The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 215 The New Deputy Factory Director Arrives at the Factory
"Yaoguo, I'm going on a business trip soon and may not be back for a year or two. I've already arranged your work before I leave. Starting next week, you can go to the personnel department."

After returning to the factory, Zhou Zhiqiang first called his assistant in and assigned him some work.

"You know that Tian Yongli, the deputy head of the personnel department, has retired due to illness? You can go and take over Tian Yongli's work."

"Work for a while first. The department has even assigned me a full-time assistant and driver. After I return, you can decide whether to stay in the personnel department or come back to be my assistant."

After a pause, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "I've already discussed it with Secretary Li. You can just go to the personnel department to report next Monday."

Actually, his assistant is a few years older than him; he's thirty now.

He has been working for more than ten years, and Zhang Yaoguo was previously a level-two clerk. Now that he has been promoted to a level one and then assigned to the position of deputy section chief, it is not unreasonable at all.

Because he was a suitable candidate for promotion in all aspects, Zhou Zhiqiang mentioned it to Secretary Li, who didn't object much and quickly agreed.

"Thank you for the arrangement, boss."

Zhang Yaoguo was somewhat excited, but at the same time, he quickly realized that his leader would have a full-time assistant when he returned, and immediately guessed that his leader might be promoted again.

Even if it wasn't a promotion, his salary had improved. Although he was Zhou Zhiqiang's assistant before, their relationship had always been in the factory office.

Hearing this news, Zhang Yaoguo was truly torn. On one hand, there was the position of deputy head of the personnel department, and on the other hand, there was the option of continuing to be Zhou Zhiqiang's assistant. The former seemed better, but he preferred the latter.

"Boss, I'd still rather be your assistant."

Zhang Yaoguo didn't hesitate for long before answering.

He quickly realized that he was promoted so quickly because of Zhou Zhiqiang's promotion. Otherwise, he was not the only college graduate in the factory. How could he have become the deputy head of the personnel department?
It's still more promising to stay by the leader's side, and besides, following the leader will allow you to better serve the people. Zhang Yaoguo has seen how hard Zhou Zhiqiang works; when he's busy working overtime, he works much harder than his assistant.

"No rush. Even if you wanted to be my protégé now, it's too late. I'm going on a business trip soon and won't be back until next year at the earliest."

Zhou Zhiqiang waved his hand, smiled, and said, "Go and learn in the personnel department first, and we'll talk again when I get back."

"Yes, leader."

After Zhang Yaoguo finished speaking, he left the office.

After everyone left the office, Zhou Zhiqiang continued to handle matters at the factory.

The supply of materials to the Second Machine Tool Plant has gradually resumed, and the amount of materials approved each month is increasing.

The factory can easily afford to provide meals for workers after they work overtime at night, ensuring that all workers are well-fed. This will motivate them to work even harder.

The recovery of supplies made Zhou Zhiqiang feel that the year of disaster was basically over. Although there was a minor disaster this year, the country has recovered a lot.

The emergence of a large number of foreign exchange orders has greatly improved our ability to withstand disasters.

With reduced waste and increased foreign exchange reserves, even minor disasters or fluctuations in the second half of the year will not have a significant impact.

The gradual recovery of the supply of goods is a sign of improvement. By next year, it is estimated that even the rations for ordinary residents will be fully restored to the levels before 1959.

The Second Machine Tool Plant is about to enter a phase of rapid production development, and it can now produce three types of machine tools.

These three types of machine tools are in great demand both domestically and internationally.

For the next three to five years, the production of these three types of machine tools will allow the output value of the Second Machine Tool Plant to increase steadily.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang did not intend to rely on his past achievements. After completing the heavy machine tool project in Liaoyang, he would definitely continue to develop more powerful CNC machine tools after returning to the Second Machine Tool Plant.

Upgrade current machine tools in three aspects: integrated circuits, high-precision machining, and complex surface machining.

After the previous project ended, Zhou Zhiqiang also gave some suggestions to Zhao Chenghui, a colleague at Factory 190, on improving the photolithography process.

This is the technical process theory he obtained by collecting and deducing assistants. However, the time was very short and there was not much data when collecting it, so the resulting technical process is only a basic theory.

The more data collected, the more feedback was received. Zhou Zhiqiang had very little free time at the time, with a lot of other things to do, so he could only give this much to Factory 190.

However, Zhao Chenghui was quite surprised when he received these, and immediately said that they would try to study them.

If this can be achieved, their photolithography technology will take a significant leap forward; both the technology and efficiency of semiconductor production will be greatly improved.

The success of Factory 190 has generated extremely positive feedback for the Second Machine Tool Plant.

Limited by the photolithography technology at the time, the integrated circuits used in CNC machine tools today are not true medium-scale integrated circuits; the process is not up to standard and cannot produce those with lower precision.

Once the process is improved, there might be hope, and the performance of CNC machine tools can also be improved.

Zhou Zhiqiang was busy with factory matters until noon, but he had finished dealing with today's tasks in the morning. As soon as lunchtime arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang took his lunchbox to get his food.

