In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 386 Recent Developments at the Factory
Logically speaking, it shouldn't be like that.

Nowadays, most truck drivers and other drivers on the road have a certain understanding of cars. They may not be as professional as mechanics, but they can easily change a tire manually.

Especially those truck drivers who haul goods, they all carry their own repair equipment when driving long distances. If their truck breaks down, they are practically their own mechanics.

Summer is a warm season, unlike winter when, without the help of wilderness rescue, one person simply cannot handle a broken-down car.

So Yu Dawei was surprised by this point, unless there were more cars on the road, which would lead to more bad ones.

"Well, I think it's related to the recent installation of telephones in our factory. After the telephones were installed, people started calling every few days." Old Ji turned around and took out a stack of small cards made from cigarette boxes from the cabinet. "There aren't that many smokers in our factory."

"I took the cigarette boxes from those guys who love smoking foreign cigarettes, then destroyed them into small cards, wrote our factory's phone number on them with a ballpoint pen, and gave one to anyone who asked for it." Old Ji scratched his head. "Didn't you say back then, boss, that installing a phone isn't cheap, and it would be a huge loss if we couldn't make back the cost?"

“After you left, I was thinking that the most useful thing about this phone number at the repair shop would be for those people doing wilderness rescues. If they knew there was a repair shop like ours nearby, they would definitely run to any of the nearby grocery stores that have phones to call us.” Old Ji pointed to the small card with his index finger. “So I got this.”

"Not bad, your year-end bonus is sorted out." Yu Dawei raised the corners of his mouth and said to Lao Ji half-jokingly.

"Hehe, thank you, boss. Following you is really a win-win situation." Old Ji was very happy. Although he knew that even if he didn't make these little cards, he would still get a bonus at the end of the year, he was still very happy to see the factory thriving.

After all, there's no such thing as a fixed salary here. If you're capable, you can earn more; if you're not, you'll earn less. It's different from when we were in the Eighth Bureau. The base salary is different too.

"By the way, have you noticed there are more cars on the road, and more cars at the machinery rental market outside?" Yu Dawei asked again.

“There are definitely more jobs available. I’ve been listening to the drivers outside lately, and they say there’s a lot of work around our town. Also, I know there’s a parking spot right under the highway in our town, which is being used as a rest stop. I wonder what will happen to us once the north-south line opens.” Old Ji sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and took a couple of puffs of his cigarette.

“There might be some diversion of customers, but the market is enough for us right now.” Yu Dawei stroked his chin with his right hand. “Here’s what we’ll do: find someone to weld an advertising billboard when you have some free time these next few days, and I’ll tell you how to design it.”

Yu Dawei got up and moved the kang table that was leaning against the wall to the kang. Then he took out paper and pen from the cabinet and began to write and draw on the kang table.

"Here's an iron pillar. It doesn't need to be too high, about ten meters is enough. We'll weld two large iron sheets on top and fix them with a frame inside," Yu Dawei explained as he drew.

Keel is a building material that serves to support and fix the structure. Angle iron can also be used, but the brand Yu Dawei doesn't have any specific requirements; just use whatever is available.

"Boss, what's the point of designing this?" Old Ji asked, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, somewhat puzzled.

"But for the billboard, after it's welded, find an advertising company to make two identical pieces of banner cloth according to the size of the sign, and put the words 'Fanfan Repair Shop' and the contact number on them." Yu Dawei moved a piece of draft paper he had just sketched to Lao Ji. "After it's done, install it at the intersection of the road. If someone comes to manage it, we can put it at the main gate outside our factory if necessary."

Anyway, the ten-meter-high highway sign, whether or not there are small trees in front, can't hide the advertisement designed by Yu Dawei.

"Also, have the advertising company put our phone number on the billboard at the main entrance. That way, if someone calls later, they won't be confused about our factory's phone number," Yu Dawei instructed.

"Understood, I'll get it done in the next couple of days." Old Ji carefully took the paper and nodded.

I was in a hurry when I got back and didn't wash my hands very clean. There were already two black spots on the paper. I felt a little embarrassed, so I quickly put the scrap paper into my innermost pocket.

"You go ahead and get busy, I'll sort out the accounts." Yu Dawei got up and took out the wooden box from the cabinet.

"Okay, just call me if you need anything." Old Ji nodded. He did have a lot of work to do today, so he didn't dare to waste any time and got up to leave.

Yu Dawei had prepared very thoroughly for his trip to Kyoto, but he was still caught off guard.

I had originally planned to buy some things for my wife, kids, and parents in Kyoto, but unfortunately the prices were ridiculously high. In the end, I only brought back some local specialties from the capital, such as donkey rolls, Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), and pastries from Daoxiangcun.

