The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 198 Projects Required by Ministries
Last year was still a difficult time, and this period was not solely caused by waste.

Natural disasters, waste, and debt repayment all combined to create a situation where, in addition to overproduction in various projects, the excess products were unwanted.

Last year there was overproduction, so naturally production had to be reduced this year. However, the production reduction failed to meet the growth target, and if production were increased, the unplanned output would be stuck with unsold stock.

If things are like this this year, no factory manager dares to guess whether next year will be the same.

So everyone arrived at the conference room with grim faces, fearing they might hear from the minister: "Next year's planned production target is tentatively set at the production volume planned for 2015 and 2017."

They were given back three years' worth of funds, equivalent to three years of industrial construction, which had yielded little growth.

Before long, more and more people arrived. Zhou Zhiqiang even saw an old acquaintance, Zhao Guangzheng, the factory director of Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory, who was also his former boss.

However, Director Zhao was sitting in the second row, while the first row seemed to be occupied by directors of machine tool factories.

Unlike the somber expressions on everyone else's faces, Director Zhao entered with a smile on his face.

With its small tractors, seeders, and combine harvesters, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory has made a fortune this year.

However, the total output value of Dafeng Factory was limited by its production efficiency. Unlike the Second Machine Tool Factory, which recruited and trained its own workers when it was short of workers, the Second Machine Tool Factory relied on skilled workers transferred from the Ministry.

Once they are familiar with the production process, they can immediately convert it into productivity; Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory is far behind, as they don't receive such strong support from the ministry.

Even large heavy industrial factories have priorities. Factories like the Second Machine Tool Plant, which supplies the Ninth Bureau of the Second Ministry of Machine Building, will definitely receive strong support from the ministry.

This is related to the progress of major national engineering projects.

The priority of the Daihatsu factory is slightly lower.

However, Director Zhao also revealed to Zhou Zhiqiang that Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory has recently become a hot commodity, and the Ministry of Agriculture seems to hope that the First Ministry of Machine Building will transfer Dafeng Factory to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The reason is that Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory mainly develops and manufactures agricultural machinery, and its name also starts with "agricultural machinery." Only when the Ministry of Agriculture knows about them can they know how to develop machinery and equipment suitable for agricultural production.

But this idea was immediately rejected by the leaders of the Ministry of Machinery Industry. They said that trying to take over a large, foreign exchange-earning factory directly under their ministry at the deputy director-general level was just wishful thinking.

Deputy Leader Wu hung up the phone before even finishing the call.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture was still somewhat unwilling to give up and privately approached Factory Director Zhao Guangzheng, wanting to have a talk with him; after all, it was an agricultural machinery equipment factory, and it had many business guidance contacts with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Zhao Guangzheng was a little confused after hearing this. He said a few words and then hung up the phone. He then called the leader of the First Ministry of Machine Building and learned that such a thing existed.

The agricultural machinery equipment factory did have dealings with the Ministry of Machinery Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, but its relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture was more like business guidance, rather than a direct superior-subordinate relationship.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture wanted to expand its power, so it established a relationship with Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

The Ministry of Agriculture has not been developing well, especially in the last two years. If it had its own agricultural machinery equipment factory, it could have started to implement both agricultural mechanization programs and advanced pilot commune plans.

However, the Ministry of Machine Building would never agree to this, and even if they submitted a report to higher authorities, it would not be approved.

Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory was expanded with investment from the First Ministry of Machine Building. If it were still the small factory with nearly a thousand employees, then it would have been fine to give it away.

There are thousands of such small factories in the Ministry of Machinery Industry; it's not worth arguing with other ministries over a small factory.

However, they all invested in developing the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory, and the agricultural machinery they produced was not only sold to the Russians to pay off debts, but also earned a lot of foreign exchange.

If the Ministry of Agriculture comes to demand it at this point, wouldn't that be robbery?

Zhou Zhiqiang was surprised when he heard about this. The Ministry of Agriculture really dared to think this way. It was likely that if the matter went all the way to the China Ocean Academy, even the Ministry of Machinery Industry would not give up.

However, before Zhou Zhiqiang and Director Zhao could chat for long, Leader Sheng and Deputy Leader Wu from the First Ministry of Machine Building walked in.

Seeing that the leaders had arrived, the factory directors, who had been whispering among themselves, dared not say a word and fell silent in an instant.

