Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 118 Arrival at Jialing Factory

At the end of June, Chen Xingdong sent a letter to Jialing Factory on behalf of Xingyao Group to sell them motorcycle engines.

Not long after receiving the letter, Jialing Factory sent an invitation, asking Xingyao Group to send a representative to deliver samples to Jialing Factory for inspection.

In fact, Chen Xingdong also asked someone to collect a lot of information about Jialing Factory, so he was confident that he could get a quick reply requesting samples after sending the letter.

In fact, Jialing Factory has only been producing motorcycles for a short time. It originally produced military products, and its history can be traced back to 1938.

In April of that year, the Longhua Arsenal in Shanghai was relocated to Guabang Mountain on the Jialing River in Shuangbei, Shapingba, Chongqing due to the war. It was renamed the 4th Arsenal of the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. The famous weapons expert Feng Zhudi was appointed as the factory director. The factory mainly manufactured guns and bullets, and also produced wooden-handled grenades, copper sheets, detonators, primers, etc.

Since then, the company has been producing this type of products. Of course, the production equipment has also been updated. Some equipment from the Republic of China period has been replaced by Soviet equipment and self-produced equipment.

Then, until 1978, the demand for such military products began to decrease significantly, and the assigned production tasks were directly halved.

So in order to find a way out, Jialing Factory began to implement "military to civilian" and develop and produce motorcycles.

In 1979, Jialing Factory established a motorcycle research institute with 25 people, and trial-produced the first "Jialing" 50 type two-stroke light motorcycle that year.

However, the performance of the products produced is average, especially the high fuel consumption, light load capacity, and poor climbing ability. If you bring a person and some things with you, you can only climb the steep slopes in Chongqing slowly, and the exhaust pipe will emit black smoke all the way.

Even though this motorcycle had average performance, it was still launched on the market after some improvements and it sold quite well.

So they quickly organized to expand production, modified equipment, and exchanged motorcycles for machining equipment from other factories. In 1980, they produced 2500 vehicles using a semi-manual and semi-mechanical method, and they were sold out as soon as they were launched on the market.

Faced with this situation, the leaders of Jialing Factory knew that the opportunity was right in front of them, and whether they could turn things around depended on how steady their steps would be in the future.

They knew that there were some problems with the motorcycle, and that the production equipment and technology were not good enough, but they could not be solved in a short time. The country had just started its reform and opening up, and some of the previous experts had been asked back to take charge of more important projects, while others were still waiting to deal with legacy issues.

The newly trained college students have not graduated yet, and even if they do, they would not be able to solve this series of problems.

Therefore, the factory leaders placed their hopes on the factory's engineers to solve the problems one by one, while also joining the delegation to Japan for inspection.

In Japan, they visited Honda's production line and made a request for cooperation.

At this time, the relationship between the two countries became much closer because of the Soviet Union, and Japan was seeking industrial upgrading at this time and no longer paid much attention to the manufacture of motorcycles, so the cooperation was reached smoothly.

At the end of the 80s, technology and equipment from Honda were introduced to the Jialing Factory, and the research team in the factory quickly mastered the key technical points. They then used the Japanese equipment for production while looking for other factories to imitate the equipment or help produce spare parts to quickly expand production capacity.

The cooperating factories include Puling Machinery Factory, Huawei Electronic Equipment Factory, Hongshan Manufacturing Factory, Nanchuan Agricultural Machinery Factory, etc.

So by 1981, production capacity was expanded rapidly and a total of 5 motorcycles were produced.

Although the production capacity was expanded 20 times, facing the huge domestic market, these 5 motorcycles did not even make a splash after being put on the market, as they were snapped up by speculators from all over the country.

Therefore, Jialing Factory has been trying to expand its production capacity this year. However, some military factories or local machinery factories with the ability to produce and assemble motorcycles have not been so enthusiastic about the cooperation request put forward by Jialing Factory because they plan to organize production on their own, seeing that the motorcycle market and profits are so good.

In fact, the production technology of motorcycles is not very complicated. The main difficulties lie in the engine and gearbox. The gearbox is not very difficult for some military factories. The most they produce is slightly worse performance and shorter service life.

Engines are relatively difficult to produce, especially large-scale assembly line production, which is very troublesome for most domestic factories.

Because if we produce a few or dozens of units individually, we can still make them with the high-precision equipment and manpower of the factory, but if we want to manufacture in large quantities, the production model required will be different.

This is because it is no longer possible to rely on a few level 7 or 8 workers to correct the accuracy of key components, and the accuracy consistency of products produced by ordinary workers and equipment cannot be guaranteed.

Then we must import some equipment or find factories that can manufacture these equipment to help us manufacture them.

