Courtyard House: Starting in a Ceramics Factory

At this moment, the roar of the surrounding machines seemed to fade into the distance. Minister Jiang took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of machine oil and dust. That familiar industrial smell, however, gave him an unprecedented sense of freshness today.

He slowly turned his head to look at Zheng Guowei beside him, his voice trembling slightly.

"Xiao Zheng, we...we've struck gold this time."

Zheng Guowei nodded vigorously, his facial muscles twitching slightly from excessive excitement. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white: "Minister, I've said it before, Comrade Li Feng is a man who can create miracles! I really didn't misjudge him back then!"

His voice was filled with pride, as if Li Feng's achievements were his own greatest accomplishment.

Minister Jiang patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction, then turned his gaze back to the young man standing in front of the control panel, whose expression was calm yet radiant.

At this moment, no amount of praise seems adequate.

He needed a quiet place to listen carefully and deeply to the young man's ideas.

"Director Zhu," Minister Jiang said in a deep voice.

Zhu Hongjie, who had been waiting nearby, suddenly stepped forward and respectfully replied, "Minister, what are your orders?"

"Find a meeting room. I want to have a good talk with Comrade Li Feng and several other responsible comrades from your factory."

"Yes! I'll arrange it right away!" Zhu Hongjie didn't dare to delay in the slightest. He immediately turned around, gave Wu Qing a wink, and then quickly led the way.

"Minister Jiang, distinguished leaders, this way please. The factory's conference room has just been cleaned and is very quiet."

The group left the noisy workshop, walked through a long corridor, and arrived at a conference room in the branch factory's office building.

The conference room wasn't large, but it was bright and clean. Several enamel mugs filled with steaming tea had already been quickly placed on a long conference table, the aroma of the tea dispelling the industrial smell that everyone had brought from the factory.

Minister Jiang took the seat of honor without hesitation, while Zheng Guowei habitually sat to his left.

Zhu Hongjie and Wu Qing pulled out chairs, preparing to sit down to the side, but Minister Jiang raised his hand to stop them.

"Comrade Li Feng, please sit across from me."

Upon hearing this, Li Feng did not refuse and sat down opposite Minister Jiang without hesitation.

Seeing this, Zhu Hongjie and Wu Qing sat down next to Li Feng.

The meeting room door was gently closed, shutting out all the noise from the outside world.

Minister Jiang picked up the enamel mug, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, took a sip of hot tea, and the warm tea slid down his throat, seemingly calming his agitated heart a little.

He put down his teacup, looked intently at Li Feng, and a genuine smile appeared on his face.

"Comrade Li Feng, you have given me, Xiao Zheng, and the entire Ministry of Light Industry a vivid lesson today."

"The 'mechanization' of the first phase of the project, the 'automation' of the second phase, and the 'digital intelligent production line' you mentioned... This concept is very profound and very forward-thinking!"

Minister Jiang's words were full of appreciation and affirmation, without a trace of official jargon.

"Especially your foresight makes me, an old man who has spent my whole life in industry, feel ashamed."

"While we are still figuring out how to replace human labor with machines, your vision has already turned to controlling machines with systems, and to a more distant future."

Faced with the minister's high praise, Li Feng remained calm. He bowed slightly and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Minister, you flatter me. I am merely standing on the shoulders of the times and have seen some possibilities."

"These ideas are not my achievement alone. It is the result of the joint efforts of all the engineers, technicians and workers in our factory that has brought the second phase of the project to its current form."

He didn't take all the credit for himself, but instead put the team first.

This composure and humility earned him nods of approval from Zhu Hongjie and Wu Qing, who were standing nearby.

Zhu Hongjie was filled with mixed emotions. Back then, he simply thought that this young man was skilled, capable, and could bring benefits to the factory.

But now it seems that Li Feng's value cannot be measured by a mere ceramics factory. He is simply a national treasure!
Even Wu Qing, known for his meticulousness, looked at Li Feng with admiration. He wondered if he himself, at twenty-one, would have been too excited to speak coherently in front of a ministerial-level leader.

Yet Li Feng remained so calm and composed; his composure and vision far surpassed those of his peers.

"Heroes emerge from among the young; the ancients were right!" This thought arose in the minds of both factory directors. Minister Jiang nodded in satisfaction; he admired not only Li Feng's skills and vision, but also his calm and composed demeanor.

