Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 463 You don't even know which unit he works for?

Zhang Guoqiang pointed to Zhang Nan, who was drawing not far away, and said:

"See that young man? He's from the Department of Mechanics at Peking University, a little expert who's in charge of drawing industrial diagrams for our standardized parts."

Liang Zhongwei listened from the side, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"You make your own parts?"

Zhang Guoqiang said, "Yes, there are too many different car models on the market now, and each has its own set of original parts, which are not interchangeable at all."

"If we want to standardize the parts, can we do it without manufacturing them ourselves?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ma became even more excited: "If you guys can get this done, it will be so convenient for us to repair cars in the future!"

Just then, a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"So many cars today?"

Liang Zhongwei turned around and saw Chen Luyang carrying a schoolbag, looking travel-worn as she walked in.

Because there were too many people in the repair shop, Chen Luyang didn't notice Liang Zhongwei in the work area for a moment.

It seems there's something urgent going on.

As soon as they entered the room, Chen Luyang called a worker to his side, and the two of them walked together toward the warehouse.

Liang Zhongwei subconsciously followed a few steps.

All that could be faintly heard was Chen Luyang walking and muttering to himself:

"...I found a technical school, but they can't make all the parts..."

"We can only produce a portion; I'll figure out the rest."

"Is this all the materials we have? I remember we had quite a lot before?"

Vocational school?
Liang Zhongwei raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.

He was about to go closer to listen when
A polite yet slightly wary voice suddenly came from behind:
"Comrade, who are you looking for?"

Liang Zhongwei turned around and saw a young man wearing an apron, with sharp features and a cautious expression, standing behind him.

Sun Hongjun looked at Liang Zhongwei warily.

Although there have been many people coming to the workshop to ask questions since the repair shop opened, it is really rare to see someone quietly following them towards the warehouse like this.

Seeing that the uncle was staring at Director Chen the whole way, Sun Hongjun couldn't help but become more wary.

His shout brought Chen Luyang and Director Lu back to their senses.

"Senior brother? What are you doing here?!"

Chen Luyang turned around abruptly, a look of surprise immediately appearing on her face.
Liang Zhongwei laughed and said, "You always rave about how great your repair shop is, this and that,"

"I just happened to be passing by the West Railway Station today, so I thought I'd stop by and take a look."

"Oh, that's perfect!" Chen Luyang's face lit up with joy upon hearing this, and she immediately turned around to introduce him to everyone:

"Come on, let me introduce you all. This is my senior from Peking University, Liang Zhongwei, from the class of '56."

"From now on, whenever he comes to repair the car, I'll charge him half price!"

Good guy...

Half price?!
The masters were taken aback and glanced at this "senior brother" several times.

Normally, customers are already being generous by rounding down the price, but today the manager just opened his mouth and offered half price.
This person is definitely extraordinary.

Liang Zhongwei smiled and waved his hand: "No need for such an exaggerated half price, just rounding it down to zero will be fine."

Chen Luyang was originally in a hurry to come back and check the materials.
But now that his senior brother has arrived,

Chen Luyang immediately changed direction, smiling as she put her arm around Liang Zhongwei's shoulder and warmly invited him to the reception room.

"Senior brother, what do you think of my repair shop?"

"That's really good." Liang Zhongwei nodded, his gaze sweeping over the scene of workers and students working together in the yard, and asked casually:
"I just saw some students doing an experiment over there. Have you partnered with the school?"

"That's right," Chen Luyang said with a smile.

"The mechanics department happens to have a research project on connectors, and they need to find a place to conduct on-site experiments."

“I had plenty of parts and all the right people, so we all hit it off immediately.”

“Now it’s not just the masters doing the work, the students are also working on research projects.”

"By noon, the dining table is almost overflowing with people; it's quite lively."

"It's great, really great," Liang Zhongwei exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

Don't let the small size of this repair shop fool you; the work atmosphere and overall environment are quite good.

With everyone working efficiently and at a steady pace, the students were also highly motivated.

“Really good!”

Liang Zhongwei was deeply moved.

Unlike some places where they just put up a cooperation sign but no one comes or does any work.

He paused, a smile playing on his lips: "Speaking of which, your repair shop is quite famous now."

“Last time I took a taxi back, the driver kept praising it the whole way, saying that this place is reliable for car repair, has a full range of parts, and has good craftsmanship.”

"Really?" Chen Luyang was delighted upon hearing this.

"I'm not bragging, but even though our factory is small, every single one of our masters is an expert."

"I can guarantee that any car that leaves our factory will be perfectly fine."

