The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 224 The Idea of ​​Building a Branch Factory: Taking Leave to Take Photos
"Director Zhong?"

Zhou Zhiqiang knocked on the office door and peeked in, where he saw Director Zhong picking up a cigarette case.

"Director Zhou, the phone is still ringing. I'll go to the workshop to check on production efficiency."

Director Zhong also saw the news in the newspaper; after all, they had to keep track of national affairs every day.

Upon seeing the foreign exchange achievements of the Second Machine Tool Plant, Director Zhong was filled with envy and kept smoking.

Nearly 90 million US dollars in foreign trade orders, more than 200 million RMB, wow! Their Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant only had a total output value of 60 million RMB last year.

One year's work at the Second Machine Tool Plant is equivalent to more than three years' work for them.

Moreover, the national output value last year was less than 150 billion yuan, but the Second Machine Tool Plant generated 1/700 of that.

It's the number one heavy machinery manufacturer in China, and it will definitely be the number two machine tool manufacturer next year.

When Director Zhong saw Zhou Zhiqiang enter, he grabbed his cigarette case and left the office without saying a word, intending to take a stroll through the workshop and ponder why their factory couldn't develop as well.

Before leaving, Director Zhong pointed to the teapot and teacups on his desk, indicating that he had just brewed them, and invited Zhou Zhiqiang to drink tea while they chatted.

All that's missing is a tray of sunflower seeds and peanuts for him.

"This is Factory Director Zhong."

"That's quite interesting," Zhou Zhiqiang then answered the phone, saying, "Hello, this is Zhou Zhiqiang."

"Comrade Zhiqiang, you must have seen today's newspaper, right? Well done, you really did a fantastic job."

On the other end of the phone, Director Ren spoke to Zhou Zhiqiang with unprecedented excitement, his excitement no less than that of the other technicians who knew the news.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Director Ren, it sounds like you just heard about this too? Does everyone here only read the newspapers?"

“I knew about this half a day earlier than you, kid. After finding out about this news in the middle of the night, I hardly got any rest.”

Director Ren said with a smile, "After the summary information came out, the deputy leader contacted the General Office of the China Ocean Institute, and then contacted the Ministry."

The publicity campaign was decided immediately, so I knew about it half a day earlier than you. I figured you were sleeping yesterday and wouldn't be able to answer the phone, so I called you now.”

"Everyone in our department knows about this. By the end of the year, your Second Machine Tool Plant will definitely be highly commended, and all the comrades involved in the research and development and production will be credited."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and said, "It's fine to give them credit, but I should have already given them credit."

"Director Ren, remind Deputy Leader Wu not to think about giving me the commendation again when he's awarding it."

With a promotion and a company car and a dedicated assistant, Zhou Zhiqiang felt that his current treatment was quite good.

If he were to be promoted again, he would have no choice but to take over the positions of several bureau-level officials within the ministry.

Having secured this position before the age of thirty, Zhou Zhiqiang dared not even imagine what kind of leading cadre he would become in the future.

Moreover, this conflicted with his development ideas. He would continue to focus on the research and development of CNC machine tools. The first CNC machine tool was just the beginning, and he would want to have more and better CNC machine tools in the future.

To become the number one machine tool manufacturer in Asia or even the world, it is impossible to rely on just one CNC machine tool. Zhou Zhiqiang still wants to make a living by building up his small CNC machine tool business, but it is not enough.

Director Ren on the other end of the phone said, "Don't worry, the ministry will definitely consider all aspects, and the reward will definitely be approved by the higher authorities, so you don't need to worry."

If anyone dares to make a fuss about this, they should first consider whether what they've done can compare to what you've done. I remember your spouse also donates money to welfare homes every year.”

"Some of our comrades are just too jealous and can't stand seeing others shine."

Director Ren spoke meaningfully over the phone, and even specifically mentioned his wife, Guo Yuting.

It's almost as if they're openly saying that some people are jealous of Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife because their character isn't as good.

After all, all the money Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife have now comes from the salaries and bonuses paid by the government. Their biggest extra gain is the batch of supplies that An Jia gave them.

Besides, the money Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife used to buy the house was borrowed from his father-in-law.

Director Ren said with a smile, "Comrade Zhiqiang, humility is a virtue you should continue to maintain, but you can't escape it all. Let me give you a hint."

The leader told me last time, "You, Zhou Zhiqiang, are a real lucky charm. You can build factories wherever you go. He's even considering transferring you to the new factory to revive another one."

