60s: I have a store

Chapter 582 Good idea

Director Hu stared at the mottled factory planning map on the wall. His eyes suddenly fell on the yellowed city enterprise distribution map, and an idea suddenly occurred to him: "Leader! Can we find a factory with poor performance?"

He spoke faster unconsciously, and the tip of his pen made a harsh sound on the table: "On the basis of the original factory building, we can add key machines and slightly modify the water and electricity lines before we can start production. This will save at least three months of construction time and two-thirds of the building materials!"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, with only the rustling sound of electricity echoing in the silence.

Director Hu held his breath and was so nervous that he could even hear his own heartbeat clearly.

After an unknown amount of time, the leader's voice came with a hint of hesitation: "Xiao Hu, this is a good idea. It not only revitalizes idle resources, but also can quickly expand production."

After hearing this, Director Hu was very happy. It seemed that his idea was adopted and the problem could be solved.

He would have been reluctant to give away the products if the steel plant had not been unable to handle so many orders.

After all, the more products there are, the better the factory's efficiency will be, and by the New Year, everyone can have a prosperous year.

Then the two of them began to check the details one by one, from the equipment relocation process to the personnel placement plan. Director Hu's hand holding the pen was recording quickly. His handwriting was sloppy but revealed the urgency of breaking the deadlock.

The moment he hung up the phone, Director Hu breathed a sigh of relief, but his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

At this moment in the superior's office, the desk lamp on the mahogany table illuminates the documents.

The leader rubbed his eyes and tapped the table with his knuckles: "Xiao Chen, bring us the list of factories in Sijiu City with declining performance."

After hearing what his leader said, Secretary Chen immediately went to do it. After a while, he hurried over with a thick file bag. The labels on the kraft paper bag were densely marked with the names of various factories and performance data.

"Chief, these are the names of the declining factories."

After the leader took it, he began to select carefully.

The superior's index finger tapped on the table, making a regular tapping sound, and his eyes wandered over the list of companies.

Secretary Xiao Chen was waiting aside holding the file bag, not daring to breathe. She saw the leader's fingertips suddenly stop on the entry of "Fang Cloth Factory", leaving a shallow dent in the ink-colored words.

"This Fangbu Factory has typical problems." The leader pulled out a yellowed enterprise assessment report, the edges of the paper had become fuzzy due to frequent reading.

"We have been losing money for three consecutive years. The inventory of grey cloth has piled up like a mountain, and the idle rate of looms is over 80%. The monthly equipment maintenance fee alone is a heavy burden."

He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes behind the lenses sharp as a knife, "But this is exactly what we need - there are a lot of idle resources and a lot of room for transformation."

Xiao Chen leaned in for a closer look. The report contained several photos taken on site. The rusty textile machines were neatly arranged, the spacious workshop had excellent lighting, and although the old conveyor belt was covered with cotton wool, it could be put into use after a little cleaning.

More importantly, the factory's independent boiler room, complete water and electricity pipeline network, and ready-made storage space can save a lot of infrastructure costs for the new production line.

The leader circled the personnel structure table in red pen: “There are 237 employees in the factory, and skilled workers account for percent.

Although there are differences in textile technology and mechanical processing, the basic equipment operation and quality control capabilities are still there. With a little training, they can quickly adapt to the air fryer production line."

He paused, his tone becoming serious, "Moreover, most of these workers' families are in financial difficulty. Closing the factories directly could easily lead to mass incidents."

"This one." He pressed his fingertips heavily on the paper, "Notify the factory director to come to the department for a meeting at ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

Secretary Chen said, "Okay, Chief!"

After leaving the office, he began to notify the director of the textile factory.

When the factory director heard the call from the department, he was very happy. It seemed that the textile factory could be saved.

On the other side, Zhou Yimin drove his motorcycle back to the courtyard, greeted his neighbor, then went back home and took a shower.

I was so sleepy that I didn’t want to take a shower, but I really couldn’t stand the smell on my body. In order to sleep more comfortably, I forced myself to take a shower.

The chirping of cicadas and the sound of storytelling on the neighbor's radio were blocked out by his deep sleepiness, until a sharp pain in his stomach pulled him back to reality from his deep sleep.

Zhou Yimin then stretched himself. Although he still felt sleepy, he probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep unless he filled his stomach.

After all, I hadn’t eaten anything the whole day. I was busy from morning until almost noon, then I finished, took a shower and went to bed. I didn’t eat anything at all.

