The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 239 The First Heavy Factory in China

"Secretary, this is the place. Actually, the canteen is the most suitable; it's spacious and empty, unlike the crowded meeting room."

Tian Wenguo led Zhou Zhiqiang to tour the three canteens. Only one canteen has been completed so far, while the other two are still under construction.

However, all three canteens are similar; they are large enough to accommodate hundreds of people eating together.

It's definitely suitable for teaching dozens of people.

"Okay, let's do it here. I'll ask for people to come to the factory at the end of the month, and we'll start the theory classes here first."

Zhou Zhiqiang instructed, "The three workshops must be rectified as soon as possible, and the rectification and acceptance should be prioritized. They must be completed by the end of next month, otherwise there will not be enough time for training before the end of the year."

If there are any projects that can be done overnight, then let's work overtime; Director Tian, ​​please keep a close eye on things."

While theoretical instruction is important, it's impossible to teach only theory within two months. For the six technical procedures to be taught, we need to provide hands-on training for each one.

As a result, the semiconductor workshop needed to be renovated, so the project had to be delayed for a while.

The money spent on the modifications was secondary; what angered Zhou Zhiqiang most was that it disrupted his planned timeline and subsequent production schedule.

How much loss will a production delay cause? A one-day delay in production could mean producing one less semiconductor component needed for a CNC machine tool.

Fifteen days later, they produced ten fewer CNC machine tools, which is not just a matter of a few thousand or tens of thousands of yuan in modification costs.

After inspecting the CNC branch factory, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly planned to return to the machine tool factory to get back to work. However, before leaving, he still instructed, "Director Tian, ​​please prepare the canteen for me in advance. I will need it soon."

Also, write a report on the extra expenses incurred today's renovations. If the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building doesn't deal with that person, won't our factory suffer such a huge extra loss?

He reported the matter to his superiors, and whether or not it was dealt with depended on their opinion.

Even if the technician has powerful connections, Zhou Zhiqiang will still make sure he gets a disciplinary action.
Making such a huge mess and then just walking away without a trace is simply impossible.
Even if someone is so-and-so's son, it doesn't matter. Zhou Zhiqiang is a second-generation rich kid, yet he still works diligently for the country's development without slacking off at all.

Besides this matter, Zhou Zhiqiang also talked to Director Tian about the recruitment quotas to be allocated to the Jiaodaokou Subdistrict Office.

Twenty logistics positions and ten technical production positions.

In the end, Zhou Zhiqiang allocated more than half of the factory's self-recruited positions to the Jiaodaokou Subdistrict Office.

However, if it's for impoverished families, then it doesn't matter who gets it.

Zhou Zhiqiang's selfish motive of making his wife's job at the neighborhood office easier was utterly insignificant.
After saying everything he needed to say, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly got into a car and returned to the factory.

Just as Zhou Zhiqiang sat down in his office, Secretary Li sent someone to call him, saying there was something important and he needed Zhou Zhiqiang to come to his office.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang had no choice but to get up and walk towards Secretary Li's office. Fortunately, the factory director's and secretary's offices were on the same floor, and he arrived at the door of the secretary's office after walking a few steps.

After knocking twice and hearing Secretary Li's voice inside, Zhou Zhiqiang pushed the door open and went in.

After entering the room, Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Secretary, is there something you need from me?"

"Comrade Zhiqiang is here, just in time. Deputy Factory Director Liu called back and said there's something important he must tell us."

When Secretary Li saw Zhou Zhiqiang, he smiled and waved, pointing to the phone and gesturing for him to sit down quickly and listen to the good news from Deputy Factory Director Liu.

"Good news? The results from the Canton Fair must be out by now. It's almost the end of October."

After sitting down, Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and said that he noticed the phone on his desk was still connected and quickly guessed that it was about the Canton Fair.

At this moment, Deputy Factory Director Liu is still in eastern Guangdong, and apart from the Canton Fair, there is nothing else he can report.

"Is this Factory Director Zhou? This is Liu Wenzhou. The first batch of exhibition orders for the Canton Fair has been finalized, and our factory's foreign trade order report for this year has also been released."

I just got the reports from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and rushed back to the guesthouse to call you and tell you the good news.”

Liu Wenzhou on the other end of the phone was extremely excited, as if he had encountered one of the four great joys of life, and even three of them at once.