The somber atmosphere in the conference room became solemn as the core leadership team of the First Ministry of Machine Building entered, and all eyes were focused on Leader Sheng on the podium.

After all the leaders were seated, Leader Sheng exchanged a few words with Vice Leader Wu beside him, then turned to everyone in the room and spoke in a loud voice.
"Comrades, it is now the end of the year, and another year of hard work and production has passed; in the past year, our country has made progress by overcoming all kinds of difficulties."

In his speech, Leader Sheng first talked about the current domestic environment.

Tell them that difficulties still exist, but they can overcome them, and that they have already made some progress in overcoming them.

"Many factories have seen varying degrees of contraction in their planned production tasks, resulting in sluggish output growth and making it difficult to maintain the high-speed growth momentum of the previous few years."

However, I want to tell you all that these difficulties can be faced and overcome, for example…

After a pause, Leader Sheng changed the subject and raised his voice, saying, "The Second Machine Tool Factory in Beijing had an output value of only ten million two years ago."

However, after Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang took over, he focused on technological research and development and process innovation, and within just one year, he reversed the decline of the Second Machine Tool Plant, increasing the factory's output value to 40 million.

"The following year, the factory's total output value exceeded 50 million, achieving the goal of nearly 100 million in two years."

This year, at the Canton Fair, they secured orders from eleven countries and regions, generating foreign exchange earnings of 108 million!

Although they already knew the news, hearing it again from Leader Sheng still made the factory directors in the meeting room gasp.

Moreover, foreign exchange is secondary; the most important thing is to showcase their country's industrial R&D capabilities at the Canton Fair, thus opening up opportunities for diplomacy.

This is the most important.

The other factory directors looked at Zhou Zhiqiang with envy, and applauded after Leader Sheng finished speaking.

After a dozen seconds of applause, Leader Sheng waved his hand to signal everyone to quiet down, and then continued, "The reduction in output and planned tasks will allow you to focus and learn from the Second Machine Tool Plant."
"Research technology, consider external needs, and improve technological processes."

Leader Sheng said a lot, but the more Zhou Zhiqiang listened, the more familiar it became. Wasn't this the development policy that their factory had reported?

It turns out that the leaders just use it directly without making any changes.

Other factories can indeed do this, but they shouldn't think about exporting to earn foreign exchange. Many factories lack understanding of foreign countries and don't know what foreign countries need. Directly setting their goal as exporting to earn foreign exchange will only lead to failure.

If Zhou Zhiqiang were to offer his opinion, he would suggest that they should first meet the industrial development needs of the surrounding cities and counties.

The government thinks the same way; otherwise, it wouldn't be developing industrial zones in various regions. The goal is to use these factories to increase the penetration rate of local industrial products. Focusing solely on securing foreign orders and generating foreign exchange is pointless; you might not even get past the Ministry of Foreign Trade's screening process.

After Minister Sheng finished speaking, Vice Minister Wu also spoke up: "Minister Sheng spoke very well. The difficulties are temporary, and the future is bright."

But a bright future requires our joint efforts.

At this point, Deputy Leader Wu paused, his gaze sweeping over all the factory managers below, before continuing.
"I know everyone is under a lot of pressure, but the more difficult the times, the more we need to stay calm, hone our skills, and have a long-term vision."

For factories that are temporarily short of production targets, don't be discouraged. The department will coordinate efforts to achieve a unified plan, rather than having you each fight your own battles.

After Deputy Leader Wu gave a speech on the macro-planning for revitalization, he gave all the factory directors a glimmer of hope.

If the ministry could help coordinate and resolve this, they could really guarantee an increase in output value. Even if it's not like the Second Machine Tool Plant, maintaining a 5% growth rate would be fine.

Except for a few factories, most other factories experienced negative growth of 5% to 10%.

Deputy Leader Wu then spoke up, saying, "The Second Machine Tool Plant has a huge volume of foreign trade orders, which cannot be handled entirely by them alone."

Therefore, the department has arranged to have some of the production tasks for orders shared with other machine tool factories.

The Second Machine Tool Plant will provide technical guidance and personnel training support. This is a nationwide effort; brother units should support each other and overcome difficulties together!

"Similar situations will occur more often in the future. Industrial development is a holistic process, not just the effort of a single piece."

After these two leaders finished speaking, it was the turn of the leaders from other departments to talk about the mistakes made last year and the development plans for next year.

