The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 212 Let's talk about the treatment first.

In previous expansions of the Second Machine Tool Plant, funding and the construction of supporting facilities were secondary; the most important thing was the training of apprentices and workers.

Zhou Zhiqiang is quite good at this. He can help apprentices master a corresponding technology in a short period of time, and then develop a corresponding production line based on the group assignments.

In other words, training and production should complement each other; if someone else were to do it, let alone achieve the same effect as Zhou Zhiqiang's training of apprentices.

If they cannot smoothly arrange production tasks and transform apprentices into productive forces, then one-third of their investment will have failed.

"Let's submit it to the China Ocean Machinery Research Institute first and see what the leaders say; the output of CNC machine tools definitely needs to be increased, and once the leaders find out, they will probably allow us to invest in expanding the second machine tool plant."

After a pause, Leader Sheng continued, "It's unlikely that the investment amount will be as Comrade Licheng described; what he said was too exaggerated."

The investment will increase by 1.5 percent, and combined with the investment made in the Second Machine Tool Plant earlier this year, it will account for about 5 percent of the total investment of the Ministry of Machine Building this year.

It's important to understand that the Ministry of Machine Building was in charge of the investment and development of hundreds of factories, as well as the implementation of hundreds of investment projects. Every year, provinces and cities would also report to them and ask for money, because it was unlikely that local governments would be responsible for all the funding for the construction of a factory.

If a second machine tool plant accounts for one-twentieth of the total annual investment of the Ministry of Machine Building, the other factories will definitely cause a commotion when they find out.

The Second Machine Tool Plant wasn't the only factory at the deputy bureau level; there were many directly under the First Ministry of Machine Building, including six or seven in the north alone.

Moreover, they cannot solely rely on results now; some factories also bear very important missions, such as revitalizing the backward industries in impoverished areas.
Deputy Leader Wu said, "The leader is unlikely to agree to so many things. Comrade Licheng probably wants to get it done in one go, so that we can just go all out on production for the next two years."

The foreign trade orders secured last year also made Comrade Licheng very happy; the Second Machine Tool Plant was originally a stagnant pool, but after Comrade Zhiqiang arrived, he transformed it into a deep abyss.

"To be honest, Comrade Jianhui, I would really like Comrade Zhiqiang to visit a few more factories."

Deputy Leader Wu began by saying, "Several factories planned to revitalize the surrounding economy and make up for the shortcomings in the surrounding industrial development when they invested in building their factories."

But a few years later, it completely deviated from our original intention of investing in and building the factories, and even showed signs of becoming a burden; if Zhou Zhiqiang had been in charge of developing these factories, the results might have been completely different, right?

"Let's forget it. The Second Machine Tool Plant is just as important. It's not like the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Plant."

After thinking for a moment, Sheng Jianhui shook his head and said, "Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory had a full production schedule at the time, but the technical research and development tasks were put on hold. Zhou Zhiqiang was transferred because he didn't have anything to do there."

Moreover, the development of agricultural machinery and equipment was considered second-tier within the Ministry of Machinery Industry, while the first-tier tasks were always machine tools and cutting-edge national defense projects.

"Yes."

After finishing his speech, Deputy Leader Wu remembered something else and said, "By the way, what should we do about rewarding Comrade Zhiqiang now? He's even been promoted to factory director."

"Want to further improve his compensation? His position isn't easy to move; we can't exactly send him to the Ministry's Technology Department."

They had considered and even discussed the question of whether Zhou Zhiqiang should go to the Technology Department before.

Later, after inquiring about Zhou Zhiqiang's intentions and learning that he was less willing to make plans and more willing to stay on the production line, the matter was dropped.

As for the factories producing the main products, Zhou Zhiqiang doesn't plan to move them within the next ten years; he's managing the Second Machine Tool Factory very well, and everyone in the factory trusts him.

The security department was also obedient. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he, as the factory director, had the highest prestige in the factory.

In this way, if any storms arise in the future, Zhou Zhiqiang can weather them thanks to his extremely high prestige as factory director.

If the workers in the factory don't cause trouble, and the security department doesn't cause trouble, then the events outside the factory won't affect him.

"Let's improve his benefits first. By the way, does he have a car and a full-time assistant now?"

"No, he's not high enough in rank, unless he's promoted one level; his current driver was arranged by the security department, and his assistant is also from the factory."

Although Zhou Zhiqiang had been using it, and it was actually his personal car and personal assistant, it was nominally owned by the factory.

Moreover, the central leadership frequently emphasizes this point: deputy ministerial-level leaders in non-important positions are not entitled to official cars or assistants, and the same applies to those below them.

"Then approve this matter as well, and report it to the leader while you're at it."

Leader Sheng waved his hand and said that Zhou Zhiqiang is now considered a very important technical cadre in their department, and the department has been subsidizing him privately. Since his position is difficult to transfer, they will try to subsidize him in other ways.

His treatment was also improved. Although that level of salary was no longer much for Zhou Zhiqiang, he should be rewarded for his meritorious service. This is a principle that remains unchanged everywhere.

The Second Machine Tool Plant

People from the First Machine Tool Plant are coming today, and Director Wang himself is leading the team.

Director Wang truly admired Zhou Zhiqiang's selfless and high-minded behavior.

If we switch places, and if they were the ones who developed the CNC machine tool, Director Wang felt that he probably wouldn't be so willing to teach it to the other factory.

