Chapter 130: Replace All with New Machines

Although Old Wang was unwilling to admit it, he knew exactly what was going on in his heart.

Seeing Old Wang’s distracted state, Shen Guodong shook his head and said, "What’s wrong, Old Wang? You can't be daydreaming during work hours."

Shen Guodong walked over and patted Old Wang on the shoulder.

Old Wang replied, "Sigh, these young lads just don't listen. Supplies for the Line 1 lathe are already in short supply. If they don't look after it carefully and diligently, our Line 1 might just come to a complete standstill."

From this remark, it was clear that Old Wang was feeling quite downcast.

Shen Guodong shook his head again and said, "Don't talk like that, Old Wang. I’ve already sent Assistant Zhou out to see if we can source these spare parts. I’m hoping we can find them domestically."

Old Wang sighed and continued, "Sigh, Director Shen, I’m not afraid of you laughing at me, but for those of us from the older generation, this machine has been with us for over ten years. We’ve developed a real bond with it. Operating this lathe every day and watching it run is like watching over our own children."

"Now, suddenly being told that we have to worry about the cost of 'baby formula' for it—who wouldn't be troubled? We’re feeling a bit low, but rest assured, we’ll pull ourselves together as soon as possible. Whatever the organization decides, we will certainly cooperate."

Hearing this, Shen Guodong nodded. "As far as I’m concerned, it all depends on your morale. It mustn't drop, understood? Don't worry, our factory will do its utmost. If it really comes to it, we’ll head over to Shencheng to see if we can scavenge some suitable spare parts to get by for now."

Old Wang nodded and said, "Don't worry, Director. We are all here to serve the factory. Especially since our First Factory is on the rise again, we certainly can't let our overall strength falter."

With that, Shen Guodong left Assembly Line 1. As he passed lines 2 and 3, he noticed that the machines imported from the United States were naturally different, operating at a much higher speed.

Afterward, Shen Guodong headed directly to the Procurement Department, where many staff members were busy crunching numbers and managing the warehouse.

Seeing Shen Guodong return, many greeted him, "Director, you’re back."

Shen Guodong asked directly, "Who handled the procurement for Line 1 previously? Get me the information."

The secretaries at the front desk exchanged glances and said, "It’s like this: all previous procurement was handled by the former head of the Procurement Department because it involved foreign languages and was quite complicated."

Shen Guodong nodded. "I know that. Just give me the signed agreements and factory information; I’ll take a look."

After another exchange of glances, the secretaries handed a folder to Shen Guodong. He looked it over and saw the name of the previous procurement manager on the documents.

The signed agreement stated that the parts would be supplied to the Fengcheng No. 1 Machine Tool Factory at a 20% discount.

Looking at the agreement, which included English translations, Shen Guodong understood: since we had purchased their machine tools, they were to provide spare parts at a 20% discount.

But things were difficult now. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, those factories were facing bankruptcy, and furthermore, the American-made machine tools were indeed superior to theirs.

The competitive pressure was immense.

Seeing this, Shen Guodong frowned, thinking that this was going to be difficult.

After all, in Shen Guodong’s memory, the collapse of the Soviet Union had significantly diminished its overall strength.

The subsequent fragmentation into smaller states had further weakened them, and the lack of coordination between these new nations made the situation even more complex. It was impossible for him to just fly over to the former Soviet Union for a site inspection.

With that thought, Shen Guodong closed his eyes. It seemed he would have to rely on Zhou Meiniang to find those parts quickly.

If she could find them, it would be a cause for celebration; if not, there was nothing to be done, as he had already done everything he could.

A few days passed.

Zhou Meiniang’s cousin finished the bird's-eye view plans and delivered the detailed instruction manual. Seeing the plans, Shen Guodong couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

He had to admit, the young lady had really earned his favor.

Shen Guodong immediately placed a call to Director Xu, who was away for training.

"Director, I’ve had someone finalize the plans. I’m going to have the team start working on it now. We need to speed things up so we can finish early and get the factory into mass production."

Director Xu nodded on the other end, "Don't worry, I leave it all to you. I trust you. Just make sure our factory thrives."

Hearing Director Xu’s words, Shen Guodong patted his chest in assurance. "Don't worry, when you return, the factory will be completely transformed."

Meanwhile, Shen Guodong had spent the last two days having Zhou Meiniang scour Fengcheng and even Shencheng, asking around for any old Soviet-made machine tools.

They managed to find the machines, but the spare parts were nearly impossible to locate; there was very little inventory left anywhere.

Even if they managed to get them running, it wouldn't be enough to sustain operations for a year—at most, they would last two or three months.

Hearing this news, Shen Guodong frowned.

He realized he had to make a decision. If they were going to have to replace the line in two or three months anyway, it would be better to replace the entire line now.

Shen Guodong picked up the contract for a more advanced American assembly line.

Of course, the fact that such high-end American technology was allowed into the country meant it wasn't the absolute cutting-edge, but it was at least 15% more efficient than their current setup.

However, the rigid demands from the Americans put Shen Guodong in a difficult spot; for every machine tool produced, they might have to pay a royalty of one to five dollars.

He had to admit, the other party was acting like a bit of a vampire.

After much deliberation, Shen Guodong convened a meeting with the heads of the various production lines the next morning.

The line directors gathered, and Shen Guodong began, "Today, I’ve called you all here for a quick meeting."

"As you can see, the junkyard in the northwest has been cleared. You can take a look at this bird's-eye view of what’s coming next."