System Shop

When Zhang Yi returned to his small workshop at home, his small truck was already filled with rough parts. And this was only a part of it, because with five thousand parts, his small truck couldn't possibly hold them all, so he had to make several trips to load them completely.

In reality, Zhang Yi had no confidence at all at this time. Even though he had confirmed with Xiao Hua on the phone before and clearly received Xiao Hua's reply saying that processing five thousand parts within four days was not a problem, he still couldn't help but feel a little worried.

After returning, he and Xiao Hua first moved all these rough parts into the factory together. After moving them, Xiao Hua began processing this batch of parts, while Zhang Yi himself went back to Zhu Gang's factory to pick up the remaining rough parts.

Sitting in the office and watching Xiao Hua process the parts in the workshop, perhaps knowing that Zhang Yi was watching her, Xiao Hua would sometimes raise her delicate head and smile at Zhang Yi.

These past few days, Zhang Yi and Xiao Hua had been together, going from the unfamiliarity of just meeting to the current familiarity, and their conversations had also become more casual.

At this time, while Zhang Yi was looking at Xiao Hua, his heart was not calm, because he had been stimulated by visiting Boss Zhu's Xian County Auto Parts Factory today.

One should know that Boss Zhu's machinery factory started much later than Zhang Yi's family's machinery factory. But now, Zhu Gang's factory had developed to such a large scale.

In contrast, Zhang Yi's family's factory, since his father started it, had not changed at all until now. The machine was still the same machine, the staff was still just his father, and even though he had taken over the factory now, in reality, the factory still hadn't undergone any fundamental changes.

Apart from the addition of Xiao Hua, the entire factory remained unchanged. It was still this factory building of over a hundred square meters, still this machine, and the operating method was the same as those small workshops.

Basically, it was similar to the operating methods of other shops. If someone came to the door, they would take the order, and when there was no one, they would rest. Occasionally, there would be orders like the one from Boss Zhu this time, and the profit was also very low. Even such an order, in the eyes of Zhang Yi's factory, was already a big order.

Don't even mention core competitiveness, they didn't even have their own products.

Therefore, if he wanted to expand the scale of his factory, he must first have his own products, and only then could he talk about other things.

In fact, Zhang Yi also knew that if Zhu Gang's factory continued like this, it would also reach its limit. After all, their factory also didn't have its own products or core competitive technology. Relying solely on contract manufacturing for others, it was already a blessing that a regular machinery factory could develop to its current scale.

Although Zhang Yi knew that his factory must have its own products, his current funds were simply insufficient to develop his own products.

Just then, Zhang Yi suddenly thought of the Scholar Hiring System in his mind. Now that he had hired a junior scholar in the machinery industry, did that mean he could purchase various mechanical blueprints from the System Shop?

He immediately clicked on the System Shop in the Scholar Hiring System. Soon, the options for the System Shop appeared in his mind. The System Shop was divided into two major sections: the Blueprint Selling Area and the Blueprint Purchasing Area.

The Blueprint Selling Area, as the name suggests, was for selling the blueprints of products developed by their factory. Moreover, this had to be designed and successfully developed by the people in their own factory. Things not owned by their own factory could not be sold to the system.

As for Blueprint Purchasing, that was the place to buy blueprints. However, the blueprints he could purchase now were very few. According to the system's prompt, for each major level of the Scholar Hiring System, he could only purchase blueprints from the System Shop a maximum of ten times, and the price for each purchase would double. For example, if the price of the same blueprint for the first purchase was one Scholar Coin, then the next time it would be two, the time after that would be four, and by the tenth time, it would be 1024 Scholar Coins.

After seeing the introduction of the shop, Zhang Yi's first reaction was that he didn't want to buy, or rather, he was reluctant to waste a purchase opportunity. After all, he could only purchase ten times in a major level, which meant that before human civilization entered the interstellar era, he only had ten opportunities to purchase blueprints from the System Shop.

However, thinking about the current state of his factory, which was just starting, and was in need of products, if he didn't have the right products, then he could only do contract manufacturing for others, and the factory's development could only proceed step by step. It was unknown how long it would take for the factory to have its own products.

So, Zhang Yi still resolutely clicked on the Blueprint Purchasing Area in the shop.

After Zhang Yi entered the shop and looked at the items inside, his first reaction was that he didn't want to buy, because the items in the System Shop, in his opinion, were not very advanced. For example, the New Steam Engine Design Blueprint, New Steam Battleship Design Blueprint, and some design blueprints from the Industrial Revolution era.

Zhang Yi even saw many blueprints for wooden machinery inside, such as the Large Waterwheel Design Blueprint, Quyuan Plow Design Blueprint, and so on.

For many other design blueprints, Zhang Yi also lacked the conditions. For example, for the New Electric Motor Design Blueprint, in addition to hiring a scholar in the mechanical industry, he also had to hire a scholar in the electrical industry to unlock it.

Just as he was about to close the shop, he thought of the current situation of his family's factory, so he patiently searched carefully for the blueprints he needed in the shop.

After all, there were good things in the shop, but the shop contained mechanical design blueprints from the most primitive era all the way to the current era, and the oldest mechanical design blueprints were at the top, which made him feel that the designs in these blueprints were backward.

At this moment, his mind moved, and the design blueprints in the shop that did not match the current level of human civilization, as well as those gray blueprints that he could not purchase, all disappeared. At this point, Zhang Yi felt much better looking at the various blueprints in the shop.

Then he carefully searched for the product design blueprints he needed in the shop, and finally, he really found several design blueprints that he thought were useful. However, after removing the blueprints that he currently had no ability to purchase, only the design blueprints for four products remained.

The design blueprint for the first product was a design blueprint for a pneumatic tool, the full name being Super Air Hammer Design Blueprint. However, although the design of this product was very advanced and the cost was not high.

Considering that his machinery factory had no reputation at all, even if he produced such a common product with very advanced performance, it would not be able to open up sales channels immediately.

This product was the first one he ruled out. However, this air hammer could be produced later once his factory gained some reputation.

The second product was one he considered quite novel. If it could be produced, it would quickly attract consumers' attention.

According to Zhang Yi's judgment, once he bought this blueprint, several patents could be derived from this product. At that time, patent licensing alone would be enough for the factory to expand. This blueprint was for a bicycle, fully named the Super Aerodynamic Bicycle Design Blueprint. According to the description on the blueprint, this bicycle, when its air storage device was fully charged, could travel 50-60 kilometers at a speed of 45-50 kilometers per hour.

Even without air, it was just like a regular bicycle, effortless to ride, making it the perfect choice for transportation.

The third type of mechanical design blueprint was for a small diesel engine. However, due to the excessive equipment required, and for the same reason as the first product, this product was also abandoned by Zhang Yi.

The last blueprint seemed to be for the simplest product: the design of mechanical self-tightening bolts and nuts. This was a more advanced design than the non-loosening nuts used in the Island Country. However, don't underestimate a small nut; the equipment needed was even more extensive than for the third design blueprint, and the price of this equipment was not low, something Zhang Yi couldn't consider at the moment.