What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 236 It's oily

Tang Wen has almost completely relinquished control over Gaijin's entire business empire, as his primary concern is the shipyard operations.

In his opinion, the city nowadays is not only unsophisticated and dilapidated, but also has poor quality goods, so he hardly ever goes there.

But this is not the case for others. The Greater Bay Area is far less attractive to them than Goose City. The supporting facilities have only been slightly improved after the development of the scenic area, and are barely adequate.

Now that Tang Wenfa has spoken, Li Zhengyang can finally find a better office location for the company.

It's normal for them to share offices with Gaijin Power. Tang Wen doesn't allow Gaijin Heavy Industry's shipbuilding business to be interfered with; he can only manage external business. The company has a small number of employees, but Gaijin Power not only has its own administrative department, but it is also building a complete technical personnel R&D system.

With that in mind, Tang Wen went to check on the progress of the gearbox factory, which was undergoing renovations.
The former factory manager, Shen Wei, who was acquired, had substantial financial backing and had already assembled a technical team during the factory renovation period.

He rented an abandoned primary school and temporarily converted it into a workplace, where they began to study the design data of the 6AT transmission and tried to add an electronic control system to make it a more modern and truly automatic transmission.

Upon arriving at the so-called temporary base, what came into view was the former large classroom, which had now been turned into a messy workshop, with disassembled parts and tools covered in machine oil.

Only a row of computers in the corner indicated that this was not a small auto repair shop, but a technology company researching transmissions.

Although internet technology is not yet fully developed, it already possesses a considerable number of professional software programs. Even early CAD and Word office software represented disruptive innovations for traditional industries.

Tang Wen's only requirement for Shen Wei was to achieve full informatization of office work and electronic document drawing as much as possible, which was not difficult to achieve in 96.

Those expensive computers that cost tens of thousands of yuan are now just like the parts next to them, with a layer of sticky grease on the keyboard.

"I'm sorry, boss. I'll make sure they keep the computer clean from now on so it won't get damaged."

Shen Wei felt a little embarrassed. After all, computers are absolutely high-tech in this era. Not to mention getting oily, you're not allowed to enter the school's computer lab if you're not dressed cleanly.

"It's okay, we'll just replace it if it breaks."

Tang Wen didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Decades later, which engineer wouldn't be carrying an all-in-one laptop to the field? That's how computers should be used.

Moreover, with the technical support of Gaijin Network, there's no need to worry about minor issues going unresolved.

How well has the technology for the transmission been absorbed?

"It's hard."

Shen Wei spoke the truth:

“We tried to replicate some parts using old machine tools, but the AT gearbox is too complex. The manufacturing processes for parts such as friction plates, bearings, and torque converters are very demanding.”

However, once the new CNC equipment is properly debugged, at least 80% of the problems can be solved.

What about the remaining 20%?

"The remaining issue is processing."

Shen Wei smiled wryly and said, "Although we have complete design data, we lack the processing technology flow. We have to figure it out ourselves, and it's very difficult without anyone to teach us."

In industrial production, a complex part often goes through many processes such as rough turning and milling of raw materials, followed by multiple clamping and machining, annealing and shaping, welding, surface treatment, and re-finishing.

Right now, we only know the dimensions of this part, but the specific machining sequence, how many times each step should be done, and how to do it are all starting from scratch. A lot of time is spent on trial and error.

In a legitimate industrial product manufacturing process, design engineers first design the structure and dimensions, and then production engineers develop the processing flow and technology. However, shipyards only have the former information, not the latter.

The chief designer did not encounter this problem when the 001 and 011 warships were refitted because they were built by dismantling a part of the original, not by imitation.

The technical engineers assembled by the gearbox factory were of far lower quality than those of later generations, with most having only received formal schooling.

Re-engineering the manufacturing process is almost equivalent to redeveloping the gearbox entirely.

Tang Wen was also helpless in this regard, after all, the foundation of the domestic automobile industry is quite poor at present, and experienced engineers cannot be found in the market, so they can only be trained slowly.

Stop talking, just throw money at it!
He knew perfectly well that Shen Wei's motive for playing the victim was to use another sum of money to poach talent from major companies and cover trial and error costs. "Thank you, boss, I will definitely work hard."

Tang Wen nodded, but feeling that he couldn't just give nods without putting pressure on them, he said:
"We mastered the production process in three months and achieved electronic control in six months."

If that's not possible... I've leased an oil well on an uninhabited island in Southeast Asia, and I'm quite in need of manpower there too.

"Yes, I definitely... won't go to Southeast Asia."

Shen Wei's eyelids twitched. Offshore oil extraction is the most grueling profession. Often, there is no one around for miles, and one can be away for almost a year at a time.

Now all the gangs in Goose City are undergoing reform and re-education in Da Wan, and he has no doubt about Tang Wen's abilities.

……

Are there oil wells in Southeast Asia? Theoretically, yes.

The South Pacific is an ocean, and a virtual oil well is a well.

After acquiring the Franklin, Tang Wen was already thinking about how to implement the base mission, and the small uninhabited island in the South Pacific was a good test subject.

A basic fleet consists of eight warships. Battleships and aircraft carriers are more expensive and difficult to manage, while cruisers and destroyers are relatively easier to manage.

In the afternoon, Tang Wen rushed to Nantai to begin his experiment.

The South Pacific currently has only one primary port, so he built a secondary port to accommodate the basic fleet.

The temporary fleet composition was easy to arrange: the aircraft carrier Franklin, the battleship Musashi, the heavy cruiser Zara, the heavy cruiser Golitzia, and the destroyer Akizuki.

Then, the Sperm Whale 3 went to Coral Island and randomly retrieved two Fletcher-class destroyers, the USS Spence and the USS Pringle, as well as a Fubuki-class destroyer, the USS Popo.

After transferring eight warships to a mid-level port and recruiting commanders for each, a notification appeared before his eyes:
[Unnamed Basic Fleet (1):]
CV: X-rank Franklin

BB: Rank IX Musashi

CA: Tier VII Zara, Tier VII Gorizia

DD: Rank IX Spence, Rank IX Pringle, Rank VIII Akizuki, Rank VI Popo

The base fleet is located within a 100-nautical-mile radius of the port.

All fleet warships are in effective combat status.

[Effective usable area of ​​the island: 0.8 square kilometers]

[Mission conditions for 'Naval Base' have been met]

Fishery resources +20%

Selected production resource types: coal/oil

Of course, it's oil; the world has no shortage of coal.

Tang Wen made his choice, but he was quite surprised that this small island, which was at least six or seven square kilometers in area, was only calculated as 0.8, which was roughly the size of two port residential areas.

[An unnamed medium-sized port will produce 4000 tons of oil per 24 hours]

The open terrain changed again, prompting Tang Wen to place the oil extraction site.

When he selected an open space, several oil pumping units and tall oil storage tanks appeared, with a ball of intense flame rising from the top of the towering oil and gas towers.

The heavy oil tanks appeared ethereal and transparent in front of Tang Wen, and black liquid gold slowly began to fill the bottom.

It's getting oily!
(End of this chapter)