The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 184 Zhou Zhiqiang: I'm leaving it all to you.
The timing of Director Ren's arrival was somewhat sudden, but it was also timely, coinciding with their meeting.

So Zhou Zhiqiang pulled Liu Wenzhou to sit down and then briefly told Liu Wenzhou about the recent events at the factory.

The arrival of Deputy Factory Director Liu was just in time; Zhou Zhiqiang was feeling particularly preoccupied with production management matters.

Although the research and development of CNC machine tools is very important, this year's production tasks are equally important. Coordinate boring machines and universal grinding machines are key machine tools that the ministry specifically requests.

These two types of machine tools are needed not only by many military factories, but also by some national defense projects and key machinery plants.

There's also the debt repayment to Chairman Mao, and potential foreign trade orders that might appear at the Autumn Canton Fair.

Zhou Zhiqiang did not discuss production tasks at this small meeting. As the factory director, he had the authority to adjust them at will, as long as the production tasks set at the beginning of the year were not changed.

If a problem arises, he, as the factory director, will also be held responsible; however, before a problem arises, he, as the factory director, will have the greatest power.

Some time ago, at the beginning of this year, most factories experienced production difficulties, leading to economic development and even negative growth.

So the higher-ups delegated authority to the factory manager. As long as the factory manager performed the production plan tasks well, the higher-ups and the higher-ups would not interfere. They even gave the factory manager the power to manage personnel.

Now, Zhou Zhiqiang, as the factory director, has three powers: production command, internal management decision-making, and personnel appointment and dismissal. It can be said that he is the real boss.

After Zhou Zhiqiang recounted everything he had just said to Deputy Factory Director Liu, he continued, "Deputy Factory Director Liu, this is a rather important matter for the factory right now."

However, for the CNC machine tool project, the factory can provide support in R&D; I will be primarily responsible for this project.

"Factory manager, what about the production tasks of the Second Machine Tool Plant?"

Deputy Factory Director Liu began by asking, "I did some research on the factory before I came here. The high-precision coordinate boring machine and universal grinding machine that the factory developed last year are also machine tools needed by the ministry, and the production tasks are very heavy."

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Deputy Factory Director Liu, come to my office later to discuss this matter. I have a task for you."

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenzhou roughly guessed why he was being sought out, and nodded, saying, "I understand, Factory Director."

"That's all for today. If there are no other opinions, then let's prepare as we just discussed."

After looking around, Zhou Zhiqiang turned to Li Younian and asked, "Secretary Li, do you have any suggestions?"

Li Younian shook his head and said, "No, let's do it the way you said, Director Zhou. I support you in this matter."

After hearing what Secretary Li said, Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and said, "Then that's settled, everyone go and get ready."

The small meeting was over and adjourned. As they were leaving the meeting room, Zhou Zhiqiang called Liu Wenzhou back and took him back to his office.

"Yaoguo, just make Deputy Factory Director Liu a cup of tea. You should have all the workshop directors, as well as the heads of the planning, production scheduling, process, and quality control departments, come to my office."
Oh, and Director Liu from the factory office—I forgot to tell him to come over too.

After finishing this, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "Also, bring over all the production task arrangements from the meeting at the beginning of the year, as well as the recent records from the scheduling department."

"I understand, factory manager."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yaoguo immediately ran to call for help.

After Zhou Zhiqiang entered the room, he picked up the thermos and made Liu Wenzhou a cup of tea. Upon seeing this, Liu Wenzhou quickly offered to do it himself, but he couldn't persuade Zhou Zhiqiang otherwise.

"Deputy Factory Director Liu, you'll be introduced to the workshop directors and production department heads later. From now on, you'll be in charge of the factory's production tasks."

After handing over the tea, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "The CNC machine tool project is quite urgent, and I don't have much time to oversee the factory. I'll leave the production matters to you."

I previously made adjustments to the factory's production processes, and based on the current production efficiency, we should be able to complete the initial production targets by the end of the year.

Now that the factory has been expanded and supplemented with skilled workers, and has an additional branch factory, completing the planned tasks will definitely not be a problem.

Zhou Zhiqiang expects to achieve the target by early November, and then exceed it within the following month.

The goal is for all workers to be fully focused on production, and leading cadres must not slack off in this regard.

In the past, Zhou Zhiqiang would work overtime at the factory and go to the production line at night. With him as the factory manager taking the lead, all the workers were full of energy.

But now Zhou Zhiqiang is going to develop CNC machine tools, so he can't stay at the factory to oversee things anymore. This task can only be handed over to Liu Wenzhou, the deputy factory director.

Before the workshop director and other production-related department cadres arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang explained the factory's production situation to Liu Wenzhou.

It includes every detail; not a single one has been missed.

Zhou Zhiqiang hoped that the people who came would help him, not cause any internal strife, so he treated them with sincerity from the start.

dong dong.

After a knock on the door, Zhang Yaoguo poked his head in and asked, "Factory Manager, everyone's here."

Zhou Zhiqiang waved and said, "Come in quickly, what are you asking?"

After everyone came in, Zhou Zhiqiang introduced Liu Wenzhou, the deputy factory director, to them.

Then he announced that if he was not at the factory, Deputy Factory Director Liu would take full responsibility for arranging and adjusting the factory's production tasks on his behalf.