"If the leadership really has this idea, then I can only accept the order. However, the machine tool factory hasn't developed yet; we've only achieved some initial success."

Zhou Zhiqiang advised, "Our development in CNC machine tools can only be considered as catching up with Xiao Ri, but one machine is not enough at all."

"At least the variety needs to be greater, capturing at least one-fifth of the global market share, before we can say that a second machine tool factory has truly developed."

If the leaders were to become complacent because of this little bit of good news, then Zhou Zhiqiang really couldn't do anything about it. It was just a bit of a pity that the Second Machine Tool Factory's development momentum was not as good as it should be.

"Haha, don't worry, Deputy Leader Wu is just saying that. Right now, he'll be the first to object to anyone who wants to transfer you."

Director Ren said with a smile, "Now, Deputy Leader Wu is still hoping that the Second Machine Tool Plant will achieve even better results next year and even the year after, and continue to bring honor to the Ministry of Machine Building!"

"Director Ren, speaking of next year's development, I'd like to have the Second Machine Tool Plant build a CNC branch plant, specifically responsible for providing CNC system R&D and semiconductor component support to the Second Machine Tool Plant."
If it's fully completed next year or the year after, the Second Machine Tool Plant will significantly improve its self-sufficiency in both production and R&D. The only question is whether the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building will support it.

Upon hearing Zhou Zhiqiang's words, Director Ren on the other end of the phone immediately realized that this was a major plan and that it should at least be discussed at a meeting of the ministry with other department cadres, as well as Leader Sheng and Deputy Leader Wu.

This is not something that he, as the director of the Machine Tool Administration Bureau, can decide.

Moreover, given the current level of the Second Machine Tool Plant, if the machine tool plant can't solve something, the Machine Tool Administration Bureau probably can't either; they can only report it to higher authorities.

After all, the Machine Tool Administration Bureau is only a department at the bureau level.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, let's wait until you're done with this matter, or you can come up with a plan to report first. This is a big deal, and the two of us can't come to a conclusion by discussing it together."

The CNC branch factory—just by hearing the tasks it's responsible for, you know that the level of this branch factory can't be set too low.

After all, production tasks are linked to production scale, and once the scale becomes large, it becomes difficult to manage if the level is low.

Furthermore, if the Second Machine Tool Plant were to have another branch plant, what would become of its administrative level? Director Ren needed to discuss these issues with his superiors.

Director Ren asked, "How's your project progressing? Is everything going smoothly?"

Zhou Zhiqiang immediately said, "It went very smoothly. I've worked with Team Leader Shen and Engineer Lin before, and their styles of doing things are just what I like."

The heavy machine tool project is estimated to be completed some time ahead of schedule.

"That's good. After you finish what you did there, we can discuss the CNC branch factory in more detail. I will unconditionally support any suggestions that would benefit the Second Machine Tool Factory." Afterwards, Director Ren talked to Zhou Zhiqiang about other things, both about the factory and his family.

There was something that concerned Zhou Zhiqiang's wife, and Guo Yuting said a few words, but it wasn't a formal question.

When Guo Yuting went to collect her salary, she couldn't help but ask why her husband hadn't replied to her letters or sent any news for several months.

Then the deputy head of the finance department reported this to Secretary Li. As a result, Secretary Li also remembered the question Guo Yuting had casually asked and told Director Ren about it when he came to the ministry for a meeting.

Now, when Director Ren made the phone call, he remembered it and relayed it to Zhou Zhiqiang.

It has indeed been a long time. It's been almost five months since Zhou Zhiqiang came to Liaoyang, and the Chinese New Year is just two or three months away. It seems that Zhou Zhiqiang hasn't sent a single letter back.

When he gets busy, he forgets about other things, which is indeed Zhou Zhiqiang's problem. He promised to send a letter home from time to time before he left, but he forgot when he got busy.

Now Guo Yuting only goes to the factory to collect his salary, and as for the special allowances and subsidies for technical personnel from the ministry, a special person delivers them to his home.

The factory has become much more peaceful lately, and even the usually unruly Deputy Factory Director Hou has settled down.

After suffering an embarrassing setback last time, he conducted a thorough investigation at the machine tool factory and then compiled and organized his findings.

It turned out that there was nothing that could be improved, and even the unreasonable aspects were all concessions made to the factory's production.

As I said before, everything revolves around production!