Although Jialing Factory was one step ahead and obtained Japanese technology and the help of several technologically strong factories to imitate the equipment, some factories have now reacted and started to compete for the production capacity of those equipment factories.

Therefore, the expansion of Jialing Factory has been particularly bumpy this year. The key engine production capacity has only reached 6 units per month by June, and from the current perspective, this capacity will be the limit by the end of the year because the equipment has been snatched away by other factories.

The lawsuit has been brought to the highest level of management, but the feedback received is very bad. The superiors hope that they will follow their example and give way to other military-to-civilian factories.

There is no way around this. Even if we want to spend foreign exchange to purchase overseas, we cannot get the foreign exchange quota approved because the entire country is extremely short of foreign exchange this year.

Now we have received a cooperation letter from Hong Kong's Star Group, which states that it is for cooperation in the field of motorcycle engines. This is like a long-awaited rain after a long drought. After discussion, the factory leaders decided to promote cooperation and solve the shortcomings of the engine.

So the reply letter stated that they wanted to meet as soon as possible and hoped to bring engine samples to their factory for testing. If the test was qualified, they would discuss the form of cooperation in person.

Chen Xingdong originally planned to go by plane. After all, he was a Hong Kong businessman, so it was easy for him to buy a plane ticket, and he could also buy one for Wang Jiankun.

However, Wang Jiankun refused. He planned to take the Yangtze River waterway to Chongqing because in the future, whether the motorcycle engines were placed in Shenzhen or Wuyuan, transportation by water would be more convenient.

Because the trains to Chongqing at this time are mainly from the north, if goods from the south want to be transported to Chongqing by train, they must go around a big circle and transfer at several hubs.

Although Jialing Factory is a military factory, its status after military-to-civilian conversion is still far from that of a real backbone military factory. It is difficult to coordinate so many railway departments, and it is even more impossible for Xingyao Group to do it.

Therefore, it is more reliable to take the water route. Wang Jiankun’s fleet can transport goods from Shenzhen to Shanghai by sea, and then go upstream from Shanghai to Chongqing.

Or after being produced in Wuyuan, it is transported to Hukou Town via Le'an River and Poyang Lake, and then transferred to Chongqing.

Since both routes are under the control of Sihai Group, transportation will not be a problem.

He brought Chen Xingdong with him this time to let him see the situation of this waterway. After the cooperation is reached and this route is opened in the future, Chen Xingdong will still be in charge of it.

Chen Xingdong was accompanied by two bodyguards and a lawyer this time, all of whom had Hong Kong credentials. This was to increase his persuasiveness and also to make it easier for him to buy tickets to Guangzhou on his return trip.

At present, only people of a certain administrative level or special groups such as overseas Chinese, people with foreign passports, etc. can purchase and travel on domestic air tickets. It is not possible to buy an air ticket just because you have money.

After filling up the diesel at Hukou, Wang Jiankun drove the Experimental No. 2 boat up the river at a speed of 25 knots. After arriving in Wuhan, the group got off the boat and had a meal of local specialties, and then found a guesthouse to rest for a night.

Then they set off again the next day. After the ship passed YC City, Wang Jiankun had to slow down the speed.

Because the Three Gorges are not far upstream, the surface of the Yangtze River begins to become narrow, and there are many reefs and shoals, and the water flow is much more turbulent.

When passing by Wu Gorge, Wang Jiankun heard the calls of monkeys, and couldn't help but think of the poem "The monkeys on both sides of the river are crying incessantly, and the light boat has passed through thousands of mountains."

Because his ship was going upstream, it was moving relatively slowly, only maintaining a speed of about 8 knots.

However, compared with other passenger and cargo ships going upstream, it was very fast, because those ships were emitting black smoke while sailing on this section of the road and could only travel at about 5 knots.

After passing the Three Gorges section with many dangerous rapids and turbulent river water, the river surface became wider again. Wang Jiankun slowly increased the speed of the boat and maintained it at about 20 knots.

It was not until the evening of July 7 that Wang Jiankun's ship arrived at Chaotianmen Wharf in Chongqing.

Even in the evening there are still crowds of people here, because this is the confluence of the Yangtze River and Jialing River. Many goods and people have to transfer here, which has created a prosperous scene from ancient times to the present.

Before leaving, Wang Jiankun specially chatted with a local "ham" and asked him about the address of the Jialing Factory, especially how to get there by boat from the Jialing River, how far it was, etc.

So even though it was evening, the river was dark, and there were only sporadic lights flickering on the riverside, Wang Jiankun still calmly drove the boat upstream along the Jialing River.

Jialing Factory is located on Guabang Mountain, by the Jialing River. When Wang Jiankun turned around Ciqikou, he saw the bright lights there from afar and thought that must be the Jialing Factory.

