The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 162 The Controversy Overtime

"Boss, the current situation is this: they have expressed their intention to make a purchase."

In Deputy Director Wu's office, Director Ren began his report: "They now hope we can provide a batch of machine tools, which will be used to offset the debt."

After listening, Deputy Leader Wu pondered for a moment before asking, "What suggestions does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have?"

Deputy Director Liu said, "They respect our opinions, but whether it will work depends on the arrangements of our department."

If it were other machinery and equipment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to offer some advice, which would have appeased the Russians and helped offset the debt, which would have been quite good.

This can reduce many of the country's burdens, etc.

Heavy industrial products are very valuable; a single machine tool can be worth several tons of precious metal raw materials.

However, high-precision coordinate machine tools are different. The Second Ministry of Machine Building specifically requested them because they were involved in the production and manufacturing of important national defense projects.

Even if the other party wants it, we must first consider the supply situation in our domestic market.

To put it bluntly, the machine tools developed and manufactured by the Second Machine Tool Plant this time have no trouble selling, but Zhou Zhiqiang didn't mention it at all, precisely because these are 'industrial heavy equipment' needed for national defense.

In the office, Zhou Zhiqiang was the lowest-ranking person, so he kept his head down and remained silent.

However, no matter how low Zhou Zhiqiang lowered his head, he was still noticed by Deputy Leader Wu, who asked, "Comrade Zhiqiang, why aren't you saying a word?"

"Sir, my opinion is completely unimportant. I'm just a deputy factory director; I'll do whatever you say."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he paused for a moment, then pointed in the direction of the Second Ministry of Machinery and said, "You should let the Second Ministry of Machinery know. Our factory can produce this much every month."

"If you, the leader, intend to sell, then squeeze out a small portion of production. If you don't intend to sell, then talk to the Russians."

"Comrade Zhiqiang, think of a way, come up with a solution that satisfies both sides."

After Deputy Leader Wu finished speaking, he took out a new box of tea from the drawer. It was packaged in a tin box, but you could tell it was good tea just by looking at it.

After forcibly stuffing the tea leaves into Zhou Zhiqiang's hand, Deputy Leader Wu said with a smile, "Comrade Zhiqiang, don't you like drinking tea? Take this box of tea leaves back with you."

This is some good tea I bought last year during an inspection tour of Hangzhou with a high-ranking leader.

Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at the tea leaves, then thought about the difficult problem he had been presented with. He sighed and said, "Boss, actually, I don't really care whether I drink the tea or not."

The main problem is that there's not much to drink. He does like soda, but it's too difficult to buy it.

Moreover, there was no iced drink or juice; after waiting in line, all we could get was tea.

"If they don't reduce the number of machine tools required by the Second Ministry of Machine Building and even consider using machine tools to offset debts, then our factory will have no choice but to process them at night."

Zhou Zhiqiang came up with the most direct, and perhaps most helpless, solution: work overtime to produce a few more units.

There was no other way. He wasn't some Transformer who could instantly create a 24/7 production line.

If you want more machine tools, there's no other way but to work overtime.

"Moreover, we also need to urge those manufacturing optical reading equipment to work overtime. If they can't keep up, our overtime work is useless. In short, everyone has to work overtime to produce, otherwise we can only reduce the quantity required by the Ninth Bureau of the Second Ministry of Machine Building."

Zhou Zhiqiang said helplessly, "I never considered working overtime before because the factory didn't have enough food. If we worked too much overtime and there was no replenishment, the workers' health would suffer sooner or later."

"Right now, the mushroom harvest at the factory is quite good. We harvest about once every ten days, and more than twice a month."

“We produce more than 10,000 kilograms of mushrooms every month. If I coordinate with other factories, I’m sure I can put together a dinner for the frontline workers.”

However, our factory can increase production efficiency by working overtime; it's just lacking in other areas. After all, even the Second Machine Tool Plant can't produce all the components of the coordinate boring machine.

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he shrugged. This was the limit of what he could do. Even if Marx were to come back to life, he could not increase production efficiency any further.

"Ignoring other factors, just considering your factory's nighttime overtime work, how many coordinate boring machines can you produce per month?"

"At most, one hundred and fifty units."

After calculating, Zhou Zhiqiang said that the production target he had promised the department was 110 units. Now, by working overtime for a few extra hours every day, they could produce 150 coordinate boring machines per month.

This is under the condition that the evening meals are average. If the evening meals could be better, we could have a half-meat meal once a week.