The guesthouse director, who had just left his office, was startled to see Liu Wenzhou excitedly asking to borrow his phone.

As if something serious had happened, he quickly lent the phone to Liu Wenzhou and then left the office.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Deputy Factory Director Liu, stop keeping us in suspense. How are our factory's results this year? How many orders do we have in total?"

"Factory manager, the order report from the foreign trade department shows a total of 4,100 units, 4,100 units!"

Liu Wenzhou was so excited that his tongue was trembling, but he still tried his best to make the number 4,100 clear.

"Four thousand one hundred units? Good! Good! Very good!"

Zhou Zhiqiang was also a little excited after hearing this, but he quickly calmed down. He had already anticipated that the CNC machine tools would sell very well the following year.

Its performance is no worse than that of Amer's CNC machine tools, and it is much cheaper.

The first year was because there were few visitors, and some industrially developed countries that needed CNC machine tools were unaware of this, so there was no such event.

However, since last year, news of China becoming a leading power in industrial research and development has spread quite a bit.

Currently, there are no more than five countries that can develop and manufacture CNC machine tools, and China is one of them.

Who would dare to mock China as an agricultural country now?
Although they are indeed a major agricultural country in terms of their industrial and agricultural structure, their industrial strength in some aspects has completely caught up with the first tier.

Moreover, CNC machine tools are easy to operate; they can manufacture many industrial parts simply by changing the machining method and program.

This can greatly reduce the demand for highly skilled workers, allowing the industrial structure to shift from a "human-based, machine-assisted" model to a "human-assisted, machine-based" model.

Even small factories in some Southeast Asian countries can develop completely with just one CNC machine tool.

"Four thousand one hundred units? Comrade Zhiqiang, how much is that for an export order?"

Upon hearing this, Secretary Li quickly inquired, knowing that the Second Machine Tool Factory had achieved a remarkable record of 2,430 foreign trade orders last year, which were now almost all exported.

It made their factory a lot of money; it was one of those factories that had connections with both the ministry and the China Ocean Research Institute.

Zhou Zhiqiang calculated for less than a second before saying to Secretary Li, "The price of a single CNC machine tool has dropped this year to $35,000. Since Xiao Rizi has also started exporting, I suggest that the ministry not give Xiao Rizi CNC machine tools any room to survive."
If it's 4,100 units, that's a total export order of US$143.5 million, which is approximately RMB 340 million.

As Zhou Zhiqiang finished saying the last number, Secretary Li slipped and almost fell off his chair.

It's no wonder he was surprised; even Zhou Zhiqiang was secretly delighted by the number, though he maintained a strong facade and didn't show it. Zhou Zhiqiang said into the phone, "Deputy Factory Director Liu, has our batch finished exhibiting?"

"Yes, the exhibition and trade of heavy industrial products has ended. Now it's time for the exhibition of handicrafts and light industrial products."

Deputy Factory Director Liu said, "Factory Director Zhou, Secretary Li, we have already bought train tickets for the day after tomorrow, and we should arrive in Beijing around next Wednesday."

Upon hearing this, Secretary Li quickly replied, "Okay, Director Zhou and I will wait for you to come back and celebrate your success then."

Zhou Zhiqiang then gave Liu some instructions and asked about other things before hanging up the phone.

After the call ended, Secretary Li, his face flushed, excitedly told Zhou Zhiqiang, "Comrade Zhiqiang, our factory will be back in the spotlight next year! We have over 140 million US dollars in foreign trade orders!"

“Secretary, actually our factory only produces 3,000 units. Any excess will be allocated to the First Machine Tool Plant.”

Zhou Zhiqiang pointed out that 4,100 units sounds like a lot, but their factory can only handle export orders for 3,000 units.

That means giving up more than 40 million US dollars worth of foreign trade orders to the First Machine Tool Plant.

"Give it away? Why give it to the First Machine Tool Plant?"

Secretary Li asked in surprise, as he knew nothing about this matter.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he saw Secretary Li's expression; he used to be unwilling to care about anything, not even asking questions, but now he regrets it.

But Zhou Zhiqiang still explained to Secretary Li: "Production capacity is limited. Even if our factory expands and trains, we can only produce a little over three thousand units a year at most."

There might be around a hundred more units, but not by much; so even if all 4,100 export orders were given to our factory, we still wouldn't be able to produce them all.