Currently, perhaps the only large factory here that still works overtime at night to produce products, while other factories are lucky enough to be able to operate five days a week during the day.

Because they had sent a telegram in advance to inform Jialing Factory in Yichang that they would sail a boat with motorcycle engines to Jialing Factory, so Wang Jiankun saw a place with lights on by the river.

Wang Jiankun started to slow down the boat from a long distance because he found that there were too many shallows along the Jialing River.

As he approached the lights, Wang Jiankun saw a wooden dock that extended more than ten meters into the river. It appeared to be newly built, and the wooden planks were connected with iron chains.

After carefully docking at this simple pier and anchoring Experiment No. 2, Wang Jiankun followed Chen Xingdong off the boat.

He even dressed maturely for this trip, but it was not feasible for him to lead the negotiations, so he assisted from the sidelines as a technical advisor.

"Hello, Mr. Chen. Thank you for your hard work. I am Tang Haihua, the director of Jialing Factory." A thin man in his 50s came out from the dock and shook hands with Chen Xingdong.

"Hello, Director Tang. I apologize for my inconsiderate visit and for asking you to wait by the river to enjoy the fresh air."

"No, no, it's our honor to have you here. Let me introduce you. This is Mao Guanglin, the director of our Motorcycle Research Institute, and this is..." Director Tang introduced the people behind him one by one.

"Hello Director Mao, hello everyone, thank you for making you wait for us."

"The person behind me is Wang Jiankun, the chief engineer of Xingyao Power, a subsidiary of Xingyao Group. He is the chief designer of the motorcycle engine we brought this time. We will contact him for technical issues in the future. The person next to me is my legal assistant, and the other two are my security guards."

The people at Jialing Factory looked at Wang Jiankun with rage, and he felt a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, Director Tang started to lead them towards the factory's guesthouse.

When we entered the factory, we saw many warehouses with only tin roofs and some assembly workshops. The warehouses were filled with neatly arranged Jialing 50 motorcycles, and the assembly workshops were bustling with people.

Director Tang took Wang Jiankun and his party on a brief tour of the Jialing Factory along the main road, and then took them to the factory's guesthouse.

They were treated to Chongqing's specialty - hot pot. This was probably because the guests were from Hong Kong and they had heard that people there don't like spicy food, so the hot pot was divided into clear soup and chili oil.

"Come on, come on, take a seat. You have traveled a long way by boat, and it is so late now. Just have a simple meal to fill your stomach. We will have a good meal tomorrow." Director Tang warmly invited Wang Jiankun and others to take a seat.

Chen Xingdong felt a little irritated at the sight of chili oil. He had waited for a day in Hukou Town and had eaten some spicy dishes. He also had some heavy-flavored meals when he had meals in Wuhan and Yichang. So when he saw the clear soup on one side, he quickly sat over there.

Director Tang also sat down with him. Of course, Wang Jiankun could eat spicy food, so he sat opposite Chen Xingdong.

Director Mao Guanglin stayed with Wang Jiankun all the way, talking to him from time to time, and the topic of their conversation was always about motorcycle engines.

Wang Jiankun also wanted to show off some of his abilities, so when Director Mao asked about some technical difficulties, he thought about it while asking Zhizi to help him explain the questions he raised thoroughly.

So after Wang Jiankun sat down, Director Mao quickly sat down next to him.

"Come on, friends who have come from afar, let's clink glasses first and wish our cooperation will be smooth." After everyone was seated and took a few bites, Director Tang raised his glass and offered the first drink.

Everyone then stood up, clinked their glasses and said auspicious words to express their hope for a smooth cooperation.

Next, several factory leaders from Jialing Factory began to toast. Wang Jiankun was naturally not afraid. After drinking the third glass, he began to use his superpowers to sober himself up.

Then when he saw that Chen Xingdong and the assistant he brought with him were beginning to become drunk, he secretly used his superpowers to help them break down some of the alcohol.

So even though there were only three people in Wang Jiankun's group, fewer than the six people from Jialing Factory, the few people who got drunk at the end were all from Jialing Factory.

Director Tang saw that his people were starting to make a fool of themselves, so he quickly ended the drinking party because he found that although the three people from the Xingyao Group had red faces and reeked of alcohol, their eyes were still bright and energetic.

If they continue drinking, the people from Xingyao Group will be fine, but they themselves will be wiped out. That would be really embarrassing. It would not be good to lose before the negotiations even begin.

If they didn't drink, they would eat food. Wang Jiankun was naturally very satisfied with the meal, and Chen Xingdong and his legal assistant also liked the clear soup base.

In the end, of course, both the host and the guests had a great time. Director Tang accompanied them for dinner and drinks that night and arranged for them to go to their rooms to rest before leaving with his men.

(End of this chapter)