Zhou Zhiqiang dared to ask to produce 180 high-precision coordinate boring machines per month.

The supplements are good; they give us energy to work, and the mental entertainment is uplifting. Their factory has done a great job.

Promote the hard work and greatness of frontline workers to the workers' families, and invite the workers' families to watch movies at the factory.

It can be said that Zhou Zhiqiang even considered and comforted the families of frontline workers, just so that they could devote themselves wholeheartedly to production.

"Based on this figure, I will try my best to allocate more supplies to your factory."

Deputy Leader Wu said, "If the production generated by a few meals of meat can offset millions or even tens of millions of foreign debts, then that would be a really good deal!"
If a pig could be traded for a machine tool, I doubt anyone would refuse.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang knew that it would be great if it were that easy to replace them. It wasn't that they didn't want to replace them, but that there was a shortage of pigs in China.

There isn't enough food to eat, so where would we find feed to raise livestock?

However, as an analogy, everyone can probably do the math: the debt owed by a machine tool can be equivalent to that of dozens of pigs.

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Okay, I'll adjust the production schedule when I get back. But could you go and talk to the leaders in charge of the optical reading instrument production?"

Deputy Leader Wu nodded and said, "Okay, you don't need to worry about this."

"Boss, I'll be going now. Um, thank you, boss."

When Zhou Zhiqiang thanked him at the end, he also took a pack of cigarettes from Deputy Leader Wu's desk.

He noticed it earlier; it had just been taken out and hadn't been opened yet.

As Zhou Zhiqiang stood up, he reached out and grabbed the new pack of cigarettes, then thanked Deputy Leader Wu.

Upon seeing this, Deputy Leader Wu was taken aback, then reached out and said, "Hey? Comrade Zhiqiang, you don't not smoke, and I haven't even opened this pack yet."

"I don't smoke, but sometimes I offer cigarettes when I need someone to do me a favor. Well, whatever the leader, I'm going back to arrange my work now. Director Ren, Deputy Director Liu, just give me a call if you need anything."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he quickly left Vice Leader Wu's office.

After everyone left, Deputy Leader Wu paused for a moment, then chuckled helplessly and said, "This Comrade Zhiqiang..."

He hadn't expected that his entire pack of cigarettes would be taken away, and it pained him to think about it.

Those were Zhonghua cigarettes with filters, 72 cents a pack, and he didn't smoke them often.

A heavy smoker could easily afford a carton of cigarettes a month, but if he were to smoke only Zhonghua cigarettes, the ten or so yuan a month was mainly for the quota of cigarettes each cadre had, not for him to buy as much as he wanted.

Director Ren also said with a smile, "I've learned a lesson today. If Comrade Zhiqiang comes to see me in the future, there will definitely be no cigarettes on my desk."

Even if there were any, he would only give them half a pack of cigarettes. Deputy Director Liu laughed along, and then Deputy Leader Wu took out another pack of cigarettes, gave them to the two men, and then began to discuss other matters.

------

After returning to the factory.

Zhou Zhiqiang then began to adjust the production tasks.

The factory closes at 6 p.m., gives half an hour for lunch, and then we work overtime for three hours until processing ends at 9:30 p.m.

Zhou Zhiqiang found all the production tasks for the factory's dozen or so workshops and then slowly arranged the production tasks for the evening.

However, after queuing for a while, I suddenly realized that I hadn't asked the most important question yet.

So Zhou Zhiqiang immediately asked Zhang Yaoguo to call over Tian Wenguo from the logistics department.

A short while later, Tian Wenguo knocked on the door and came in, smiling as he asked, "Factory Manager, you wanted to see me?"

"Something came up. If you want some water, just pour yourself."

Zhou Zhiqiang pointed to the kettle and teacup, but seeing Tian Wenguo wave his hand to indicate that he didn't want to drink, he continued to ask, "How often do you harvest mushrooms at our factory? How many kilograms can you harvest in a month?"

"Currently, the harvest is basically stable at once every twelve days, yielding about 20,000 jin per month, not exceeding 23,000 jin."

Tian Wenguo was aware of these things, so he quickly calculated: "We need to take good care of it, otherwise even a small mistake could affect the yield of several hundred or even a thousand kilograms."

Mushrooms are now a significant source of income for their logistics team. At two cents per pound of mushrooms, they can earn around four thousand yuan a month from mushrooms.

However, most of these mushrooms were used in the factory and were not sold; at most, they were used to exchange supplies with other factories.

