Soon, a bustling production workshop came into Xu Yifan's view.
Workers operated all kinds of machinery, following a strict and complex process as Jiuzhou Mini after Jiuzhou Mini rolled off the production line.
After making a round, Xu Yifan found Zhou Fengyan instructing the workers.
"Boss, is there something you need?" Zhou Fengyan, manager of the Production Department and a technical engineer, jogged over to ask.
At first, Zhou Fengyan hadn't thought much of this young, handsome factory director. He'd assumed he was just some rich second-generation kid who'd come to open a factory for fun.
Now, he admired him greatly.
Just look at the factory now. It was completely different from how it had been before.
The Jiuzhou Mini electric vehicles coming off the line might not be real cars, but the factory was now running smoothly. Everyone worked with drive each day, and the place had been brought back to life!
He no longer dared to look down on the young man because of his age or for any other reason.
He'd graduated from a prestigious foreign university and was smart. He knew how to run a factory, and he'd organized every part of the operation exceptionally well. Things were much better than they'd been before.
"Yeah. I came to ask if there's any way we can increase production as quickly as possible."
"Sales at our stores have been excellent lately. We've already taken orders for more than forty vehicles today, and by closing time we could have over sixty."
"New Year's is almost here, and a lot of customers hope to pick up their vehicles before then."
Xu Yifan explained the problem they were facing in detail.
"Well..." Zhou Fengyan said with a wry smile. "The production workshop is already running at full capacity.
"Our more than one hundred workers have been working from eight in the morning until eight or nine at night, putting in around twelve hours a day.
"We're already doing everything we can to keep production moving. I'm keeping an eye on every step, and whenever things slow down, I urge them to work faster."
Thinking of his own life in the previous world, when he'd spent twelve hours a day tightening screws, Xu Yifan sympathized. "That's true. The workers are already working extremely hard, and production has visibly increased lately, but it's still not enough!"
Xu Yifan sighed, then suddenly froze as the realization hit him. He hurriedly asked, "More than one hundred workers are working twelve hours straight every day?"
Zhou Fengyan nodded. "That's right. Everyone works really hard every day!"
Usually, Xu Yifan started work at nine in the morning, spent some time in his office playing around and checking the system interface, and dealt with any problems that came up.
If there were no problems, he watched shows or played games, then slipped off work around three or four in the afternoon.
He'd never once come to the factory at night.
Xu Yifan asked again, "Do the factory workers clock out on time every day? Don't they work production shifts at night?"
Zhou Fengyan hesitated before answering, "Well, everyone needs time to rest. Twelve hours of work is already a full load. If we extend the hours, a lot of workers won't want to stay in this job."
After speaking, he glanced at the young factory director in front of him. He didn't look like the sort of boss who needed to be strung up on a lamppost!
"It's also because our factory pays well and provides food and lodging. Otherwise, twelve hours is already a pretty long workday."
Realizing Zhou Fengyan had misunderstood him, Xu Yifan explained, "What if we brought in another group of workers to work at night? Would production speed up? For example, what if we hired twice as many production workers?"
"The workers can rest, but the production line can't. Would that work?"
Relieved, Zhou Fengyan smiled. "That'd definitely work. Production could increase by at least double!"
Xu Yifan gave a helpless smile. He'd actually overlooked such an important issue!
When he'd hired workers earlier, his main priority had been getting the factory up and running. Since it wasn't turning a profit, he'd been cautious and hired only a little over a hundred people.
Most of the factories he'd worked at before used automated machinery. Their production speed was determined by the production line's maximum capacity, and they generally ran around the clock with workers rotating in shifts.
The old production line relied mostly on workers. Naturally, production slowed when the workers weren't experienced, while skilled workers could produce more.
And with more production workers divided into two or three shifts, production could immediately double!
After thinking it over, Xu Yifan gave his instructions. "Engineer Zhou, get ready. I'm going to the Human Resources Department to have them hire more production workers right away.
"Right, two shifts won't do. We'll go straight to three shifts: morning, evening, and night. The shifts will rotate once a month!
"Make a list of the employees who are most skilled at each stage. They'll train apprentices. After two or three days of training, the apprentices can be paired with experienced workers, who'll lead them in three-shift rotations!"
Zhou Fengyan immediately agreed. "Sure. I'm sure everyone will be delighted when they hear the news. Their workday will be four hours shorter, so they'll have more time to rest."
Xu Yifan nodded with satisfaction. "Good. You've worked hard too, Engineer Zhou. You can start training two deputies to handle the technical work and supervision."
"Yes!"
With the production issue settled and Zhou Fengyan's tasks assigned, Xu Yifan didn't waste any time. He went straight back to the company's office building.
As soon as he entered, Xu Yifan turned to the secretary following him and said, "Secretary Lin, notify the Human Resources Department to hold a meeting!"
"Sure, Boss!" Her high heels clicked away into the distance.
The pretty young woman went to find the Human Resources Department.
Xu Yifan headed to the conference room, sat down, took out a pen and paper, and began working out the numbers.
They didn't just need to hire more production workers. With more workers, they'd also need to promote more team leaders to management positions. He could check the system's employee interface and appoint the most technically skilled workers.
Then there was the Human Resources Department, the Finance Department, the cafeteria cooks, the security guards, and others. They'd also need more staff for the company to operate properly.
The number of finance staff should double.
The cafeteria needed at least twice as many cooks and kitchen assistants.
"Right. For the employees' well-being, we need to hire some good cooks this time!
"I'm not saying we need chefs from five-star hotels, but at the very least, the food should taste decent. It shouldn't be like it is now, where it's edible and won't kill you!
"With more people, security may face more unexpected situations. A few guards at the gate won't be enough. We should increase their number to fifteen and form a security team.
"We also need to start setting up a Legal Department. We'll be selling more products and have more employees, so we may run into legal issues. Better to set it up early than be at a loss when we need it later.
"And the Sales Department needs more staff, people who know the product and can handle sales. Later, we can use them to expand into nearby cities..."
Xu Yifan opened the system panel and checked the staffing numbers for each department. As he thought, he wrote down how many more employees they needed to hire.
This was the second time he'd expanded the company's workforce.
The first time had been right after he took over the company, when he'd hired the first batch of employees to get the factory running smoothly.
This time, he planned to let loose and tap the factory's full potential, pushing it into overdrive. He'd be hiring even more people!
After calculating everything, he figured that together with the more than one hundred employees already on staff, the total would reach over five hundred.
When he'd hired the first batch, he'd still been worried that the factory might go bankrupt. Now it had its own product, and sales were going well.
Naturally, he was no longer so cautious about hiring.
Besides, the more employees they hired, the more products they could make—and the more profit they could earn!
As Xu Yifan worked on his plan, Lin Wanxia led several employees from the Human Resources Department into the room.
After signaling for everyone to settle down, Xu Yifan finished his plan, then discussed the upcoming hiring arrangements with the Human Resources Department.
First, wages: after Xu Yifan had raised them once, the factory workers' average pay was already a little better than that of other factories in the city.
So they didn't need to raise wages for the time being.
They could leave wages as they were and improve the benefits instead.
The previous single-shift schedule would become three eight-hour shifts. Many employees were sure to like that.
The meeting ended two hours later.
Under the leadership of Ma Youlong, manager of the Human Resources Department, the entire department went into full operation.
They contacted the Finance, Logistics, Security, Sales, and Production Departments to discuss bringing in the new employees and make arrangements to receive them.
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