The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 148 Resource Shortages, Source-Based Solutions
In mid-summer, the cicadas chirping in the trees are so noisy that it's annoying.

Inside his office, Zhou Zhiqiang was troubled by the incessant chirping of cicadas outside, making it difficult for him to concentrate on his work.

It has been four months since Zhou Zhiqiang became the deputy director of the Second Machine Tool Plant, which is quite a challenge for him.

It wouldn't have mattered if it were any other year, but it happened to be 1959.

One thing after another, things kept happening, and for the past few months, Zhou Zhiqiang hasn't been able to leave work before 9 p.m. a single day.

Even when they get home, they have to keep working until 11 or 12 o'clock, or even 1 or 2 o'clock, before they can rest.

"The sound of cicadas is so annoying."

Zhou Zhiqiang got up and went to the window, closing it to block out some of the noisy cicada sounds.

Back at his desk, Zhou Zhiqiang continued working.

The development of the high-precision coordinate boring machine is nearing completion; now all that's missing is the results from the Henan Provincial Research Institute.

Zhou Zhiqiang now calls twice a week to check on the progress. Over the past four months, they have conducted numerous trials, costing around 150,000 yuan.

According to Zhou Zhiqiang's budget, 120,000 yuan would have been enough, but now both the experimental expenses and time have far exceeded his calculations.

Other parts, such as the spindle and fixtures, have all been manufactured, and Zhou Zhiqiang has checked them one by one. They are all in the perfect state he envisioned, with negligible errors.

However, they were missing a precision reading system; otherwise, their factory would have been able to report their achievements to their superiors.

Four months into the research and development, others could be patient, but Zhou Zhiqiang was getting anxious. He even wanted to go to Henan Province again to see what went wrong.

dong dong!

Upon hearing the knock, Zhou Zhiqiang called out, "Come in."

Tian Wenguo from the logistics department pushed open the door and walked in. He then came to the desk with a smile and greeted Zhou Zhiqiang, saying, "Deputy Factory Director Zhou, there's something I need to report to you."

"What's the matter? Tell me."

"The factory's planned allocation of supplies has been reduced by 20%, mainly due to a decrease in the factory's supply to mental laborers, while the quotas for manual laborers have not been reduced."
"There will be a shortage of grain and vegetables next month. Should we announce this at the factory?"

Director Tian reported in detail that the reduction in quantity this time was significant and could not be made up for by unplanned procurement.

The factory has more than 100 mental laborers, and the factory supplies 9 jin of grain per month. This sudden reduction of 20% in the supply means that about 300 jin of grain will be lost each month.

It adds up to several thousand kilograms over a year.

Moreover, Director Tian works in logistics, so he is extremely sensitive to the supply of materials and communicates with the purchasing department every now and then.

It's becoming increasingly difficult for purchasing agents to travel to rural areas these days. Sometimes they spend three days there and come back empty-handed.

Most people followed the transport trucks, intending to visit other cities and counties; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to complete their tasks. In fact, quite a few people had already failed to complete their unplanned procurement tasks.

Zhou Zhiqiang sighed inwardly and said, "Pass the word down. Tell them that the difficulties are only temporary. If anyone is unwilling, let him come to me, the deputy factory director."

Oh, and by the way, let me let you in: right now, supplies in the factory are being prioritized for frontline production workers. Anyone who dares to touch the factory's logistical supplies will be dealt with accordingly.

The neighborhood office notified us half a month earlier than the factory; they notified us in early June.

The ration for each household was reduced by half, and the ratio of coarse to refined grains was also adjusted again.

It is estimated that there will be another reduction at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, and things will only gradually improve by June 1st.

Supply will not be restored until 1962.

"Yes, I understand."

Tian Wenguo readily agreed. He had no doubt that Zhou Zhiqiang was joking, because he had already dealt with ten people in the factory.

Those who delayed production and fell into Zhou Zhiqiang's trap were criticized on the same day and punished the next day.

Some people even tried to use their connections to get close to Secretary Li, but Secretary Li simply replied, "This was a decision made by him and Deputy Factory Director Zhou."

After several times, the people in the factory had no doubt about Zhou Zhiqiang's "iron-fisted" methods, and most importantly, those who fell into his hands were all clerks and cadres.

The workers respected Zhou Zhiqiang greatly, and in the factory, they did almost everything he said.

Zhou Zhiqiang wouldn't assign the workers anything outside of production, and since he also possessed superior skills compared to all the workers, they wouldn't cause trouble in front of him.

Some workers even hoped to learn some skills from Zhou Zhiqiang.

After reporting the matter, Tian Wenguo prepared to leave and tell the propaganda department to inform the factory about the reduction in food rations for mental laborers.

However, before Tian Wenguo reached the door, Zhou Zhiqiang called out to him, "Director Tian, ​​wait a moment."

Tian Wenguo was taken aback, then turned around and said with a smile, "Deputy Factory Director Zhou, is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"It's not about giving orders; we're all comrades, so don't use that kind of language."

Zhou Zhiqiang stood up, then poured Tian Wenguo a glass of water from the thermos and continued, "You are the logistics director, so you are like the head housekeeper of our factory."