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Make arrangements for the canteen to add an extra meal every night. The current plan is to provide overtime for 1,400 people at the factory."

"One thousand, one thousand four hundred people?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Wenguo opened his mouth in shock, then quickly recovered and asked, "Factory manager, is the factory requiring overtime work tonight?"

These are 1,400 mouths and 1,400 stomachs!

In the past, Tian Wenguo felt he would have quit; but fortunately, the logistics department had income from mushrooms, and the rabbits had started to reproduce.

Although it's not much, not enough for a meal at the factory, the factory's rabbits will definitely get an extra meal next year.

"Yes, the department's task must be completed; therefore, the mushroom distribution is suspended and will be used for the factory's dinner."

After a pause, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "Don't just make mushrooms tonight. Try to get some mushrooms from other factories and distribute the supplies to them to make things better."

This mission involves several departments, so you'd better keep a close eye on logistics and the cafeteria; there can't be any mistakes.

Tian Wenguo immediately assured him, "Don't worry, Factory Director, I'll go back and figure out a way to make sure that the comrades who are working overtime can have a good meal tonight."

This task is quite difficult, and the logistics department needs to adjust the amount of supplementary food, otherwise 20,000 catties of mushrooms will not be enough.

Each person only gets about ten kilograms, which isn't enough to last a month.

After Tian Wenguo left, Zhou Zhiqiang called over the head of the propaganda department and asked the propaganda department to organize slogans to boost production, and also to organize projectionists to show movies specifically for the workers' families.

This motivates the workers on the front lines of production to work harder, not only for the sake of national industrial development but also for their wives and children.

After speaking with the head of the publicity department, Zhou Zhiqiang asked Zhang Yaoguo to call over all the workshop directors to discuss the overtime production task.

One day, it was just after work.

After finishing their day's work, the factory workers put down their tools and began tidying up the workshop before heading home for dinner and rest.

However, after reaching the open space in front of the factory gate, someone with sharp eyes pointed at the factory notice board and said, "Hey, it looks like the factory posted a notice. Let's go see what they said..."

"Where? Let's go take a look."

At the call of one worker, workers quickly gathered in front of the factory notice board, and a small group of people could bring a large group of people with them.

It was the time when workers were leaving work and heading home. Seeing so many people gathered in front of the factory notice board, they would definitely be curious and come closer to see what was going on.

"Overtime? Why do we have to work overtime again? This is endless!"

"The factory even provides dinner, which sounds good."

"What kind of meals does the factory provide? The lunches are all the same. Are we supposed to stay at the factory for dinner and eat radishes and cabbage?"

"How long will this increase last? They haven't said. Could it be going to continue until the end of the year?"

"That's so long? That would be exhausting!"

The area in front of the factory notice board soon became bustling with people talking amongst themselves.

The security guards at the gate sensed something was wrong and rushed forward to maintain order, but there were too many workers there, and the few of them on duty couldn't keep up.

They had no choice but to report to the team leader, who then reported to the deputy section chief.

Not long after, Chen Weiguo arrived at the factory gate with two teams of security personnel. He happened to run into Zhou Zhiqiang, who was rushing over.

"Deputy Factory Director Zhou."

Chen Weiguo never shouted indiscriminately at the factory; he only called out "Zhiqiang" in private when no one was around, as it made their relationship seem closer.

“There are too many people gathered here. If they don’t leave soon, they will block the factory gate. I plan to disperse them and send them home.”

Zhou Zhiqiang waved his hand and said, "Don't disperse them yet. Let me talk to the workers and persuade them."

After saying that, Zhou Zhiqiang went to the back of the crowd, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Quiet down!!"

His shout startled Chen Weiguo, who was standing next to him, and he quickly moved away, rubbing his ears.

Chen Weiguo wondered to himself, "Zhou Zhiqiang is not only as strong as an ox, but he also has such a loud voice. Wouldn't he be a great general in ancient times?"

When the other workers heard Zhou Zhiqiang's shout, they all turned around and saw that it was Deputy Factory Director Zhou. They quieted down and stopped arguing and shouting.

Although Zhou Zhiqiang is young, he is highly respected among the workers.

When they arrived at the factory notice board, Zhou Zhiqiang said loudly to everyone, "Is it because of overtime? If so, you can ask me any questions."

Because I suggested this overtime, but I want to make it clear beforehand that it's not just you guys who have to work overtime, I have to too, and I'll be the last one to leave, I absolutely won't leave early!

　Second update, please vote for me!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)