The Technology Department talked about and emphasized technological and process innovation the most. Next year, the Technology Department of the First Ministry of Machinery Industry will select factories to provide technical and process guidance and cultivate the factories' independent R&D capabilities.

As Zhou Zhiqiang listened to the Technology Department's plans, he realized that they were preparing for something big next year.

Next year we will also start the Eight-Character Strategy, it seems that the year of disasters is really coming to an end.

The GDP has shrunk by a quarter, and some small factories have shrunk by half. The factory manager who came is from a large factory, so he can withstand some of the losses.

It is estimated that there will not be much support for the technical personnel of the Second Machine Tool Plant; it will probably be subject to 'regional technical support'.

However, this is normal. The Second Machine Tool Factory is now facing the same situation as the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory back then, with production as its main focus.

Next year's production schedule is already full, and the year after that is estimated to be full as well, because CNC machine tools will be able to be developed and manufactured very soon.

At that time, the Second Machine Tool Plant will temporarily enter a phase of 'heavy production', 'support and assistance', and 'light research and development'.

With production tasks keeping them extremely busy, Zhou Zhiqiang may lead a small group of technicians to continue developing new CNC machine tools, but it may take a year or fifteen months to produce a new CNC machine tool.

This R&D efficiency will likely be maintained in the future, but it will be a bit too much for Zhou Zhiqiang. He might do something else along the way.

After all the other cadres from the First Ministry of Machine Building had finished speaking, Zhou Zhiqiang was also called upon by Leader Sheng to say a few words, sharing some experience in industrial development.

After all, Zhou Zhiqiang's experience has already proven his talent; he was able to develop the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

The development experience summarized by the talent who was able to develop the Second Machine Tool Plant can be learned by the factory managers in other places.

The dozens of people who were called here today were all selected by the Ministry of Machinery Industry to invest in and support factories in the next year and the year after.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't have much to say, he just mentioned what he had just thought of.

Industrial technology research and development should start with the industrial needs of surrounding provinces, cities and counties. When he was at Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory, he also considered that the tractors from Russia were not suitable for the local area, so he developed small tractors.

Even if you really want to earn foreign exchange, you need to understand the situation abroad. Don't make sure that the industrial products you develop are not as advanced as those from abroad. That would be a waste of money and a foolish thing to do.

If a factory can supply the industrial needs of several surrounding cities, its output value can increase year by year, even without earning foreign exchange.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't say much else, but he talked about a method of steady development, with the most important thing being technological research and development.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang's words also inspired many of the factory managers to come up with crooked ideas.

The reduction in planned production targets does not necessarily mean a decrease in domestic demand for industrial products; if the demand for industrial products from surrounding counties and cities can be met, it can also significantly increase the factory's revenue.

Their factory isn't incapable of processing other products; what's troubling them now is that planned production tasks have been reduced, but they can't stop the workers.

It's not that we shouldn't let the workers rest, but we can't dampen their enthusiasm for production. This has been repeatedly emphasized by higher authorities.

Even if the Great Leap Forward was a mistake, the enthusiasm of workers and peasants for production was not. If this enthusiasm is lost, then their domestic development speed will plummet.

After the meeting, Leader Sheng specifically asked Zhou Zhiqiang and several other factory directors from machine tool factories to stay behind.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately felt that something was not right. This was not right for the Second Machine Tool Plant.

However, he couldn't leave when his boss called his name.

Although the other factory directors have left the conference room, they certainly won't go back so soon. They'll continue to run around within the ministry, trying to build relationships with the technology department or the production department.

After the meeting room was filled with only Leader Sheng, Director Ren, Deputy Director Liu, and a group of machine tool factory directors, the meeting was moved to a later stage.

Leader Sheng then asked, "Comrade Zhiqiang, how is the CNC machine tool project progressing?"

"Everything is going smoothly, leader. The research and development progress of each group has reached the previously set goals. The CNC project has even been completed ahead of schedule. It is estimated that we will be able to manufacture the first CNC machine tool that can be put into industrial production in less than fifteen months."

Zhou Zhiqiang paused for a moment, then continued, "In the field of CNC machine tools, we will surpass Russia, catch up with the United States, and become a leading power in CNC machine tools!"

"Okay, good point!"

Leader Sheng nodded and said, "Your Second Machine Tool Plant has given the ministry another pleasant surprise, completing a major project in just fifteen months!"

"The ministry plans to set a goal that all your machine tool factories need to participate in."

(End of this chapter)