"Secretary, think about how many units our factory has produced this year? Two thousand four hundred units is the target, and by the end of the year we can supply at most three hundred more units to our own factory and other factories in the country."

Even with maximum production capacity, the estimated output for this year is around 2,700 units. Next year, you want to increase that to 4,100 units.

Although the year isn't over yet, there are only a few months left.

There are only about three months left, and production efficiency is approaching full capacity.

At most, we can only produce about 2,700 units this year. Even with the support of the CNC division next year, it won't exceed that number.

A newly started CNC branch factory is no match for Factory 190 in terms of production efficiency.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "I don't think we're the most worried. Our two machine tool factories can fully complete their foreign trade tasks next year, but it depends on whether the Fourth Ministry of Machinery Industry can supply the semiconductor devices needed for the CNC system."

If they can't supply the goods, then the responsibility lies with the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building. At that point, the Ministry of Foreign Trade will probably be too angry to handle the situation.

After hearing this, Secretary Li understood, but still sighed with regret, "Over 140 million US dollars! It's a pity that production efficiency can't keep up."

"Four thousand one hundred units is truly a tough battle!"

Hearing about the foreign trade orders they've secured makes them happy, but if they fail to meet their targets, they won't even have time to cry.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang picked up the phone and said to Secretary Li, "Secretary Li, I need to inform Director Wang of the First Machine Tool Plant that we need to go to the ministry together."

Next year's targets will be difficult to meet; we must finalize the most important tasks first, otherwise we might not be able to fulfill this round of foreign trade orders.

He remembered that the First Machine Tool Plant had very few precision workshops, less than a third the size of their own.

Moreover, the First Machine Tool Plant mainly produces ordinary machine tools, with CNC machine tools accounting for only one-fifth of its total production.

If the First Machine Tool Plant wants to complete its task, it needs to adjust its production plan before the end of the year; otherwise, it definitely won't be able to complete it next year.

However, the Second Machine Tool Plant has become famous again. If anyone was still unconvinced at last year's Canton Fair, this year's Canton Fair has solidified its title as the number one heavy machine tool plant in China.

The entire autumn Canton Fair generated a total of US$330 million in foreign trade orders, but the Second Machine Tool Plant accounted for half of that.

It's truly a leader among heavy industrial giants.

This year, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory did not participate in the autumn Canton Fair, but they still secured an excellent foreign trade order at the spring Canton Fair.

If they come again in the fall, they won't be able to meet next year's production targets, so they simply decided not to come.

This time, the Second Machine Tool Plant came out on top.

The GDP next year is not expected to be very high. Even if there is a recovery, it is unlikely to increase by 10% or 20% all at once.

If calculated this way, the total output value of the Second Machine Tool Plant still accounts for a considerable proportion of the national GDP.

As things continued to improve, Zhou Zhiqiang couldn't help but think about what areas the factory could still improve when he made the phone call.

The output value of their second machine tool plant is already comparable to the total output value of some medium-sized cities.

After dialing the number, Zhou Zhiqiang heard Director Wang's voice on the other end and said, "Director Wang, this is Zhou Zhiqiang from the Second Machine Tool Factory. I have something to discuss with you. Are you free now?"

On the other end of the phone, Factory Director Wang said, "Factory Director Zhou, I have some time now. What can I do for you?"

"It's good that you have time. Let's go to the ministry together. I'll call Director Ren, and we'll meet in his office."

It's about CNC machine tool production next year. There are some things we need to discuss in person, otherwise it won't be clear.

Upon hearing this, Director Wang quickly realized that it might be related to the Canton Fair, so he immediately said, "Then I'll take a car there now, Director Zhou."

"Okay, let's go now."

Zhou Zhiqiang was a decisive man. After hanging up the phone, he checked with Director Ren again before hanging up again and preparing to leave.

"Secretary Li, I'm going to the ministry. Contact me if anything happens at the factory."

Secretary Li said with a smile, "Alright, go ahead, Comrade Zhiqiang. I'll be waiting for your good news at the factory."

After leaving Secretary Li's office, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately called his driver and asked him to take him to the Ministry of Machine Building.

They arrived at the Ministry of Machine Building shortly afterward, and coincidentally, just as Zhou Zhiqiang got out of the car, he saw Director Wang's car also drive into the ministry's compound.

(End of this chapter)