"Good, well said." Minister Jiang praised, then changed the subject, leaned forward slightly, and became more serious, "Comrade Li Feng, just now in the workshop, there were many people and it was noisy, you only mentioned a concept."

"Now, I would like to ask you to tell us in detail what your vision of a 'digital intelligent production line'—that future controlled by computers—actually looks like?"

Zheng Guowei immediately sat up straight, staring intently at Li Feng, afraid of missing a single word.

All eyes in the conference room were focused on Li Feng.

Li Feng pondered for a moment, organized his thoughts, and then slowly opened his mouth, his voice clear and powerful.

"Minister, leaders, to understand computer control, we must first understand its fundamental difference from current relay control."

“The current mechanical program is like a pre-written musical score. The production line plays the music according to the score, from beginning to end, without making a single mistake. But it can only play this one piece. If we want to change to another piece, such as switching from producing teacups to producing plates, we need to stop the machine. Technicians have to spend a lot of time adjusting the mechanical structure, changing the molds, and resetting the relay logic. It is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to errors.”

The analogy was so vivid that both Minister Jiang and Zheng Guowei nodded in agreement.

"The computer control system is like an experienced conductor with countless musical scores in his hands."

Li Feng's eyes gleamed with wisdom, as if he could already see that future.

"We only need to program the parameters for producing different products, such as the thickness of the clay body, the rotation speed, the drying temperature and time, the glaze ratio, etc., and store them in the computer."

“When we need to change products, the operator no longer needs to tighten screws or change gears. He only needs to press a few keys on the keyboard in the control room, select the production program for the ‘plate’, and click run.”

"The central computer will immediately send instructions to the controllers at every node on the production line."

"The conveyor belt speed will be automatically adjusted, the gripping angle and force of the robotic arm will change instantly, and the temperature curve of the drying kiln will start to rise according to the new program... It may only take a few minutes for the entire production line to seamlessly switch and start producing brand new products."

"This is flexible manufacturing."

“Not only that,” Li Feng paused, then threw out an even more impactful concept, “computers can do much more. We can install sensors at every critical node to collect production data in real time, such as product qualification rate, equipment power consumption, raw material loss rate, and so on. This massive amount of data is collected in the computer, and the system can analyze it through algorithms to find the optimal combination of production parameters.”

"It will tell us whether raising the kiln temperature by two degrees would increase the pass rate by 0.1 percent, and whether shortening the mud mixing time by five seconds would save on electricity without affecting the quality?"

"It can help us optimize production and reduce production costs and resource consumption to the extreme! This is of great significance given our country's current resource shortage situation!"

silence.

The entire conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Zhu Hongjie and Wu Qing stared wide-eyed, utterly stunned by the scene Li Feng had described. This…this wasn't a factory anymore! This was straight out of a science fiction novel!
Zheng Guowei's breathing became heavy; a tidal wave of thoughts surged through his mind. If this model could be widely adopted, what a tremendous leap it would represent for the entire nation's industrial system!
Minister Jiang pursed his lips tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force of his grip on the table. He had spent his entire life dealing with data and cost accounting, and he knew better than anyone the terrifying power behind everything Li Feng was saying.

This is no longer a simple technological innovation.

This is a completely new industrial philosophy, a complete liberation of productivity!
After a long while, Minister Jiang finally let out a long sigh of relief. He looked at Li Feng with an extremely complicated expression, as if he were looking at an envoy from the future.

He realized that Li Feng wasn't just making empty promises or indulging in wishful thinking. He possessed solid technical expertise and a clear implementation plan!
"Good! Good! Good!"

Minister Jiang said "good" three times in a row, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up.

He looked intently at Li Feng and said in a resolute tone:

"Comrade Li Feng! Don't worry about anything! I'll handle the money, the policy, and the personnel issues! You just need to remember one thing—"

"Go for it! Be bold and do it!"

"I, and the entire Ministry of Light Industry, are your strongest backing! Whatever you need, we'll give you! I'm waiting to see you personally turn this factory of the future into reality!"

"Your most important task now is to get that project done."

Li Feng knew exactly what project Minister Jiang was referring to, so he stood up, straightened his posture, and loudly assured Minister Jiang.

"Mission accomplished." (End of Chapter)