Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 172: Cutting the flesh (Subscription required)

"Research and study? OK, OK, I get it, leader."

After Gao Zhiyuan hung up the phone, the smile on his face disappeared immediately and then he sighed.

They brought people from the Sijiucheng Industrial Bureau and the First Machine Tool Factory with them. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this is not a serious investigation and study. I guess they are planning to target their factory again?

However, they had to obey their leader's arrangements.

Gao Zhiyuan was just thinking about how to arrange the investigation when he suddenly remembered that Zhou Fengnian was familiar with the leader, and that Zhou Fengnian didn't seem to be very busy recently.

Gao Zhiyuan also heard about Zhou Fengnian's recent physical examination at the hospital, and he even specially found some supplements and sent them to Zhou Fengnian's home.

During this period, I gradually felt relieved after hearing that Zhou Fengnian went to get off work and came home normally and did not work overtime much.

He himself didn't want Zhou Fengnian to get sick. The limbs could hurt a little, but pain in the brain would be fatal.

Gao Zhiyuan stood up and walked outside. He knocked twice on the door of Zhou Fengnian's office, but no one responded.

Pan Heng heard the sound and came over to take a look. Then he said to Gao Zhiyuan, "Director, Deputy Director Zhou has gone to the workshop. He has been going to the CNC workshop every morning recently."

"Okay, I see."

Gao Zhiyuan responded and then walked towards the computer numerical control workshop.

He had heard from Zhou Fengnian that this workshop was the most valuable workshop in the factory. The equipment and instruments inside were extremely precious, and no one except specific personnel could approach it.

Gao Zhiyuan came to the outside of the workshop but did not go in. He asked someone to call Zhou Fengnian out.

"Director, what's the matter?"

Zhou Fengnian came out and asked, it seemed that nothing happened in the factory recently.

Gao Zhiyuan nodded and said, "Deputy Leader Li, the director of the Sijiucheng Industrial Bureau, and people from the First Machine Tool Factory are coming to visit the factory for research. Fengnian, you must show up at that time."

"When?"

"tomorrow!"

Zhou Fengnian was startled when he heard this and said, "So soon, just a survey?"

Gao Zhiyuan sighed: "It would be fine if it was just a survey, but I'm afraid the people at the First Machine Tool Factory might want something. Last time they took away the production drawings of our improved machine tools.

Do you think they are here to ask for something again this time?"

Even among the brothers who did not split up the family business, there were some who were unwilling to give the meat in their own bowls to others, especially since they and the First Machine Tool Factory were just factories under the First Ministry of Machine Building.

"Don't tell me, it's possible."

Zhou Fengnian scratched his head and said, "Our machine tool production has reached its limit for now, and we can't increase it much further.

But the domestic demand for CNC machine tools is huge. Even if we produce for ten years, it would be hard for us to meet the domestic demand, let alone the demand abroad.”

Now the manpower and machines of the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory have been utilized to the maximum extent. No matter how the shifts are arranged, it is impossible to increase production.

Unless the production line continues to be improved to achieve more automated CNC production.

However, if there are more export orders next year, we can consider expanding the workshop; the more profits we make, the more workstations we can create, reducing the pressure of increasing unemployed people in our city.

The street office will be very happy if the school recruits 200 more people every year. If there are no unemployed people in the entire street office or Chaoyang District, the local leaders can report their achievements to their superiors.

"What should we do? Fengnian, you are the chief engineer of our factory."

"I don't know either. Apart from listening to our leaders, what else can we do?"

Zhou Fengnian shook his head and said, "Let's wait and see tomorrow. Let's first see what the leader's attitude is."

It just so happened that he had something to say to Deputy Leader Li. He had already replicated the technology of the top and bottom combined blowing converter, but the rolling mill at the machinery factory had not been manufactured yet, so he did not hand it over to the leader.

I originally thought that a few days wouldn’t be a big deal, but now it seems that I can take it out earlier.

Zhou Fengnian and Gao Zhiyuan chatted for a while, talking about things at the factory, before leaving.

When it was time to get off work, Zhou Fengnian packed up and went home without wasting any time.

When he got home, Zhou Yan had almost returned. Her belly was not that big yet, but she would not be able to ride a bicycle in a few months.

Moreover, after Zhou Yan became pregnant, her work also decreased. The Women's Federation is the place that cares most about women, and they would not let a pregnant woman run around everywhere.

Even though Zhou Yan had just become pregnant, other colleagues helped her whenever they could, and Zhou Yan felt a little embarrassed for doing so.

Before going to bed at night, I couldn't help but complain to Zhou Fengnian. She is almost becoming a worshiper in the Women's Federation. She does nothing all day and just deals with documents.