Deputy Factory Director Hou was still somewhat unwilling, so after discussing it with Deputy Factory Director Liu Wenzhou, they decided to select a workshop to implement a half-month shift production system.

After that, a workshop was indeed transferred, and a shift work system was implemented for half a month.

The workers did get a good rest, and the production pass rate improved a little, but the number of qualified parts was lower than in other workshops.

Other workshops operate at full capacity for 15 hours a day, while this workshop operates with half the staff and continues production for 24 hours a day. If the pass rates of other workshops are not poor, they will never be able to catch up.

After all, the production time is what it is.

After the results came out, the first to express their dissatisfaction were the workers who were on a shift work system.

Although they had rested well, their production output was surpassed by other workshops, which was unacceptable to them.

The reason they work overtime is largely because they volunteer to do so, in order to earn this honor.

If most workers are unwilling to work overtime, even Zhou Zhiqiang would find it troublesome if the union were to support them.

If they had to choose between rest time, production honors, and year-end bonuses, they would definitely choose the latter.

Therefore, this shift work system was overturned by the workers themselves after being tried for half a month.

The enthusiasm for production in this era is not just empty talk; it often creates miracles. Mentors may be those who see the power of the masses.

That's why we often emphasize that we shouldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the masses.

With the guidance of scientific methodologies, these passionate production workers will surely be able to create miracles far exceeding normal production levels at the Second Machine Tool Plant.

After this incident, Deputy Factory Director Hou became much more well-behaved at the factory.

After he arrived at the factory, it seems he accomplished only one thing: he stopped the factory's grain and meat subsidies for Zhou Zhiqiang.

But so be it, Zhou Zhiqiang and Guo Yuting don't care. They can buy it again for a little more money.

Director Ren and Zhou Zhiqiang talked a lot about the Second Machine Tool Plant, but in the end, they concluded that production was normal and everything was fine.

Secretary Li has indeed shouldered some of the responsibilities of a secretary, rejecting all unreasonable proposals.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Zhiqiang had almost finished the pot of tea.

He got up and walked out of the office, but did not find Director Zhong.

So he asked Factory Director Zhong's assistant, "Where is Factory Director Zhong?"

Factory Director Zhong's assistant quickly replied, "Factory Director Zhou, our factory director went to the workshop to inspect production tasks. Do you need to see him?"

Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "It's nothing. I'm done using the phone. Please thank your factory manager for me. I'm going back to the project team office."

"Okay, Director Zhou, I'll tell him when he gets back."

After finishing his sentence, Zhou Zhiqiang walked towards the project team office.

Upon seeing Zhou Zhiqiang return, Shen Changlin waved and said, "Zhiqiang, I've been on the phone for so long, the steamed buns I bought for you are all cold. You can put them on the stove to heat them up."

"Oh, I knew right away that it was you who bought it for me, Team Leader Shen. Thank you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately smiled and said, "Since I've already bought the steamed buns, I won't stand on ceremony."

After heating the steamed buns, mantou, and porridge on the stove, Zhou Zhiqiang went to Shen Changlin's side and asked in a low voice, "Team Leader Shen, does our project team get a holiday during the Spring Festival?"

Although it was said in a low voice, the mention of the Lunar New Year holiday still made many people who were working stop their paper, pen, and calculations.

Although they didn't turn their heads, they all listened intently to the news from this side.

The Lunar New Year holiday is probably the thing they care about most, besides project progress.

"Of course we'll have a holiday for Chinese New Year. Alright, stop listening. I'll tell you, we'll have two days off for Chinese New Year, but we'll be spending it at the factory."

Team Leader Shen addressed everyone, saying, "Those who are local can go back, but it takes too much time for people from other places to travel back and forth, so let's spend the New Year at the factory."

Comrades, please understand. If everyone went home, the project team would be delayed by at least a week. So please let your families know that the project team will ensure you have a good New Year.

If you're going home for the Chinese New Year, you definitely have to leave early. The round-trip train tickets alone are an expense, and then you have to wait until the third day of the Lunar New Year to take the train back, which will take several more days.

Upon hearing the decision, many people looked regretful, but no one complained and they continued working.

Zhou Zhiqiang was not surprised, but he still whispered to Shen Changlin, "Team Leader Shen, I would like to ask for half a day off to take a picture of myself and then write a letter to send home."

"Okay, you can go, but tell the security department and have them take you there."

Shen Changlin naturally wouldn't object to such a small matter; anyone could ask for leave and write a letter.

(End of this chapter)