All the workshop directors and department heads were unaware of the CNC machine tool project, nor did they understand why Zhou Zhiqiang wanted to transfer the factory director's authority.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang had enough prestige in the factory that other cadres would nod and follow his decisions even if they didn't understand them.

After finishing this, Zhou Zhiqiang asked Director Liu, "Director Liu, have you arranged the office and assistants for Deputy Factory Director Liu?" Liu Aihua quickly replied, "They've been prepared long ago. As for the list of assistants, I'll send it to Deputy Factory Director Liu later so he can choose for himself."

Zhou Zhiqiang nodded after hearing this, then looked at Liu Wenzhou, his eyes asking if he had anything else to say.

If not, you can take someone to his office for a detailed discussion. He has other matters to attend to regarding the research and development of CNC machine tools.

Zhou Zhiqiang also plans to set a timeframe for his research and development tasks, specifying what tasks must be completed within a given period.

This approach might be extremely difficult and unworkable for other research and development experiments that are fraught with uncertainty, but Zhou Zhiqiang is an exception.

------

After Deputy Factory Director Liu led a group to his office to meet and discuss matters, Zhou Zhiqiang began to get busy.

The most important part of the CNC machine tool project is the CNC system, which is also the most difficult part for the entire project team to overcome.

It's no wonder that Zhao Chenghui, a level-five engineer and deputy factory director, looked troubled when he heard about the one-year timeframe.

Even with Zhou Zhiqiang's guidance on silicon material testing, his initial plan was that it would be extremely difficult to develop and manufacture mature silicon crystal integrated circuits within two years.

Three to four years is a reasonable timeframe.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang, who has a collection and simulation assistant, doesn't think that way. He can get rid of all the time-consuming experimental calculations and quickly determine the silicon material trial manufacturing process.

In the first month, we will determine the pilot-scale plan for the basic process of silicon materials.

In the third month, we will strive to produce the first batch of qualified silicon wafer samples.
From the sixth to the eighth month, we will try to manufacture integrated circuits using silicon wafers.

In the eleventh month, the control software scheduling framework was completed and the practical CNC system circuit was developed.
Zhou Zhiqiang quickly listed out the plan he had set for himself, but after listing it, he himself grinned and frowned.

It's too rushed, time is too tight. Why doesn't he know how to create clones?

"Forget it, let's just stretch the timeframe to fourteen months!"

After thinking it over, Zhou Zhiqiang decided that he couldn't rush things like that; he could manage, given his physical condition, he could sleep three hours a day without any problem.

But no one else could endure a whole year like him.

If everyone slept only three hours a day like him, then this research and development plan might actually be completed.

"Let's get the basic silicon material processing experiments sorted out first. Once we've completed the first step and boosted our confidence, then we can talk about other things."

After making the decision, Zhou Zhiqiang continued to work. He is now the person in charge of the project. Although the CNC system team is the most important, the other teams cannot be ignored.

If technical difficulties arise, Zhou Zhiqiang will still have to solve them.

It was past eight o'clock when Zhou Zhiqiang finally finished summarizing and organizing the basic process experiments for silicon materials.

"It's already past eight o'clock. Never mind, let's call it a day."

Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at his watch and suddenly felt like going home.

If he gets busy with other things, he won't be able to get much done in a few hours. He should go home and talk to his family first. He'll probably be very busy from now on, and might not even be home for several days.

Although his workplace is in Beijing, if Zhou Zhiqiang often goes home late at night, it will disturb his family's rest, so he might as well spend the night outside.

After informing Zhang Yaoguo that he could leave work, Zhou Zhiqiang made another call to the security department, and then went downstairs to wait for the driver.

I took a jeep home, and we arrived home in no time.

It's dark now, but I got back earlier than usual today.

After Zhou Zhiqiang entered the house, he could still see that the lights were on, and Guo Yuting heard him come back and open the door. She quickly came out of the house, her face showing surprise and delight, and said...
"It's unusual these past few days; everyone's coming back so early. Today isn't as early as yesterday, but it's still much better than usual."

After handing his briefcase to his wife, Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and went to get a basin to pour water, saying, "It'll only be a couple of days. I'll be busy starting tomorrow; if it gets too late, I'll just eat out for the night without waking you up."

"That won't do. What kind of person would you be if you had a home but didn't go back?"

After handing over the towel, Guo Yuting said firmly, "You have to come back no matter how late it is."

Zhou Zhiqiang looked at Guo Yuting and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Are you worried something might happen to me? Besides, I made such a loud noise when I opened the door. There are two kids at home. What if they can't sleep well because of the noise?"

"Don't say such unlucky things. Your home is here, so it's only right that you come back."

Guo Yuting said firmly, "If they don't let you come back just because the child isn't sleeping well, that's outrageous of them. I won't let Bo Cai say that."

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you."

Zhou Zhiqiang was touched by these words, so he put his arm around Guo Yuting and walked into the house, saying, "I promise to come back as soon as possible, but sometimes I come back too late because of experiments, so I'll have to make do outside."

Otherwise, going back and forth would take up my rest time. This is acceptable, isn't it?

Hearing this reason, Guo Yuting finally relented and said, "Okay then, your rest is the most important thing."

(End of this chapter)