After deducting the money spent in Kyoto, he currently has more than 60,000 yuan in capital left. With the income from the factory over the past half month, he should have more than 70,000 yuan.

This money is enough to cover the emergency repair equipment for the Eighth Bureau, but Yu Dawei is hesitant to build houses now. He has to wait until the car repair income arrives in the next two months, then he will have more confidence. Yu Dawei spent more than an hour checking the recent accounts one by one. There were basically no problems. The number of cars being repaired was also gradually increasing, and there was still room for market expansion.

However, if he wants to speed up the process, he'll need to come up with some new tricks.

"In that case, let's start with the old man's tractor." Yu Dawei tapped the table lightly with his pen, his left hand supporting his left cheek as he fell into deep thought.

After everyone had lunch, Yu Dawei held a small meeting with Lao Ji alone, and also called Taozi over. This could be considered a small high-level meeting of Fanfan Repair Shop.

Taozi now manages the maintenance training of apprentices, as well as the management of former team members, including those responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the Eighth Bureau's equipment.

Yu Dawei called Taozi over because he wanted to ask about the current status of the engineering vehicles in the Eighth Bureau and whether any of them needed major repairs.

"We repaired an old Jiefang truck a while ago, but it didn't meet the standards for a major overhaul. The other trucks are fine except for routine maintenance." Taozi thought of the engineering trucks in his mind. "Then there are the drivers from the Eighth Bureau. They used to be half colleagues with us, so we know how to drive and maintain them. They're fine for now, and they should last until the end of the year."

Upon hearing this, Yu Dawei breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. You guys must not have the idea of ​​turning a minor repair into a major one. Repairing a car is repairing a car. If you try to do something crooked, you'll only end up shooting yourself in the foot sooner or later."

"clear."

"clear."

Yu Dawei knew the two men's character, but he still wanted to give them a slight reminder: if something really went wrong, he, as the boss, would have to take the blame.

He actually learned about it a few days ago when he was in Kyoto and had a phone call with Lao Chang. There were several city strategic partners cooperating with the Eighth Bureau, whether it was to save costs or to make more money.

They started using common repair skills, making minor repairs seem major. Although they did it subtly, what were the inspectors doing? How could the Eighth Bureau not have a backup plan?

Once discovered, cooperation will be permanently banned.

Because of this incident, partners in two cities in Heilongjiang Province have already been eliminated.

Old Chang was also worried that Yu Dawei might mess things up, so he made a special phone call to give him a warning. After receiving the news, Yu Dawei also contacted Fanfan Repair Shop as soon as possible, telling Lao Ji to be careful about this matter.

Bringing this up again today is akin to issuing repeated orders and directives.

“Taozi, you need to focus on training these apprentices. Once some of them have matured, it will be much easier to recruit more apprentices.” Seeing Taozi nod, Yu Dawei then explained his plan. “In the coming period, if there are no problems with the excavators and road rollers I have, I will cooperate with our factory to collect the vehicles.”

"Withdraw the car?" Old Ji and Taozi, who were sitting at the kang table, were surprised at the same time.

“Yes, we mainly buy used cars or cars that have broken down.” Yu Dawei laid out a ballpoint pen horizontally in front of the two of them. “Now our factory has two main lines: one is inter-factory repair, and the other is field rescue.”

“I’m planning to explore another avenue of refurbishing used cars.” Seeing the two hesitate, Yu Dawei smiled faintly. “I know what your concerns are. The investment cost for used cars is high, and there will also be a shortage of manpower for maintenance.”

“But this isn’t like a wilderness rescue where you open a separate road. It’s something that happens while you’re repairing the car. Whether or not you should pick up the car is something you two need to assess.”

Yu Dawei picked up the teacup next to him and placed it between the three of them: "For example, if a car comes to our factory for repairs and the owner wants to sell it, you can check whether the car has repair value and resale value."

"Also, you can take a look when you're repairing cars. Some accident-damaged cars have very high repair costs, and the owners are hesitant about whether to repair them. You can ask them if they're for sale." Yu Dawei added, "We have a separate employee who stands on the main road every day to see whose car is for sale and whether we want to buy it back."

"When we're repairing cars at the factory, we check if any of them are worth buying. If so, we ask. Once we buy the cars, we refurbish them, both the interior and the exterior paint, inside and out, and then we sell them."

"I get it. To put it bluntly, it's just a matter of taking a shot, whether there's a chance or not. Anyway, for us mechanics, refurbishing a car isn't a big problem." Old Ji, who was rolling a cigarette and nodding, suddenly understood.

(End of this chapter)