The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 283 The "Home" Factory Comes to Discuss Cooperation
Early the next morning.

As Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory began operations, day shift workers rushed to the factory to start their shifts, while night shift workers who had worked all night left home to prepare for their return.

The two-shift system has been implemented at Jiuzhou Machine Tool Plant for some time now. Although the production efficiency has decreased somewhat compared to before, it is still able to complete the planned tasks.

Workers who work overtime at night won't be too tired, as the canteen provides a late-night snack; the food may not be as good as during the day, but it's definitely not pig swill.

Zhou Zhiqiang repeatedly gave instructions regarding logistics, and he would be perfunctory in personnel transfers for anyone who was negligent in providing meals.

It's impossible to have the Discipline Inspection Commission constantly monitoring logistics, as that would cause chaos. However, logistics is indeed a major area of ​​corruption.

Zhou Zhiqiang could only try his best to be attentive during the review process and not skimp on the meals for the workers who were working overtime; that was the limit of what he could do.

Otherwise, we can only hope that there is an honest and incorruptible canteen manager.

This morning, during the handover between the day and night shifts, the workers gathered in the open space near the factory notice board at the main gate, and the crowd kept growing.

"Great news! It's really great news! We're all getting housing again. And this time, they've guaranteed that the second batch of people will be able to move in before the end of the year."

"Yes, the welfare building in our factory is really well built. I went to see it last time, and the corridors are so big that even if someone is cooking in the corridors, it still feels very empty."

"Indeed, and there's enough water for all the taps. Tsk tsk, it's my turn now..."

"Don't even think about it. If it's going to be my turn, I'll go first. You're not as high-ranking as me, you don't work as much overtime, and you don't complete as many tasks as me. I'm sure I'll be selected this time!"

"This time, there are eighty more housing slots than last time. The factory is really going all out."

"The factory really keeps its word, but that's normal. After all, with our factory manager's support, there will definitely be more next year!"

The notice was posted this morning, but now more and more people are gathering here. Even the workers who have read the notice are reluctant to leave, still thinking about the wonderful life they will have after being allocated a house.

Housing shortage is an extremely urgent livelihood issue in Beijing. Not to mention ordinary workers, even some cadre families have many children, so people are crowded together.

Some workers live in Beijing, but when they know that there are employee dormitories in the suburban factories, they will apply to move in without hesitation.

Even if I don't see my family for a week, it's fine. Otherwise, I can't sleep soundly at night because the house is so crowded. I won't even have a place to stay when I get married.

There have even been cases of people borrowing houses to get married, bringing the girl into the house and then returning the house. Although such outrageous things are rare, they have still happened.

That's why the workers at Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory are so eager for housing allocation. Compared to housing, they would choose housing even if they were given two or three large items.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering, the factory office quickly sent someone with a megaphone out to broadcast to the workers gathered there.

"Comrades, stop crowding around here! It's work time now, everyone hurry up and get to work!"
"Go back quickly. If you stay here any longer, Director Zhou will probably come out again in a little while."

The workers gathered around the notice board dispersed only after hearing Zhou Zhiqiang's name, which was repeated twice.

The news of housing allocation spread throughout the factory, making the production atmosphere in the workshop even more vibrant and the workers even more motivated.

However, now it's a two-shift system, and workers won't be allowed to work overtime indefinitely. When their shift is over, they must leave the factory immediately to make way for the shift workers.

This also ensured that the workers had time to rest.

Zhou Zhiqiang arrived a little late today. When he arrived at the factory by car, the workers who had been gathered in front of the factory notice board had already dispersed.

After arriving at the office, another busy day began.

After handling the matters requiring his signature, Zhou Zhiqiang began to think about his envisioned car manufacturing project.

The factory's Party Committee meeting has already reviewed the document with all Party Committee members. In addition to the four of them who voted in favor, Director Li and Director Wang of the Trade Union and Women's Federation also agreed.

The two of them did not abstain or do anything else; they simply trusted Zhou Zhiqiang completely, which is why they agreed to something that had nothing to do with them.

The parts will definitely not be imported from abroad, and Westerners simply won't sell them to them; we can only use some domestically produced parts as substitutes, and we also need to ensure compatibility between all systems in the vehicle. We can't have a powerful engine paired with a bunch of junk.
Zhou Zhiqiang began to busy himself in the office, listing out all the systems that needed to be considered in manufacturing a complete vehicle, and then listing out the parts required by each system.