When the workers arrived at the canteen to get their meals, they greeted Zhou Zhiqiang warmly. Although they knew that Zhou Zhiqiang, the factory manager, was very young, everyone still treated him with great respect.

From his abilities and his hard-working spirit to his dedication to improving the lives of the factory workers, Zhou Zhiqiang deserves their respect in every way.

Workers in that era were very honest and simple. They respected their leaders from the bottom of their hearts and listened to everything Zhou Zhiqiang said. Even if they had to work overtime without dinner, 98% of the workers in the factory would bring their own dinner to work overtime.

While queuing for meals, Zhou Zhiqiang chatted with some of the workers.

When asked what they wanted for this year's bonus, they said the factory's profits had been very good this year, and they would need to prepare supplies by October.

Upon hearing this, the workers around Zhou Zhiqiang excitedly started talking all at once.

Some people still wanted bicycles, while others wanted milk powder or food; the items were all kinds of things.

Zhou Zhiqiang agreed to all of them and promised to talk to the Party Secretary and Deputy Factory Director Sun about it, and that he would definitely satisfy them by the end of the year.

However, during their brief chat, the workers almost blocked the canteen in their excitement. Zhou Zhiqiang noticed the situation and quickly organized a clearing operation to restore normal order to the canteen.

He didn't dare linger in the canteen any longer. After getting his food, he took his lunchbox back to his office to eat. Otherwise, Zhou Zhiqiang worried that if he chatted with the workers for a few more minutes, the canteen would become crowded again.

Not long after they finished eating, Director Ren called Zhou Zhiqiang and told him that he and the new deputy factory director, Hou Yufeng, would arrive in half an hour. He asked Zhou Zhiqiang to inform the factory's main leaders to hold a meeting.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately agreed. After hanging up the phone, he asked Zhang Yaoguo to notify the person.

About half an hour later, the gatekeeper called Zhou Zhiqiang to report that the department leaders had arrived. Only then did Zhou Zhiqiang hang up the phone and walk downstairs.

As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the factory office building, we saw Director Ren and several other comrades get out of the car. One of them was Director Ren's assistant, and the other should be the newly arrived deputy factory director.

The middle-aged man had a smile on his face, but Zhou Zhiqiang's first impression of him was that he was a smiling tiger. Perhaps it was just his preconceived notion.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Hou Yufeng, who will be working with you from now on."

Director Ren said with a smile, then turned to Hou Yufeng and said, "This is Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang, who is also the director of the Second Machine Tool Plant."

"Director Zhou, I've heard so much about you. I've heard about your achievements since my time at Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory."

Hou Yufeng stepped forward with a smile and shook hands, saying, "Working in the same team as you has really allowed me to learn a lot."

Zhou Zhiqiang shook hands and smiled, "Deputy Factory Director Hou is too kind, you flatter me; the other comrades are already waiting in the conference room, Director Ren, shall we go over first?"

“We must go now, Comrade Zhiqiang, Deputy Factory Director Hou.”

Director Ren smiled and nodded, saying that although he acted perfectly normally throughout, one could tell something from the way he addressed people.

The group quickly headed towards the conference room.

Upon arriving at the conference room, Secretary Li and all the other leaders stood up to greet them.

After waving goodbye, Director Ren and Zhou Zhiqiang took their seats. Director Ren then got straight to the point without wasting any time:
"Comrades, the Ministry has considered that the Second Machine Tool Plant will undergo another round of expansion in the second half of the year, and the number of employees in the factory will exceed 10,000 within the next three years."
Therefore, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the revolutionary work and the steady completion of the factory's production targets, the ministry decided to appoint Comrade Hou Yufeng as the deputy director of the Second Machine Tool Plant.

"From now on, I will assist Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang in managing the factory's political and ideological affairs, personnel matters, and safety supervision..."

After Director Ren announced the personnel appointments, everyone except Zhou Zhiqiang was somewhat surprised. This was not because they were surprised by the new deputy factory director, but because they were surprised by the direction of his responsibilities.

Secretary Li sensed something was amiss, but he didn't want to ask in public, so he simply applauded to welcome them.

After everyone finished applauding, Director Ren waved his hand and continued, "Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang will be going on a business trip next Monday to participate in a major factory project, and may be away for a while."

If there are any issues at the factory that require Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang's intervention, they should be discussed internally first, then reported to me, and I will contact Comrade Zhiqiang.

"During Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang's absence, Secretary Li, you will take over Comrade Zhiqiang's responsibilities. The other three comrades will assist Secretary Li in taking over the factory's production tasks."

Secretary Li nodded in agreement and said, "I understand, leader."

Deputy Factory Directors Sun and Liu readily agreed, indicating that they would definitely assist Secretary Li.

With the factory director absent, the Party Secretary must take the lead. Zhou Zhiqiang was able to manage the entire factory as deputy director because the ministry had spoken to Li Younian on his behalf.

The reason there's no private consultation now is to ensure that Li Younian takes on the responsibilities of the Party Secretary.

(End of this chapter)