However, Zhou Yan almost doesn't work at home all day now, so the task of cooking has been returned to Zhou Fengnian, and he is also thinking about whether he should build a washing machine himself.

It will be much more convenient to do laundry then.

This thing is not difficult for Zhou Fengnian. It’s just that some key components require parts from the factory. After he finishes the drawings, he will report to the factory and buy some.

Zhou Chunhua and Song Weinan moved out after getting their marriage certificate. Before moving out, she kept thanking Zhou Fengnian.

He was so excited that he cried and wiped his tears. If others saw him, they would think Zhou Fengnian was bullying others.

However, Zhou Fengnian accepted the thanks from his fourth sister very unceremoniously. He had done his best to help his brothers and sisters.

The Zhou family has completed three generations of transformation, from country people to city workers, and the next generation may even be better than workers.

Now Zhou Fengnian has the greatest say in the Zhou family because he has contributed the most.

Two days after Zhou Chunhua moved out, Zhou Xiaomei moved in. Zhou Fengnian didn't spend much time with this fifth sister, but she was a lively person and got along very well with Zhou Yan in just two days.

Zhou Xiaomei always accompanies Zhou Yan when she goes out, which saves Zhou Fengnian from worrying.

Recently, apart from Zhou Yan's pregnancy, there is nothing for Zhou Fengnian to worry about at home. He doesn't need to worry about his one-year-old son, who plays very well with his older and younger brothers of the next generation all day long.

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Several cars slowly drove into the machine tool factory. After they stopped at the factory office building, some people got out of the cars.

Gao Zhiyuan and Kang Hongnian stepped forward to welcome him and said with a smile: "Welcome all leaders and revolutionary comrades from brother units to come to Huaxia Machine Tool Factory to learn from each other."

"I'm sorry to have caused you trouble this time, Comrade Hongnian, Comrade Zhiyuan, and Comrade Fengnian. Why are you hiding in the back? Come forward."

After Deputy Leader Li called Zhou Fengnian over, he introduced to them the comrades who came to investigate and study.

There were six people in total. After getting to know each other, they greeted Zhou Fengnian and the others with a smile. After all, they came here to seek Buddhist scriptures.

After some pleasantries, we got straight to the point and came to investigate and learn how the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory arranges production and manufacturing.

In fact, there is nothing much to learn. The main thing is that the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory is slowly entering into CNC manufacturing. Most CNC machine tools have replaced traditional machine tools, allowing machine tool processing to replace processing by middle and low-level workers.

Moreover, the processing is stable, and only the accuracy needs to be checked every day to stably produce qualified parts and components. The machine does not know how to get tired, and it can run continuously for 16 hours without any problem.

Other factories are different. Like the No. 1 Machine Tool Factory, most of the production is still done by people and machines working together. If the people rest, the machines also have to rest.

After walking around the main production workshops, the director and deputy director from the First Machine Tool Factory were so jealous that their eyes were full of envy.

The workers operate the machine from the side, and then the machine starts processing, and then the parts are taken down after processing.

It highlights intelligence and automation, and is extremely efficient, with processing speed much faster than that of workers.

After visiting for a whole morning, people from the First Machine Tool Factory and the Industrial Bureau kept asking questions and seeking advice.

As the chief engineer and main technical person in charge of the machine tool factory, Zhou Fengnian explained a lot to them along the way.

The First Machine Tool Factory can also do it, but it needs a lot of CNC machine tools and then conduct training and adjustments.

However, they only received ten machines last year. If they want to replace their workshop with one like the Hua Xia Machine Tool Factory, they will have to wait a long time.

There is a shortage of CNC machine tools all over the country, and five-axis machine tools are in great demand among all units.

Hua Xia Machine Tool Factory is a factory that manufactures five-axis machine tools. Up to now, only five machines of various models are left. The rest are taken away as soon as they are manufactured.

The visit and investigation lasted for a whole morning, and I also took them to see the evening schedule and production volume.

The people from the First Machine Tool Factory were convinced. The production volume at night was almost 40% of that during the day, which was equivalent to twelve more days in a month for the Hua Xia Machine Tool Factory.

How does this compare?
Before coming here, the director of the First Machine Tool Factory was determined to learn a lot and then immediately follow suit when he returned. This year, he has surpassed the previous ones.

Director Hou had a sullen look on his face, and even his enthusiasm for research and study was much less; it was useless to learn how to schedule shifts, as they did not have so many multi-control machine tools.

Until noon.

Gao Zhiyuan arranged a small meal in the factory. Since there were many people coming, he asked Zhou Weitian and He Yuzhu to cook together.