Liang Zhongwei nodded, his tone slightly encouraging: "It's good that young people have ideas. There aren't many students like you who are willing to actually do things."

He thought for a moment, then asked, "I just heard you mention a technical school. Is your repair shop now involved with a technical school too?"

"Sigh, don't even mention it." Chen Luyang sighed, a hint of helplessness on her face.

"I applied for a project called 'Trial Production of Standardized Automotive Parts,' and I have students and teachers from the Department of Mechanics at Peking University helping me with the blueprints. Now all that's left is to find a place to start production."

"It went smoothly at first, but problems arose as soon as we actually started working on it."

“The processes for these three parts are too detailed and complex; the small workshop that used to make the samples simply couldn’t handle the work.”

"The key is that this kind of work is fragmented and messy. Big factories find it too troublesome, and small factories can't handle it. I really had no other choice, so I thought of going to a technical school."

Upon hearing this, Liang Zhongwei's eyes flickered slightly.

During this period, he visited three districts, constantly thinking about how to align industry and education.

Isn't this a living example right in front of us?
"So, can the technical school you're currently working with handle this job?" Liang Zhongwei asked casually, his tone softening.

“Part of it,” Chen Luyang shook her head.

"Their equipment is incomplete, so they can only do the simple parts. We'll have to find another company to do the remaining processes."

"I came back today to check how much material is in the warehouse, to get a general idea, and then I'll go out and talk to each technical school."

Liang Zhongwei then asked, "Have you decided which vocational school you'd like to partner with?"

Chen Luyang shook her head and sighed softly:

"Let's take the map and go from house to house."

"It's not about me looking for partners now, it's about whether they're willing to cooperate."

"If you're willing to take this job, sit down and let's talk."

"No matter where they're from, as long as they can do the job well, that's fine."

Liang Zhongwei nodded and said, "Yes, these days nothing is easy. If you really want to create a set of universal standard parts, it's not something that can be done in a day or two... You have to be patient."

Don't rush things about vocational school.

"Sometimes when a collaboration fails, it's not necessarily your fault."

"..."

The two were chatting when their driver, Xiao Ma, ran over.

"Director, the car has been repaired."

Upon hearing this, Liang Zhongwei turned around and asked, "How much?" Zhang Guoqiang walked over with the work record sheet and said, "I replaced a spark plug, repaired a wiring, and adjusted the ignition. The total cost for all three items is 1.8 yuan."

"The manager said it's half price, so that's 9 cents."

"Why would I charge you for something that costs less than a dollar?" Chen Luyang waved his hand and said.
"I'm right here. I'll treat you this time, consider it a meal for my senior brother!!"

“That won’t do,” Liang Zhongwei immediately said. “One thing at a time.”

"With your skills and efficiency, I wouldn't mind paying the full price. I'd be quite satisfied if you rounded down the price."

Finally, after much persuasion...

The two pushed and shoved each other, arguing and trying to stop each other, but in the end Liang Zhongwei took out 9 cents to settle the "friendship price" car repair.

Zhang Guoqiang took the change without saying much, and simply turned and went back to the workshop.

But as soon as Keren entered the warehouse, he pulled out another spring.

"This seat is too hard. I guess it will lose all its elasticity after sitting on it for a long time."

Zhang Guoqiang squatted down and quickly disassembled the passenger seat.

He muttered to himself while tightening the screws:
"They're all crushed, it's better to get a softer one sooner, one that's more comfortable to sit on."

In no time, the new springs were installed, the chair was adjusted, covered with an old velvet cloth, and some foam padding was stuffed into the backrest.

The driver, Xiao Ma, stood to the side, stunned, and it took him a while to realize that they were changing his seat.

The driver, Xiao Ma, was deeply moved.

"Thanks, Master!"

"No need to thank me, just drive slowly on the road and don't get bumped again."

Liang Zhongwei watched this scene, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Before leaving, he raised his hand and patted Chen Luyang on the shoulder.

He then turned and glanced at the workshop, his eyes darkening as if deep in thought, but ultimately said nothing and waved goodbye.

As the car drove away, Director Lu curiously came over to inquire.

"Director Chen, what's the background of your senior fellow apprentice?"

"I don't know either," Chen Luyang replied.

Despite having met Liang Zhongwei three times, Chen Luyang had no idea what Liang Zhongwei did for a living.

The main problem is that there's no way to ask.

The timing and environment of each meeting between the two people were never quite suitable for asking about each other's work.

At this moment, Li He leaned over and said:

"Isn't he from the Municipal Economic Commission?"

