Tianzhi Recruitment

"Phew, they're finally all installed." Xu Shuwei shook out his arms, looking as though he were about to collapse from exhaustion.

From the moment installation began on all 314 production lines, they had worked overtime for five days and four nights straight. At last, every production line had been installed, secured, calibrated, and put through trial production.

After that, truck after truck drove into the factory grounds, unloading countless raw materials. Large quantities of electronic components and supplies were swiftly moved into the workshops. At present, the 314 production lines occupied thirty-two workshops, while the remaining four were temporarily being used as warehouses.

"Hello, Brother Sun. Where are you?" Xu Shuwei shouted into the phone.

On the other end, Sun Zhongyong was leading a group of people gathered at the talent market in Huai City, Su Province.

"They should be arriving soon. There are forty-two people on that bus in total. It's too noisy here, so that's it for now. I'll call you back later." Sun Zhongyong spoke loudly and hung up on Xu Shuwei.

Not long afterward, a coach bus drove into the factory grounds. A stream of people filed out, while a man from a staffing agency loudly directed them.

The phone rang. Xu Shuwei answered it. "Hello, Mengchuan."

"How many people are the workshops still short of?" Chen Mengchuan asked with a headache coming on. The relentless recruiting efforts over this period had made all of Tianzhi Electronics famous throughout Su Province. Since fully automated production was not yet possible, each production line needed at least seven people working together, plus four more for shipping, picking, and order fulfillment. That made eleven people per line. With twelve-hour shifts, two shifts a day, and rest time factored in, each production line needed a staff of thirty to run continuously. By that calculation, they needed nearly ten thousand additional employees.

"The shortage is still huge. We should've offered higher wages from the start." Xu Shuwei spoke regretfully. They had already offered the highest factory worker wages in Su City when they began recruiting, but progress had still been far from ideal. Every staffing agency they could hire had already been commissioned. They had begun recruiting on a massive scale from the moment production-line installation started, yet they had only hired a little over two thousand people so far.

Chen Mengchuan frowned in thought.

"Your coffee." Zhao Wanyu handed him a cup of instant coffee.

"How is Sister Wang's recruitment progress?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

Zhao Wanyu shook her head. "We've already outsourced recruitment in other provinces too, but the results still aren't very promising."

"Do you have any ideas?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

"Throw money at it, Brother Chuan. If a base salary of seven thousand can't attract people, raise it to ten thousand. At the same time, raise the salaries of all the two thousand-plus people we've already hired to ten thousand as well. That way, they won't make trouble over pay either. What we lack most right now is time, isn't it, Brother Chuan?" Zhao Wanyu smiled and spoke with complete seriousness.

Chen Mengchuan was slightly stunned. He studied Zhao Wanyu carefully, then laughed. "We've been stuck in the wrong mindset."

After saying that, he picked up the phone and called Wang Fanghua. "Sister Wang, it's Mengchuan. Raise the salaries of all workers at Tianzhi Electronics Factory to ten thousand. Raise the older employees to over thirteen thousand. You can decide the exact amounts yourself. Make sure we fill every position as quickly as possible."

"Okay, CEO Chen, I understand." Wang Fanghua had barely finished speaking before Chen Mengchuan ended the call.

Holding her phone, Wang Fanghua stood there in a daze. A basic technical worker position, with meals and housing included, twelve hours a day, eight days off a month, a base salary of ten thousand, plus bonuses...

Wang Fanghua gave a bitter little smile, then swiftly had the HR department send out the notification. At the same time, she contacted the outsourced recruitment companies and posted the new compensation adjustments in all their group chats. Su City immediately erupted once more.

Before long, news that Tianzhi Electronics was offering high salaries for basic technical worker positions spread across social media.

Weibo's trending topics were flooded again. Hashtags such as #HowRichIsTianzhiExactly#, #SkyHighPayForBasicTechnicalWorkers#, and #MealsAndHousingIncludedBaseSalary10000# quickly took the top spots.

For a time, basic technicians across the country took leave and headed straight for Su City.

"By the way, Wanyu, how are Dawn 1.0 sales doing now?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

Zhao Wanyu smiled. "Same as ever. Demand still exceeds supply. These newly assembled production lines still can't officially begin mass production. They've produced a batch, but it hasn't been listed yet. Tianzhi official website has sold 4.21 million sets of Dawn 1.0 so far, with total revenue nearing 1.89 billion."

"Only 4.21 million? That's much less than I expected." Chen Mengchuan nodded. He had never really paid attention to sales or revenue before.

"Production capacity has never been able to keep up. The original factory's twelve production lines are currently producing fewer than twenty thousand sets per line per day. But Dawn 1.0 is still in short supply on the market, and demand is even stronger than before. Once these production lines come online, sales will probably explode. But just like Brother Xu said, logistics are a real problem now." Zhao Wanyu said.

Chen Mengchuan nodded. He understood that once the new production lines were operational and mass production began, distributing individual shipments nationwide would inevitably lead to growing delays.

"Oh, and a lot of people are buying up Dawn 1.0 at high prices and reselling it to Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. In the United States, a single Dawn 1.0 is already being resold for five hundred US Dollars, and even then demand still exceeds supply." Zhao Wanyu said.

"Scalpers have taken their business all the way to America?" Chen Mengchuan said speechlessly.

Zhao Wanyu nodded. "So, should we release the overseas sales agency rights for Dawn 1.0 earlier than planned?"

Chen Mengchuan thought about it, but slowly shook his head. "Wait until the domestic market gradually becomes saturated. Then we'll begin preparing the auction for overseas sales agency rights. When the time comes, we'll package the external Pulse 1.0 adapter together with Dawn 1.0 and sell them to our international friends."

As they spoke, there was a knock on the door, and Toni walked in.

"Mengchuan, the Soaring project is fifty percent complete." Toni pushed up his glasses.

Chen Mengchuan smiled slightly. "You're much faster than I expected."

Toni shook his head. "The later stages will be difficult. The required computational load is too great. Achen's processing capacity is already struggling to keep the Soaring project moving forward."

Chen Mengchuan frowned, then looked toward the screen beside him. "Achen, connect me to Xiaoxiao."

"Okay, Father." The screen lit up, displaying Gu Xiaoxiao in the supercomputer room.

"Mengchuan, what do you need?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked.

"How is the customs clearance going? How long before the hardware for upgrading the supercomputer arrives?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

Gu Xiaoxiao set down the documents in her hands and answered, "The first batch has already cleared customs and is currently undergoing inspection. We paid a high price to hire a company familiar with customs procedures, so it should reach Su City in three days. The later batches will arrive one after another. As soon as the equipment arrives, we can begin upgrading the supercomputer immediately."

"Will upgrading the supercomputer affect production progress?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

Gu Xiaoxiao nodded. "Yes. We'll need about six hours for upgrades and testing. Before the upgrade testing begins, we'll make every possible preparation in advance. Then, once the upgrade begins, Achen will enter sleep mode for those six hours."

Chen Mengchuan fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. Go back to work."

"These six hours... are very dangerous!" Toni pushed up his glasses and said calmly.

Chapter Four