Six Sichuan dishes and six dishes of other cuisines are enough for more than a dozen people.

There are many people and few dishes, and they are not expensive, so this small meal is not a luxury.

After the meal, we visited for a while in the afternoon. The people from the First Machine Tool Factory and the Industrial Bureau had finished their investigation, so they said goodbye and left.

They did gain something, at least the workshop management scheduling and safety regulations of the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory were enough for them to take back and study for their reports.

However, Deputy Leader Li did not leave with them. Instead, he stayed to hold a small meeting with Zhou Fengnian and others.

After arriving at the meeting room, Deputy Leader Li took out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking with a smile on his face.

However, after Gao Zhiyuan took the cigarette, he immediately felt like he was smoking a "Hongmen cigarette". He held it in his hand without lighting it, just waiting for what his leader would say next.

"Fengnian, your factory's production plan still needs to be adjusted. Try to produce more nine-axis machine tools. The performance of these machines is better than the previous five-axis machine tools."

Deputy Leader Li said with a smile that this was his first visit to the nine-axis machine tool after it was produced, and that both its performance and processing efficiency had been improved.

It seems that the demand is definitely not small.

"I'll talk to the others after I get back, and then I'll adjust your production tasks."

Zhou Fengnian nodded and said, "No problem, leader, we will do whatever you arrange."

Deputy Leader Li asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true. Leader, you won't let us suffer any injustice, will you?"

"Haha, dealing with smart people is the most difficult thing. You guys have guessed everything I've ever thought of."

Deputy Leader Li smiled, took a puff of his cigarette, pointed at Zhou Fengnian and said, "Speaking of which, the reason I'm here today is because of you, Fengnian."

"I?"

"In your report on the development of machine tools, did you suggest that we should properly liberalize the export of machine tools and occupy the market with technology? Have you forgotten this suggestion?"

Deputy Leader Li reminded Zhou Fengnian and he quickly remembered it.

He had originally wanted to export CNC machine tools to seize the market in advance; not only could he make a country's industry dependent on them, but he could also earn foreign exchange.

Moreover, there are more advanced machine tool technologies in China, and those exported are of a lower level.

"It seems that you have remembered it, so I don't need to repeat it. The higher-ups, us and other departments have held several meetings to discuss this matter, and the final conclusion is that we can open up exports appropriately."

Deputy Leader Li's tone was a little heavier in the last sentence, and then he continued
"So you understand, next year's export orders may be double or even triple this year's."

"This is also a good thing. We are also short of foreign exchange. Now that we have more foreign exchange, we can buy a lot of materials. Look at your factory. At least the supply is gradually increasing."

One machine tool can exchange for hundreds of pigs, and the import of basic necessities for people's livelihood alone is enough to provide the country with a breathing space.

After listening to this, Zhou Fengnian thought for a moment and asked, "Leader, why do I feel like the people at the First Machine Tool Factory don't seem to know about this?"

"I haven't told them yet. It's still an intention. And it doesn't have to be the first machine tool factory. There are many powerful machine tool factories in China."

Deputy Leader Li explained that this was not his intention alone, but the result of a joint discussion between higher-level leaders and several ministries.

Otherwise, if the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory is left alone to produce, it will not be able to meet both domestic and export orders.

After hearing this, Zhou Fengnian glanced at Gao Zhiyuan and others. He had no choice. There was no way to stop this kind of thing.

Gao Zhiyuan immediately said, "We will follow the leader's instructions in everything. We will do whatever the leader tells us to do."

Since there's no way to stop it, why not show some attitude!

"Haha, it's good to have this kind of awareness. The department will never let you suffer any loss."

Deputy Leader Li smiled and said that it was worth it for him to reveal it in advance.

"As a factory that manufactures CNC machine tools on a large scale, you must be very skilled in technology and production methods, and the machine tools you produce are also very reliable. When the time comes, export orders will definitely be given priority to your factory."

After Deputy Leader Li discussed with Gao Zhiyuan and Zhou Fengnian for a while, they made the intentions of the higher-ups clear.

The gap is huge, and one machine tool factory cannot meet the needs of all parties. The first choice is to let other machine tool factories join in.

However, there is no doubt that the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory made the greatest contribution, so Zhou Fengnian also took the opportunity to raise a number of requests.

They receive subsidies for high-level workers and materials, etc. After all, the machine tools they produce are to be exported abroad.

Deputy Leader Li agreed without much thought, as this request was not excessive.

But just after everything was discussed, Zhou Fengnian suddenly said, "Minister, there is one more thing I need to tell you."

(End of this chapter)