Chen Luyang's eyes widened as she turned to look at him:
"How did you know?"

Li He said, "He's registered."

As he spoke, Li He took out the registration book.

The driver Xiao Ma's registration information is still on it, and the repair shop listed is indeed the Municipal Economic Commission.

"Hey, Li He, I didn't expect you to be doing such a good job with intelligence work," Chen Luyang praised.

Hehehe~
Li He chuckled: "I'm just doing what the director and Director Lu tell me to do."

"If I'm asked to register, I'll register carefully. I'll write down everything that's required and I won't be careless."

Chen Luyang praised, "Good job registering! I'll give you an extra chicken leg tonight!"

After saying that, Chen Luyang looked at the two unfinished cups of tea in the guest room with some heartache.

"You know, it's such good tea, what a waste."

He traveled all the way from school to here without even having a sip of water.

There were two cups of fragrant tea sitting on the table, untouched, which was quite a sight...

Okay! Sen! Angry! Ah!
"From now on, just use tea leaves instead," Chen Luyang said, feeling a pang of heartache.

"Brother Chen, come on, have some hot water to warm yourself up."

Seeing that Chen Luyang was not in a good state, Sun Hongjun quickly brought her a cup of hot water and handed it to her.

Although Chen Luyang complained, her eyes kept glancing at the two cups of tea as soon as she entered the room.

It's as if he'd grab someone and gulp them down if they weren't watching.

Tons tons tons tons tons.

After drinking a cup of hot water, Chen Luyang put the cup on the table and then turned back to get down to business.

Why are there so few materials in our warehouse?

Jiao Long is in charge of the repair shop's supplies.

Upon hearing Chen Luyang's question, he quickly replied:
"Brother Chen, we are indeed a bit short of this batch of materials in our warehouse."

“The other day, the factory was doing trial production on a batch of parts, from spark plugs to gaskets and nozzles. All of these parts were supplied by our warehouse.”

“We can manage to assemble small parts, but the key is those round steel bars and steel plates. A lot of them are cut off during the first sample making.”

He paused, then explained in a low voice:
“Our repair shop doesn’t operate on a ‘small-batch manufacturing’ basis. Our material budget is approved based on ‘car repair orders’, so we wouldn’t dare to stockpile too much.”

"Besides, we've had quite a few cars coming in for repairs lately. Taxi companies, neighborhood offices, and several other organizations have all sent their cars here for maintenance."

"Common parts such as washers, connectors, and sliding sleeves are being used up too quickly."

"We used to be able to find some old materials in the inventory, but now we can hardly find even the scraps."

Chen Luyang frowned slightly.

Jiao Long makes a good point.

Although the factory still has a "Repair Center" sign hanging above it, the actual work it does is no longer just simple repairs, but rather half a parts processing point, where many of the technical tasks have to be done from the raw materials.

Consumables naturally doubled as well.

Seeing Chen Luyang's expression, Jiao Long spoke up:

"Brother Chen, how about I go take a look around that old industrial area in the southwest?"

“Those places usually do odd jobs and make equipment parts. Occasionally, there will be some raw materials that have been cut in half. To avoid the trouble of accounting, they simply throw them in the pile.”

"If I could have a good chat with the foreman in the factory workshop, I might be able to get some cutting tools from him."

"If all else fails, I'll go to the scrap yard or the secondhand market and rummage around."

"Old transformers, motor housings, old bearings—you can pry out steel from those if you take them apart."

"As long as you work quickly, you can fix it and get it working again when you get back."

After listening to Jiao Long's words, Chen Luyang's face remained expressionless, but her brows furrowed even more deeply.

Steel is currently a scarce resource, subject to government control, and it's rare to find truly qualified raw materials.
But it's different at a recycling center.

Nobody cared, nobody asked.

As long as you're quick-witted and nimble-fingered, you can always produce some usable material.

But the problem is...

Can not be done!
The ignition coil module requires an insulated housing with a metal contact core.

The brake push rod must be made of high-strength carbon steel.
The coupling sleeve must not only be impact-resistant, but also maintain precision, with the shaft and hole fitting together perfectly...

Neither of these tasks can be done by simply tinkering and fixing things.

"With this little bit of material, you can't even get a complete set."

Chen Luyang sighed inwardly and slammed the cup upside down on the table.

But he didn't show any anxiety on his face. He just glanced around at the piles of scraps in the warehouse and asked, "Old Jiao, are the scraps from the first two batches still here?"

Jiao Long was taken aback: "It's still there, on the other side of the east wall, but... it's all broken off, so only a limited number are usable."

(End of this chapter)