He did do his homework beforehand; some time ago, when his assistant had some free time, he started collecting information related to car manufacturing.

While learning on my own, I also had the help of a data collection and simulation assistant. Now I have a relatively mature idea in mind about how to build a complete vehicle.

If he weren't absolutely certain, Zhou Zhiqiang wouldn't have dared to propose this plan so openly.

Taking a Shanghai-made sedan as an example, if the entire vehicle were disassembled, there would be approximately 8,500 parts, of which 70% could be purchased from domestic auto parts factories.

The car body frame, chassis, doors, etc., need to be customized by finding a car manufacturer through connections; their factory can also build a casting and welding workshop, but the investment cost is too high, so it is not necessary.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't plan to spend a lot of money. He wanted to spend the biggest expense on the engine and transmission system, and buy the rest from domestic auto parts manufacturers.

After working for almost the entire morning, Zhou Zhiqiang had only managed to plan for less than a quarter of the required parts.

"We still need some help. The technical department shouldn't be too busy lately, right?"

Zhou Zhiqiang was thinking of having someone from the technical department help him organize and classify the parts.
Just as he was about to ask Zhang Yaoguo to call for help, Zhang Yaoguo knocked on the door.

"Come in."

When the person came in, Zhou Zhiqiang saw that it was indeed Zhang Yaoguo and asked, "Yaoguo, what's the matter?"

Zhang Yaoguo said, "Factory Director, Party Secretary, we received a call from Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory. They said their Deputy Factory Directors Liu and Chen need to speak with you, and they've already set off."

"Call me whatever you feel comfortable with, don't worry about my position, I'm the factory director and party secretary anyway."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he thought for a moment and then asked, "I know that Deputy Factory Director Liu is an acquaintance of mine, but who is Deputy Factory Director Chen?"

He remembered that Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory had two deputy factory directors, one was Liu Fuhua and the other was Li Guodong.

Zhang Yaoguo said, "It's Deputy Factory Director Chen Li. It seems she was promoted last year. The Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory office said that Deputy Factory Director Liu and Deputy Factory Director Chen are acquaintances of yours, so she came directly by car."

"It's Chen Li, she is indeed someone I know." Zhou Zhiqiang was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect Chen Li to have become the deputy factory director. It seems that he and Chen Li haven't seen each other for almost four years.

He left Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory almost six years ago, but he also heard that Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory was doing quite well.

In recent years, two more agricultural machinery equipment have been developed, both of which are small agricultural machinery equipment adapted to the farming mode in northern China. Although they did not achieve great success at the Canton Fair, they are very popular in China.

However, back in 1959 and 1960, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory could still compete with Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory in terms of foreign trade orders.

But now they are completely outmatched. Jiuzhou Machine Tool Equipment Factory has far surpassed other factories in terms of foreign trade orders, leaving them far behind.

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Yaoguo, go and tell the cafeteria manager to arrange a small table for three to five people. I want to treat them to lunch. By the way, when will they arrive?"

Zhang Yaoguo said, "It should be soon. When their factory office called, Deputy Factory Director Liu and Deputy Factory Director Chen had already left by car."

"Okay, go and inform the cafeteria. Let me know when they arrive."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he asked Zhang Yaoguo to go and do his business. He had originally wanted to call Section Chief Ding to discuss something, but now it seemed he would have to wait until the afternoon.

After a while.

While Zhou Zhiqiang was waiting for news and refining his car manufacturing plan, a knock suddenly sounded on the door.

Then Zhang Yaoguo pushed open the door and came in, somewhat embarrassed, leading the two of them in and saying, "Factory Director, Deputy Factory Director Liu and Deputy Factory Director Chen have arrived."

Upon seeing the visitors, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately stood up and said, "Hey? Uncle Liu, Chen Li, why are you all up here? I was just saying I'd come downstairs to pick you up. Yaoguo, next time, let me know in advance."

Zhang Yaoguo quickly admitted his mistake, saying, "It was my oversight, Factory Director."

"Don't blame this young comrade, we came straight up here, there's no need for such formalities, why bother going downstairs to meet us?"

Liu Fuhua said with a smile that he felt a little emotional seeing Zhou Zhiqiang, who was still energetic and full of vigor.

