“In fact, if I really allowed them to come to the factory dormitory, I probably wouldn’t lose much,” Wang Shouren chuckled. “Food, drink, and even sanitation all cost money. If I made a little effort, at least a third of their wages would be left here. However, that’s not what I want to do.”
There were similar industrial parks in my previous life.
Industrial parks like Foxconn.
The park has a nice environment and various entertainment facilities. If he wanted to, he could just copy it, add some activities, and honestly, he could easily recoup all the money in the end.
What was that saying again?
Earn money and spend it, don't even think about taking a penny home.
But he didn't.
"Don't you have one yet?" Qin Jingru complained, pointing at the television.
“Li Huowang gets up at 7:30 every morning. For him, ten minutes is enough to get ready. He goes downstairs, rides his bicycle, and arrives at the factory canteen at 8 o’clock.”
The scene shifts to the factory canteen, which is quite large and bustling with activity as many workers are already getting their meals.
"The factory's work hours are staggered, from 7 to 9 o'clock, so that the workers can eat at different times. Li Huowang's work time is 8:30, so he doesn't need to rush at all."
The camera then followed Li Huowang, and during this time, many workers grinned and grimaced at the camera.
"This is a good idea; this way we won't have to squeeze together to eat."
Some people think this way of working is good, since the work hours are separated, which means that the meal times are different.
We don't need to squeeze together to eat.
"Wow, the food in this cafeteria is really good, so much food, wow, there's even meat."
Some people saw the food in the cafeteria and drooled with envy.
“Li Huowang usually eats four meat buns and a bowl of soy milk for breakfast every day, and his breakfast costs one yuan.”
"Wow, one yuan! Goodness, that's really expensive."
"Nonsense, meat buns? What did you think they were? You want some? We don't have any yet."
“Every month, the factory provides a meal allowance of three yuan per day, which can only be used in the canteen.”
"Good heavens! Three yuan for a meal? That's ninety yuan a month? That's more than my salary!"
Even though it was 1984, and even though it was in Beijing, people's wages were still not very high. The generous meal allowances were enviable.
The scene showed Li Huowang happily finishing his steamed bun, making viewers in front of their TVs swallow hard.
Meat buns...
It's fair to say that these days, 90% of people might not even get to eat meat once a month.
Her eyes were red.
"After breakfast, Li Huowang will go to his workstation to begin his day's work. He is a fitter and is responsible for..."
Then, they began to introduce Li Huowang's work.
"This is a highly regulated production line..."
In the video, almost everyone is drawn to this production line.
I've never seen such a strange production line before. The automatically moving conveyor belt, and the oddly arranged yet perfectly logical production tools at the workstations—all of this, along with Li Huowang's ridiculously fast movements, highlighted the extraordinary nature of this production line.
"The designer of this production line is the founder of the Five-Star Production System, namely Factory Director Wang Shouren. Mr. Wang's research on production lines was at the forefront of the times..."
Others might not see anything, but only the veterans on the factory line know what this production line truly means.
"Good heavens..." Factory Director Liu exclaimed, "No wonder they're so efficient!"
He looked at Deputy Factory Director Wu beside him, seemingly eager to participate: "Could we get involved in this project?"
Deputy Factory Director Wu shook his head: "This is an old problem. This production line is extremely efficient, ridiculously so, but are the people under our command really willing to do it?"
"What about adding a bonus?"
"How much to add is the maximum amount, and more importantly, what exactly is the core issue here? We haven't seen it either."
"That's no problem. Wang Shouren is a very generous fellow. We can just go and ask him." Director Liu didn't seem to care.
Deputy Factory Director Wu gave a wry smile: "This stuff is indeed good, but can our people really make it? If that kid's factory doesn't do it, he can find someone else, but our people won't..."
“Like that kid, just assign someone who’s available, even if they don’t want to do it, they can’t just join.” Factory Director Liu pushed up his glasses.
What do you think...?
Factory Director Liu sighed; he knew it wouldn't work.
Why?
It's not scarcity that's the problem, but inequality. Many of the factory's positions are filled by people with connections. Yes, you could open your own workshop and let those connections work there and collect salaries without working. But if the bonuses are high enough, those connections would probably cause trouble. While those with connections in their factory are unlikely to be big shots, they still have the ability to cause trouble.
Deputy Factory Director Wu and Factory Director Liu are classmates and have been working together for so many years, so there's nothing wrong with that.
Deputy Factory Director Wu said, "Either way, there's only one way."
"Is it contracted out?"
"Our factory doesn't meet the requirements either."
The so-called contracting is a model of this era. It refers to state-owned enterprises that can no longer sustain themselves, suffering losses year after year, and with no one willing or able to take over, they consider having someone else contract the factory. Of course, there are conditions to contracting, such as some employees and some debts being taken over. In addition to being responsible for their own profits and losses, they also have to assume certain responsibilities.
It's unlikely that a factory like Director Liu's, which is still making money, will be able to expand.
"I've heard rumors that they're planning to make our factory independent," said Deputy Factory Director Wu, adjusting his glasses.
"What the hell?" Factory Director Liu jumped to his feet. "Are they crazy?"
Their factory can also sell goods, and they sell them quite well. A lot of motorcycles have already been shipped to Southeast Asia. The volume is not large at present, but at least it's not a big problem to say that "the future is promising".
Now, for no apparent reason, they want to "contract" it out.
“The higher-ups are actually aware of our situation. They're considering whether it would be better for us to develop on our own. However, this contracting is more like a public-private partnership than a true contracting. It's similar to the situation Wang Shouren was in before,” Deputy Factory Director Wu patiently explained.
"Oh! I get it!" Factory Director Liu clapped his hands: "So they're envious of the foreign exchange that Old Wang is earning. They want to earn more too."
"There's no need to be so direct."
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