"I believe you are aware of the food supply situation. It may decrease again next year. Director Tian, ​​do you, as the chief steward, have any solutions?" Upon hearing this, Tian Wenguo felt a sense of foreboding. He knew that being called upon could not be a good thing.

"Deputy Director Zhou, this matter is too big. I'm just a lowly logistics director and I'm finding it a bit too much to handle. Why don't you discuss it with Secretary Li or Deputy Director Sun?"

Zhou Zhiqiang handed over the water glass and said, "You give me a direction first. You're in charge of logistics, how could Secretary Li know better than you?"

'Secretary Li may not know, but he has connections.'

However, Tian Wenguo also knew in his heart that connections were probably useless now. If connections were useful now, then the deputy factory director Zhou in front of him was probably the one with the most connections.

When he took office that day, it was Director Ren who brought him there.

"Deputy Factory Director Zhou, the only way to manage logistics and grain is to increase supply and reduce expenditure. There's no way to increase supply now. The purchasing department staff have been running themselves ragged, but they still can't buy much grain."

We can't just let them grow it themselves; there wouldn't be enough time.

Tian Wenguo paused for a moment before continuing, "Now the only way is to cut costs. I'll have the logistics department take stock of the factory's current supplies when I get back."

Zhou Zhiqiang suddenly waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute, what did you say in your last sentence?"

"what?"

Tian Wenguo was taken aback, thinking he had said something wrong, so he cautiously said, "I'll have the logistics team take stock of the factory's supplies."

"One more sentence."

"And to put it another way, we can't expect the purchasing department to do the farming themselves, can we? That's what we're saying, Deputy Factory Director Zhou."

"Correct."

Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and said, "I remember our factory has expanded quite a bit. There seem to be two empty factory buildings next to the boiler room, right?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Wenguo nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. The factory director originally wanted to build two more factories to expand production, but the factories were stopped by higher-ups as soon as they were built."

"We ran out of money to buy the machines, so we set up two workshops, which later seemed to have become dumping grounds for miscellaneous items, and haven't been dealt with yet."

If the area next to the boiler room is renovated and guided, it might be possible to barely guarantee constant humidity and temperature.
Zhou Zhiqiang pondered for a moment, then stood up and said to Tian Wenguo, "Come on, Director Tian, ​​let's go take a look at the empty workshop."

The high-precision coordinate boring machine is currently missing the key reading system from the Henan Provincial Research Institute. Zhou Zhiqiang just called to inquire about it yesterday, so it's not appropriate to call again today to urge them.

There's no need to go to the new machine tool production workshop; the tasks there are being completed quite well, and there won't be any new arrangements for him if he goes.

With nothing else to do, Zhou Zhiqiang thought he should go and take a look at the empty factory. If he could solve some of the factory's material shortage problems, that would be a good thing.

Tian Wenguo didn't know what Zhou Zhiqiang was planning, but since the deputy factory director had spoken, he had no choice but to go along.

After leaving the factory office building, the two headed towards the empty factory buildings.

As they walked, Tian Wenguo explained to Zhou Zhiqiang about the construction of the factory.

Speaking of which, the location of the Second Machine Tool Factory is not bad, with plenty of open space around it. Last year, the factory only spent a little over one million yuan to expand a large area.

Two workshops were built, but that's not all that can be done. There's still plenty of empty land nearby, but the factory doesn't have the money to build any more.

Upon arriving at the empty workshop, Zhou Zhiqiang observed it carefully for a while. The ambient temperature was almost identical to that of the mushroom greenhouses he remembered.

As for other environmental factors, they can be changed and adjusted.

The factory still had some surplus funds, and after Zhou Zhiqiang took over as "manager," he strictly managed the factory's expenses.

If the reason for reimbursement or expenditure was incorrect, it would be rejected by him. As a result, the factory saved a large sum of money in addition to wages and necessary research expenses.

"Director Tian, ​​how about we make use of this place?"

Zhou Zhiqiang pointed to the empty factory building in front of him and said, "We'll grow mushrooms. We'll use cultivation racks to grow mushrooms in large quantities, making use of the two empty workshops. That way, we can harvest several times a year and provide an extra dish for the factory workers."

"Grow...grow mushrooms?"

Tian Wenguo was taken aback when he heard this. He had no idea what this was. He had eaten mushrooms before, and they were alright in stir-fries and soups.

"Deputy Factory Director Zhou, is this feasible?"

"Whether it works or not, go ask around, inquire, or consult with fungi agriculture experts or technicians. Do you really think I'm a generalist as an engineer?"

Zhou Zhiqiang said irritably, "I was just proposing an open-source idea. This space is just sitting empty anyway, it would be a waste not to use it."

Growing mushrooms doesn't require many resources, and if successful, the harvest can be substantial. However, this depends on the ability to grow them in large quantities, which requires consulting with relevant experts and technicians.

"Go to the university or the Ministry of Agriculture and ask a few people to come and investigate."

"It's okay if it doesn't work out. If it does, then our factory will have another source of vegetables."

Zhou Zhiqiang doesn't know much about agriculture, so he doesn't talk about specific techniques. He just said he's seen planting in factory workshops and that he'll have experts and technicians from this era come and take a look.

If there's any hope, he could add a dish to the menu for the factory workers.

(End of this chapter)