A few years ago, Lao Guo asked him to take care of a younger generation, who has now become the secretary and director of a large factory at the provincial level, leaving his elder far behind.

"Sit down, let's sit down and talk. Yaoguo, go brew two cups of good tea, and get the tea leaves from my third drawer."

After inviting the two to sit down, Zhou Zhiqiang was also quite pleased, as his former colleagues were all acquaintances with whom he had a good relationship.

"Uncle Liu, Chen Li, it's been years since we last saw each other. I've been so busy I've lost track of time and haven't had a chance to visit you. Please forgive me."

Liu Fuhua laughed and said, "Dafeng Factory misses you terribly right now. Director Zhao often says that he should never have let you go in the first place, and now it's his biggest regret."

However, back then he didn't want to release them, and it was impossible for him to do so; now he's just saying it.

If Zhou Zhiqiang were still in their factory, then the current honors of Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory might all belong to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "I'll definitely visit Director Zhao another day. He and Secretary Yan helped me a lot back then. By the way, Uncle Liu, try our special lunch at our factory. Although it can't compare to Chef Wei's, our factory chef's Sichuan cuisine is pretty good."

Liu Fuhua laughed and said, "Okay, then have a good taste at noon."

Zhou Zhiqiang then turned to Chen Li and said, "Chen Li, congratulations on becoming the deputy factory director. My congratulations are a few years late, please don't blame me."

He was quite satisfied when he first teamed up with Chen Li. She was his first workhorse. Whenever there was a tedious task, he could just open the office door and call out, and Chen Li would definitely get it done for him.

"It wasn't a few years late, just a year late. And we owe it all to you."

Chen Li stared at Zhou Zhiqiang's face for a while before slowly saying, "The research and development path you left behind before you left was of great help to the Technology Department. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to make such an easy choice in research and development."

Their performance at the Canton Fair wasn't very good; they can't catch up with your machine tool factory anymore.

"There's no other way. The farming methods in China are very different from those abroad. If we try to take care of the domestic market, it's difficult to take care of the international market. Moreover, when competing with foreign markets, we can only catch them off guard."

Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "This is equivalent to constantly taking the lead in the market, but it requires very strong R&D capabilities."

If he were still around, the business could continue; but after Zhou Zhiqiang left, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory lacked staying power.

Therefore, before leaving, Zhou Zhiqiang set out the next research and development roadmap for the technical department. Although they were not going to be able to seize a large part of the European and American markets, the agricultural machinery and equipment they developed and produced were very popular in China and Southeast Asia.

If things continue this way, the output value can be maintained for a long time, which is a good choice for Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

Zhou Zhiqiang originally wanted to ask about Chen Li's situation, purely out of curiosity, but the occasion wasn't appropriate, so he swallowed the question.

Once the three of them were alone in the room, Zhou Zhiqiang finally spoke up and asked, "Uncle Liu, what brings you here today? Let's just get straight to the point, given our relationship."

"Actually, Dafeng Factory had also been thinking about building a welfare community before, and now they've decided to, but it won't be as big as your factory's. The first phase will only have a little over two hundred households."

Liu Fuhua paused for a moment before continuing, "But Dafeng Factory also encountered two problems: site selection and commuting. These two problems have been holding us back for a long time, and then we thought of your factory, Zhiqiang."

"Your factory's staff welfare housing area has a considerable amount of open space next to it, and Dafeng Factory plans to apply for the use of that space."

"As for the transportation issue, Comrade Guangzheng wants to ask if your factory's transportation route can be extended a bit further to our factory gate, so that our factory can also provide two drivers in the future."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and said, "Oh, so that's what it is."

Open spaces are not a problem, but the main issue is traffic integration.

Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory has only bought three buses so far. They usually make four or three trips in the morning to pick up all the workers in the family welfare community.

If there were another family member from the Daihatsu agricultural machinery factory, the number of visits and the time required would likely be even greater.

However, it wasn't impossible. After thinking for a while, Zhou Zhiqiang said to Liu Fuhua, "Uncle Liu, how about this? Our two factories can jointly fund the establishment of a dedicated vehicle management office."

We'll add three more buses, plan the routes and departure times, and add a few stops along the way. The drivers will be arranged by our two factories. This will solve the commuting problem for our workers."

(End of this chapter)