The fact that he could hold on until now proves that he was very sleepy, otherwise he would have woken up long ago.

Zhou Yimin came and took out some white flour buns from the kitchen cupboard. After all, the buns made from two-grain flour would get stuck in the throat when eaten, which was a bit unacceptable for a person from later generations.

Suddenly I remembered that there were a lot of things in the store space that I almost forgot about. Then I took out the braised beef, braised pig ears, and braised pig's trotters from the store space.

Seeing so many delicious foods, Zhou Yimin, who was already starving, couldn't help himself. Just as he was about to eat, a hurried knock on the door broke the tranquility of the courtyard.

He was wondering who on earth was so blind that he could only open the door with chopsticks in his mouth. The door hinge made an old groaning sound and the moonlight leaked in through the crack in the door, outlining Dapeng's broad figure and Li Youde's thin outline.

"Yimin! I finally caught you at home!" Dapeng's loud voice shook the door frame. He leaned over and glanced at the greasy braised food on the table. His Adam's apple rolled uncontrollably, and the Dacron shirt on his body was soaked with dark marks of sweat.

"Aunt Zhang in the courtyard said that you hadn't been seen for a few days. Dezi and I thought you had been abducted by enemy spies!"

Zhou Yimin was annoyed: "Can't you two hope for the best for me?"

Li Youde and Dapeng both smiled.

Zhou Yimin stepped aside to let the two men enter the house, and then he realized that the buttons of his shirt were wrongly fastened.

He casually pushed the oil paper bag to the center of the eight-immortal table, and the porcelain plate collided with the wooden table with a dull sound: "Do it yourself."

When I turned around, I caught a glimpse of Li Youde staring at the drawing in the corner - it was a design sketch of a solar water heater, and the edges were wrinkled from repeated revisions.

Zhou Yimin put away the straw paper calmly. After all, this product has not been announced yet. It would not be a good thing if Dapeng and Li Youde knew about it.

In more serious cases, you might be arrested as an enemy spy.

At this time, we can only change the subject.

"What have you been busy with recently? You go out early and come back late every day." Dapeng tore open the oil paper of the braised beef, and oil splashed on the back of his tanned hand.

Zhou Yimin did not hide it: "There is a project in the factory that I need to participate in, so I have been busy all this time. I am finally done with it, otherwise I would be exhausted to death."

When we were developing the air fryer before, we were not so anxious. This time was the most difficult one.

Zhou Yimin came to the wine cabinet and took out two bottles of Xifeng wine: "Let's have a drink!"

Li Youde and Dapeng saw the Xifeng wine in Zhou Yimin's hand and immediately felt like they were craving for alcohol. Although they were not short of money, they were short of tickets. They could only buy this level of wine occasionally on the black market. The price of wine was rising. There was not enough food to eat, so how could there be extra food to make wine?

Dapeng didn't care about anything else. He just grabbed the braised pig ears and ate them with relish. Oil dripped down his chin onto his chest. "Who cares? I just know that now is a good life with wine and meat!"

Zhou Yimin couldn't help but laugh and said, "Dapeng is right!"

Then he raised his glass. When Dapeng and Li Youde saw this, they also raised their glasses.

"Cheers!" Three coarse porcelain cups clinked together.

After three rounds of drinks, Dapeng's face turned red. He loosened the collar of his sweaty Dacron shirt, grabbed half a braised pig's ear and chewed it, with fat dripping through his fingers.

"As for thrilling things, the most exciting thing was what happened at the black market in the west of the city last month!" he said vaguely.

Suddenly he lowered his voice and said, "Dezi, do you still remember the tall and thin guy wearing sunglasses?"

Li Youde paused while picking up the braised beef with his chopsticks, and then thought, "Is it that guy who said he was awesome?"

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yimin had already come closer, and the Xifeng wine in his glass made tiny ripples.

"It's him!" Dapeng slammed the table.

This action startled Zhou Yimin who was standing by: "Dapeng, just say it! Don't be so excited."

Dapeng was embarrassed: "Sorry, I was excited for a moment!"

In this way, the three continued to drink wine and eat meat.

It was around nine o'clock in the evening. The meat on the table had been eaten and two bottles of Xifeng wine had been finished.

Dapeng and Li Youde stood up and prepared to leave.

Zhou Yimin was no longer surprised by this scene, as it had always been like this before.

