?"

"Okay, okay, after looking at this for so long, my eyes are definitely a little sore."

After taking a sip of water, Fei Yunzhi turned to ask, "Chen Li, whose notebook is this? I'd like to talk to the owner of the notebook."

Chen Li asked, "This is the notebook of the head of our factory's technical department. He has modified some machine tools before. This is another machine tool modification idea, but unfortunately I didn't quite understand it."

Teacher, is the modification process described here feasible?

"There are a few things I'm not entirely sure about, but based on what I know, improvements to dynamic structures are feasible."

The aforementioned technology and processes can indeed increase the precision of machine tools and reduce errors.

Fei Yunzhi paused for a moment, then continued, "I want to talk to him now. Chen Li, could you help me make an appointment with your section chief?"

"Your factory is truly full of hidden talents. The head of the technical department has such a profound theoretical and practical foundation. What level of engineer is he?"

　I'm begging for your monthly votes at midnight!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)