Even with the intervention of ministries, the First Machine Tool Factory would still whine and demand some benefits. Zhou Zhiqiang, on the other hand, offered to teach their factory how to produce CNC machine tools as soon as they showed any interest.

When the people from the First Machine Tool Plant arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang personally went down to greet and make arrangements. However, for those who came to learn, the necessary confidentiality warnings still had to be given.

Before we arrived, Director Wang had given us instructions, and the security department had even strengthened its measures once after their factory was allowed to produce CNC machine tools.

CNC machine tools are considered top-tier industrial products internationally. At that time, only a few countries could produce them. Xiao Ri may have developed and produced them, but they hadn't had time to export them yet. Moreover, they imported CNC technology from Aramco.

They developed it independently in China, and the precision is extremely high. This alone is enough for the production unit to keep it a secret.

After exchanging pleasantries with Director Wang, Zhou Zhiqiang arranged for the technicians from the First Machine Tool Plant to learn how to manufacture CNC machine tools.

First, they familiarize themselves with the production process, and then the second machine tool factory will also provide them with all the design drawings for the CNC machine tools.

After returning, I slowly studied the production process and then tried to manufacture it according to the production process.

Zhou Zhiqiang shared his knowledge with the technicians from the First Machine Tool Plant who came to learn, opening up the entire production process of CNC machine tools to them without reservation.

After arranging the learning process, Zhou Zhiqiang handed over the rest to Section Chief Ding.

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished assigning the task to Section Chief Ding and had nothing else to do for the time being, Factory Director Wang leaned closer to thank him again: "Factory Director Zhou, thank you so much."

"Director Wang, you're too kind. This is the fifth or sixth time I've said it. There's no need for that."

Zhou Zhiqiang waved his hand and said that the domestic machine tool market is huge, with an annual output of hundreds of thousands of units, and there is demand everywhere.

If we let the Second Machine Tool Plant produce CNC machine tools, how long will it take to finish?

"However, Director Wang, you should also set up the precision workshop in advance after you go back. CNC machine tools require a lot of high-precision parts, so the production efficiency will not be very fast."
Deputy Leader Wu also assigned tasks to both of our factories: ideally, we should produce thirty CNC machine tools by September, with our factory taking on a larger share, twenty of them.”

Production is not yet possible; the CNC machine tools are still undergoing long-term processing tests, and the final results will not be available until mid-May.

After all, Zhou Zhiqiang planned to export this CNC machine tool to earn foreign exchange, so it was necessary to thoroughly test it during long-term processing.

Otherwise, if problems arise after one or two years, it will be difficult for domestic heavy industrial products to be exported in the future.

"We won't be able to confirm production details until mid-May, which means we need to produce ten units in three months. Director Zhou, we're afraid our factory won't be able to keep up. We can't be sure we'll be ready for production in May. It might be the end of June or July at the earliest."

Upon hearing this, Director Wang was somewhat worried. Last year, their factory took on the production tasks of high-precision coordinate boring machines and universal grinding machines from the Second Machine Tool Plant, and their schedule was already quite full.

Moreover, by mid-May, it will be a month, and it's uncertain whether the technicians who come to learn will be able to master the skills, and the precision workshop may not be able to be built in time.

"Our factory will try to take on more of the burden. We should be able to complete the production of thirty machines with our two factories. The First Machine Tool Factory needs to familiarize itself with the production process as soon as possible this year."

The real production pressure will come next year. With the incredible production efficiency of CNC machine tools, large-scale production is definitely in demand next year, and the workload will fall on our two factories.

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Wang agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "You're right, Factory Director Zhou. I'll immediately urge them to finish this when I get back, and we'll work overtime tonight to get the precision workshop up and running."

"That's good."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he glanced at his watch and then looked up at Director Wang, saying, "Director Wang, shall we have lunch at the factory? But the factory hasn't been cooking for us lately, so we'll have to eat in the canteen."

Their factory stopped providing individual meals a long time ago, and many factories don't either. If they were to provide individual meals at this time, the workers might overturn the dining tables.

When Zhou Zhiqiang was at Factory 190, he often ate radishes and potatoes. Fortunately, the treatment at Factory 190 was not bad, and he would occasionally get some pork cracklings or lard.

Factory Director Wang immediately said, "The canteen is good. Our factory hasn't had private kitchens for a long time. Who still does that stuff these days? Eating in the canteen is fine."

Zhou Zhiqiang then asked his assistant to bring some lunch boxes. Although there was very little food available at the factory, there was still plenty of supplies like lunch boxes and towels.

The group went to the canteen to line up for food. When many workers saw that it was Zhou Zhiqiang in line, they all wanted to make way for him so that he could get his food first.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang refused outright and told the workers in front to just get their meals normally, as the factory did not allow queue-jumping.

If the factory director is not upright, then the cadres below him will also go astray, and it will be difficult to deal with them when they are caught.

Seeing this scene, Director Wang couldn't help but feel a little emotional. He could naturally tell that the workers' desire to give Zhou Zhiqiang their place was heartfelt and not because they were afraid of the director's position.

But that's precisely why Director Wang lamented that these days, there are very few factory directors who can earn the respect of all the workers in the factory.

Not to mention Zhou Zhiqiang is so young, more than ten years younger than him. It's really rare.

(End of this chapter)