After Dapeng and Li Youde left, Zhou Yimin began to clean up the mess. In less than ten minutes, he had finished.

Feeling sleepy, Zhou Yimin lay down on the bed again and fell asleep soon after.

The next day, Zhou Yimin got up early in the morning, but he did not go to work at the steel factory. Today was Saturday and tomorrow was Sunday, so he would have a day off.

We have been busy for ten days now, and the rest will be left to the people in the laboratory to deal with. If it doesn't work, someone will come over when the time comes.

Zhou Yimin was thinking, it would be great if he had a mobile phone now, but in this era, even if he had a mobile phone without internet, he would still be like a brick.

After thinking about this.
Before I knew it, it was already around ten o'clock.

The sunlight slanted into the leader's office, and the quartz clock on the sandalwood table made a regular ticking sound.

He had already taken care of all the things he needed to do in the morning, otherwise he would not have had time to talk to the director of the textile factory.

The leader drank the last sip of strong tea in the enamel jug and was wondering when the director of the textile factory would arrive. At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, with some cautious temptation.

"Come in!" Before he finished speaking, Director Liu pushed the door open and walked in. His navy blue Zhongshan suit had been washed so much that it looked white, with cotton wool scraps from the workshop still stained the corners of his clothes.

His leather shoes slipped on the terrazzo floor, and he hurriedly held onto the door frame to steady himself, with a smile uglier than crying on his face: "Leader, you don't know the difficulties of our factory! Last month, when we paid the workers' salaries, the Finance Department searched the safe and only had 30 cents left."

Director Liu did this on purpose because he wanted to let the leaders know how difficult their textile factory was so that he could ask for help.

You know, if the textile factory didn’t get support from the ministry, it probably wouldn’t have lasted long.

Thinking about the many employees in the factory who rely on this salary to support their families, if they lose this job, it will be a fatal blow to so many families.

In addition to the current food shortage, money and food coupons are both indispensable.

"Xiao Liu." Director Wang raised his hand to interrupt the rapid-fire complaints and tapped the document with the tip of his pen.

"I didn't come to you to listen to your complaints about poverty." His eyes were as sharp as an eagle: "The ministry has made an important decision - the Fangbu Factory is going to transform into producing air fryers."

These words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool.

Director Liu's Adam's apple rolled violently, and his back teeth unconsciously bit his lower lip, suspecting that he had heard it wrong.

Air fryer! This is the flagship product of the steel plant. The market is in short supply and there are long queues in front of the counters of department stores every day.

"Leader, is what you said true?" He stood up from his seat and took a half step forward, the second button of his Zhongshan suit taut and shining: "Such a good project, can Director Hu give in?"

If it were him, he would definitely not let this product go, even if his leader asked him to say so.

If the textile mill had such products, it would not have fallen into the current situation where it is on the verge of closure.

The leader stood up and opened the blinds, and the dazzling sunlight instantly filled the room. Then he patiently explained: The steel plant has spread its business too far.

He turned his back to the light, and his voice mixed with the sound of whistles outside the window came: "Whether it's suitcases or air fryers, the production capacity has long been saturated. Instead of being stuck on the production line, it's better to give you a piece of the cake."

Director Liu broke out in a cold sweat on his back, and suddenly realized that this was both an opportunity and a test.

The rusty textile machines in the cloth factory and the piled-up grey cloth in the warehouse became hot potatoes at this moment.

"Cocoa, we have to replace all our equipment, and our workers have no experience." His voice became smaller and smaller, and was interrupted by the sound of his leader slamming the table.

"The equipment is supported by the steel plant, and technical workers will come for training. You don't have to worry about this," said the leader.

Then he added: "But there is one thing you must do - keep the workers stable." His finger stabbed the table hard, causing the pen to jump half an inch high. "If there is a strike or petition, you will have to quit as the factory director!"

Director Liu's legs trembled slightly as he thought of the old workers in the workshop who were waiting for their wages.

He straightened his back, his neck reddened by the collar of his Mao suit: "Don't worry, leader! I will hold a staff meeting tonight and ensure that ideological work is done well!"

After saying that, he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. It was the first time he saw his leader talking about something so seriously.

After hearing Director Liu's assurance, the leader felt relieved.

Director Liu left the leader's office and walked into the corridor. His back was all wet and he felt a little cold when the wind blew.

(End of this chapter)