Chapter 167: Troublemaking Brothers
Xie Changning chuckled and played cute with Teacher Qin. "The winds of reform, of course!"
"Oh, stop it. Don’t you get fresh with me!"
"I’m not getting fresh with you, I’m here to invite you." Xie Changning explained that she had applied to the provincial leaders for a laboratory, and they had already approved it.
As long as she could keep the lab operational, the provincial leaders had no objections.
Xie Changning knew her mentor had other experiments to conduct, so she only asked her to come and get things started as a nominal advisor. For follow-ups, they could communicate back and forth by fax.
Teacher Qin never imagined that in just one short year, her student would become so successful.
If she had once thought she was merely cherishing a talent, now she was completely won over.
No matter where Xie Changning went, she would always make a great success of her ventures!
"I have no problem with that, but there are some tricks to selecting a lab site. Wait for me to get there, and we’ll choose a location together." The two of them talked on the phone for a long time, covering the research direction of Xie Changning’s lab, the future development of her factories, and her own plans.
Hearing that Xie Changning had everything planned out, Teacher Qin was finally able to rest easy.
"I’ll have some free time in about half a month. I’ll make a trip to Chuncheng then. Remember to come and pick me up."
"Okay, I’ll be waiting for you!"
The mentor and student spoke on the phone for nearly two hours. They had a wonderful conversation, and Teacher Qin even said she would bring two of her more capable students in the relevant field with her.
For the time being, Xie Changning didn’t take this seriously.
Everyone knew that you could only have good prospects and learn more by staying close to your advisor.
A new lab in a place like Chuncheng sounded like exile to anyone.
The average student wouldn’t be willing to come.
’It’ll be up to my mentor to convince them.’
After hanging up, Xie Changning left the machinery factory and headed straight for the wood products processing plant.
Arriving at the wood products plant, Xie Changning listened to the hum of the machinery inside, a slight curve forming on her lips.
When Wang Daqiang heard Xie Changning had arrived, he immediately came to the entrance to greet her. "Director, why don’t you come in and have a look? Ever since you had us make some of the parts in advance last time, our workload hasn’t been so intense!"
Now, after assembling those parts, they already had a batch of finished products almost ready to ship out!
’Our director really has incredible foresight!’
"Mm, what’s the current daily output?"
"It’s about a hundred units higher than before. But it’s not enough for just our factory to produce them. Didn’t we outsource parts to several of our partner factories? With them making the components, our own workload isn’t as tight."
Wang Daqiang reported on the work to Xie Changning.
As they spoke, Xie Changning walked into the workshop and saw the workers all busy and completely focused.
Every chair that came off the line had a very smooth surface.
The quality control staff, in particular, were extremely diligent. After identifying defective products, they would sort them.
Repairable defects were set aside for waiting workers to sand, fix, and turn the flawed parts into perfect ones.
As for those of especially poor quality, they were placed in another area, awaiting Xie Changning’s arrival to ask how they should be handled.
"These chairs are good too, it’s just that some of the angles are a bit off. We were wondering if we should sell them off as defective goods?" Wang Daqiang felt a pang of regret for these chairs.
’That’s a lot of money!’
"No need. Just chop them up for firewood."
These chairs were for children. If a child sat on one and fell, it could easily lead to an accident.
It was better they never left the factory in the first place.
Xie Changning explained the stakes to Wang Daqiang, and only then did he give up the idea.
Compared to a person’s life, a few chairs really weren’t that important.
"During the lunch break, have two of the machine maintenance workers stay behind for me. I’m going to calibrate the machines and see if we can reduce the number of defects."
"Okay!"
Wang Daqiang couldn’t be happier that Xie Changning was going to calibrate the machines.
In fact, Xie Changning had someone inspect them once before she went to the Chuncheng Trade Fair. She had been too busy at the time to do the inspection herself.
’Now that she’s personally taking action, it will surely reduce the number of defects!’
At noon, everyone went to eat lunch. Only Xie Changning and two maintenance workers remained, inspecting the machines one by one and adjusting some of the angles.
The lunch break was only an hour. Xie Changning said to the workers, "Time is tight and the task is heavy. I’ll give the instructions, you do the repairs. We need to be fast!"
The workers nodded with serious expressions.
The factory wasn’t large, with only a dozen or so machines. However, repairing them all would normally take them about two days, and that was if they worked especially fast.
The workers thought that finishing in three days would be considered fast.
Unexpectedly, with Xie Changning directing them from the side, their hands moved as if being controlled. They followed her instructions precisely, and the repair speed was incredibly fast.
They could fix one machine in just over twenty minutes. For the ones with minor issues later on, it only took about ten minutes per machine!
So, by the time the other workers returned from their break, the maintenance crew had already repaired five machines.
When the workers started their afternoon shift, Xie Changning had the maintenance workers go rest. She planned to have them work an hour of overtime after the shift ended to continue the repairs.
This way, the work in the wood products factory’s workshop could be finished by noon tomorrow.
The workers weren’t sure if it was their imagination, but they felt that the repaired machines ran with a smoother sound and at a faster speed!
"I’m going to check on the daily chemical factory first. You guys carry on. I’ll come back when your shift ends," Xie Changning said to Wang Daqiang.
Wang Daqiang nodded.
After Xie Changning left, Wang Daqiang fixed his gaze on the production line. He had been observing the chairs made that afternoon. For any chair that came from a machine repaired during the break, the defect rate was significantly lower than in the morning!
And the defects themselves weren’t serious!
They were the kind that could be used after a little sanding!
Wang Daqiang was stunned. ’As expected of Mr. Xie!’
At that moment, Mr. Xie was at the daily chemical factory, observing the work in the workshop.
"Director, you’re here." The moment Lin Yongsheng heard Xie Changning had arrived, he hurried out of the workshop to welcome her at the entrance.
Seeing him panting and out of breath, Xie Changning frowned slightly.
"Vice Factory Director Lin, why are you so exhausted?"
’Isn’t all the physical labor in the factory done by the manual workers?’
Lin Yongsheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Xie Changning, "Don’t even ask. You know how our factory has a lot of orders right now? Well, a lot of managers from the supply and marketing cooperatives in the surrounding areas have come, wanting to place orders. We can’t fulfill them, so they’re refusing to leave."
"And now? They’re causing a scene in the workshop."
Lin Yongsheng hadn’t even told Xie Changning yet that the ringleader was someone who had come using her name.
He was claiming to be Xie Changning’s brother.
Lin Yongsheng had been just about to contact Xie Changning when she showed up.
