The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Yi went to Zhu Gang's factory. Although he had already reached an agreement with Zhu Gang yesterday, they had yet to sign a contract or discuss the processing fees.
So, he had come today to discuss it with Zhu Gang. On his way back, he would also haul away some of the blanks. He just did not know how large Zhu Gang's order would be this time.
After arriving at Zhu Gang's factory, Zhang Yi went straight to his office. Zhu Gang was already waiting for him, since they had agreed on this yesterday.
"Boss Zhu! I'm here. How big is this order?" Because of what had happened last night, Zhang Yi and Zhu Gang were much more casual with each other now.
"Xiao Yi! Didn't I tell you yesterday to stop calling me Boss Zhu all the time? The quantity for this order isn't large, but the profit is considerable.
"However, its precision requirements are one grade higher than the previous batch, and the parts are much more complex. Even ordinary CNC Machines have great difficulty processing such parts, and the scrap rate is extremely high. Even the most precise CNC Machine in my factory would struggle with them.
"Xiao Yi, although this order is difficult to process, it won't be much of a challenge for Master Xiao Hua at your factory.
"But there's one thing I'm very curious about. What level is Master Xiao Hua's skill rating? From our conversation last night, I realized that she wasn't merely skilled at turning. She was also extremely knowledgeable about fitting, planing, drilling, and other fields, and her understanding ran very deep. Her skill level definitely isn't low. I really don't know how you managed to recruit such a treasure. If my factory had someone like her, it could certainly grow much bigger. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of luck.
"You should know that the highest-skilled worker in my factory is only a Level Six lathe operator. I spent a fortune poaching him from a large machinery factory in Zhou Tai City. To keep him, I treat him like a treasure. I usually don't even dare raise my voice at him, afraid I'll anger him into leaving. If that happened, our factory would suffer a huge loss." Zhu Gang spoke to Zhang Yi with an admiring expression.
Zhu Gang might not have thought much of Zhang Yi in other respects, but when it came to recruiting talent, he truly admired him. A master like Xiao Hua was usually beyond reach. Such people tended to have eccentric temperaments, and even if Zhu Gang encountered one, he would not be confident he could recruit her. Yet Zhang Yi had done it. He could not help but sigh that Zhang Yi was far better than him in this regard.
After saying all that, Zhu Gang continued, "Because this order is very difficult to process, the processing fee is also high. The fee for each part is as much as 110 yuan. This batch consists of 1,000 parts, and the deadline is half a month—fifteen days."
Zhang Yi was delighted after hearing Zhu Gang's words. Although this order would be difficult to process, the profit was too high to ignore. Once this batch was completed, they would earn 110,000 yuan. That would greatly ease the pressure of buying CNC Machines.
So he said, "Uncle Gang, no problem. We're confident we can process this batch of parts and finish them within fifteen days."
"Good! I have a great deal of confidence in Master Xiao Hua's skills. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given this order to you. But Xiao Yi, you must complete this order on time and with guaranteed quality. This is the first precision parts order I received from Geely Group. If you do an outstanding job on this order, there will definitely be more orders like it in the future, and the quantities certainly won't be smaller than this time." Zhu Gang said.
"Got it, Uncle Gang!" Zhang Yi promised.
After Zhang Yi and Zhu Gang chatted for a while, he signed the contract with Zhu Gang, then loaded up the blanks and hurried back to his own factory.
Although this order was not large, completing it well would bring in 110,000 yuan, giving him another 110,000 yuan in funds. In truth, Zhang Yi knew that Geely's processing fee to Zhu Gang for parts like these was definitely far more than this, perhaps even double or more than triple what Zhu Gang was paying him. But there was nothing he could do about it. His factory was simply too small. He did not even have a proper workshop or any CNC Machines. If he tried to take orders directly from Geely Group, he would undoubtedly be thrown out.
So he needed to expand his factory as quickly as possible. But expanding a factory required money. Hiring workers required money, setting up a workshop required money, and buying machinery required even more money. In short, he was short of money—what he lacked was a way to obtain a large sum in a short period of time.
Of course, there were ways to make money quickly in this world, but most of them were illegal in the Great Hua Empire, such as arms dealing.
But there were also legal ways to make money quickly. Zhang Yi did not understand any of them, such as trading stocks. Given his circumstances, if he entered that field, he would be lucky not to be stripped clean, let alone make a profit.
So for now, he could only steadily develop his factory step by step. Other than that, Zhang Yi did not think he had any shortcuts available to him.
But that was not entirely true. He could, for example, sell or license patents. However, Zhang Yi had not yet decided which patent to sell or license. Besides, the patents he had applied for had not yet been approved, so even if he wanted to sell them, he could not.
As he drove, Zhang Yi thought about how to quickly obtain a sum of money to expand his factory. Before long, the small truck arrived at the entrance to the little workshop at his home.
Hearing the sound outside, Xiao Hua had already come out from inside.
"Brother! How did it go? How many orders did you get?" Xiao Hua immediately asked Zhang Yi after coming outside.
"Not bad this time. The order Boss Zhu gave us is worth 110,000 yuan. Once we finish it, we'll have enough money to buy machine tools," Zhang Yi said.
"Good! I've wanted to try the CNC Machines of your civilization for a long time, to see what differences there are between them and the automatic machine tools of us Dwarves," Xiao Hua said.
"Don't worry. We'll only have more and more CNC Machines in the future, and more and more employees too," Zhang Yi told Xiao Hua.
Over the following days, Zhang Yi studied turning with Xiao Hua at the factory during the day and read all kinds of mechanical engineering books at night. Every day was extremely fulfilling. Ten days quickly passed. Though it had only been ten days, under Xiao Hua's guidance, Zhang Yi's skills improved by leaps and bounds. He could now independently process some relatively simple mechanical parts. His foundation was there. Although years of working odd jobs had made him rusty, he had long since recovered through this period of practice. Zhang Yi even felt that his turning skills were better than they had been back then. Many techniques he had not known in the past were now within his grasp.
For example, the agricultural machinery main shafts that he had ruined several pieces of raw material trying to turn last time would now pose no difficulty for him at all.
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