A Broader Mind

Wu Chen said nothing.

The others fell silent too.

For a moment, the atmosphere was a little awkward.

Chen Yongkang glanced at Wu Chen, then at Zhao Hengrui. He wanted to speak, but held back.

He also thought Wu Chen's approach wouldn't quite work.

But Wu Chen was the new factory director. Chen Yongkang hadn't yet gotten a feel for his temperament and didn't know whether he was the kind of person who would listen to suggestions.

Besides, it might be good to let a troublemaker like Zhao Hengrui take Wu Chen down a peg.

Otherwise, how could they show how important the veteran employees were?

Of course, they couldn't take it too far.

Chen Yongkang had read his fill of urban novels about the Dragon King's return.

Now that the Dragon King, the heroine, and the villain had all arrived, the face-slapping should start any moment!

All he had to do was step in at the right moment, make Wu Chen feel like he was delivering charcoal in a snowstorm, and shout "666" a few times while he was at it.

Then his position should be secure!

"Ahem..."

Just as Chen Yongkang cleared his throat and prepared to smooth things over, Wu Chen spoke again.

"Using physical fixtures alone really can't improve the core positioning accuracy of the pick-and-place machine."

"Huh?"

Chen Yongkang was dumbfounded.

Why had the Dragon King slapped his own face?

Even Jiang Nan looked over at Wu Chen.

She didn't understand factory management, but from growing up around her parents, she knew that a leader must never make a technical mistake in public.

He could stay silent or change the subject.

But he absolutely couldn't make a mistake!

Just as she was worrying about Wu Chen, though, she suddenly remembered how he had slapped Wang Hongfa's face at her grandmother's funeral.

Was he going to crush his opponent with some new technology again?

Jiang Nan suddenly grew interested.

But Zhao Hengrui knew nothing about that.

He had already decided to leave anyway, so he retorted bluntly.

"Director Wu, let me teach you something. The robotic arm on an old pick-and-place machine is driven by a stepper motor, so it has cumulative errors to begin with. Add the 0.1-millimeter gap worn into the rail, and even if you fix the circuit board firmly in place, the arm will still drift when it moves. That's a fundamental hardware problem. You can't make up for it with an external force."

"I see. I understand that point now, thank you. What else?"

Wu Chen asked.

"And, uh..."

Zhao Hengrui suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

He had come to vent.

But Wu Chen seemed to have just thanked him?

Wu Chen really wasn't particularly angry. Instead, he asked, "Have you forgotten what we're going to produce?"

"Industrial cameras?"

"Right. The problem you mentioned does exist, so why don't we improve our own product to solve it?"

"Can we do that?"

Wu Chen said, "We can use cameras for visual positioning and compensate for the errors through image analysis. I can handle the algorithm."

"Visual positioning? Wouldn't that require a high-precision algorithm and hardware support?"

Zhao Hengrui couldn't help retorting loudly.

But looking at Wu Chen, who appeared eager to learn from him, he felt like he had punched a wad of cotton. He felt as unspeakably awful as if he had eaten shit.

Wu Chen sighed.

Though he had saved their jobs, he was bound to stir up a rebellious streak in some of them.

Especially people like Zhao Hengrui, whose interests were deeply entangled with the factory and who also had an emotional attachment to it.

So they were bound to have grievances, and those grievances would erupt when they were about to leave.

But regardless, they did have the technical skills. In the early stages, he had to rely on them to get the framework in place.

Reality wasn't a novel. No matter how comprehensive the materials were, problems would arise when they were put into practice.

Take the materials the system had provided, for example.

They did use fixtures to solve the problem, but Wu Chen had only discovered an issue after studying them carefully.

Each fixture cost over a hundred thousand yuan.

The German-imported camera integrated into it alone cost more than forty thousand.

He couldn't afford them. He couldn't afford them at all.

If he implemented that solution with the 1.7 million yuan Jiang Nan had invested, there would be no money left to pay the employees.

So the first thing Wu Chen needed to do was identify all the problems.

Then he would learn the theories needed to solve each problem, put them into the system to generate samples, and use Skill Points to redeem them and solve the problems.

If a sample worked well, he could even build a production line and turn it into a product.

So when he looked at things from a higher vantage point, he could afford to be more broad-minded.

He spoke gently once more.

"Whether it can be done is for me to solve, but everyone can bring up whatever problems they have. I'm here to make money with you, not to be your enemy."

"Of course."

Wu Chen changed tack and said calmly, "If you don't have confidence in me, you can leave."

Silence fell over the room again for a few seconds.

Then a round of applause quickly broke out.

Clap, clap, clap.

Everyone looked over to see Chen Yongkang clapping, excitement written on his face.

Meeting their gazes, he said in a somewhat excited tone, "That was so well said, Mr. Wu. Truly inspiring!"

Everyone except Zhao Hengrui joined in with a few claps.

That was how simple workplace etiquette could be.

Wu Chen paid it no mind.

"It doesn't matter how well I speak. What matters is doing the job well. Director Chen, please continue and list all the problems involved in getting the production line running."

"Of course, Mr. Wu!"

Chen Yongkang glanced at Zhao Hengrui without drawing attention to it, then stepped forward and continued:

"As I was saying, precision is one issue, and Mr. Wu already has a solution, so I won't go over it again. But there are also problems with heat dissipation and stability..."

He went on and on, and they were indeed all real problems that arose when putting theory into practice.

Wu Chen listened patiently.

Although he had long since seen that Chen Yongkang had a few more schemes up his sleeve, there was no question about his ability.

The others also brought up a few problems.

It was clear that they had studied the production materials Wu Chen had given them.

Before long, Wu Chen had gathered all the problems.

After checking them, he found that the materials provided by the system actually contained solutions to all of them.

But the costs were too high, and they were too difficult to implement.

He had to find more economical and practical alternatives.

Once he had solved the theoretical problems, redeeming one or two from the Sample Shop would be enough.

"That's all for today. Starting tomorrow, Jiang Nan will first take charge of preparing materials and the other work needed before production starts. I'll come back on Wednesday to solve the problems we've encountered."

After confirming that there were no other questions, Wu Chen concluded the meeting and prepared to leave.

For a moment, everyone looked at one another.

The lively atmosphere of the discussion just now also cooled.

"Mr. Wu, you can solve all this by Wednesday?"

Even Chen Yongkang couldn't help asking.

Surely the problem of a high-precision camera alone couldn't be solved in three days?

"Don't worry. When I say I'll make money with you, I will. When I say I'll solve the problems, I'll solve them too."

Wu Chen spoke calmly.

These problems actually weren't complicated. He was confident he could solve all the theoretical issues and then redeem them as samples.

After a moment's thought, he added, "As I said, if you believe in me, just follow my lead. If you don't, you're free to leave at any time."

On the way back from the factory, as Jiang Nan drove Wu Chen home, she kept stealing glances at him out of the corner of her eye.

"If you want to look, just look openly. Or should I give you a selfie?"

Wu Chen opened his eyes and spoke helplessly.

"No."

Caught in the act, Jiang Nan turned away and fixed her eyes on the road ahead again.

After a while, she said, "I thought you were going to fire Zhao Hengrui today."

Going by Jiang Hongyue's style, if anyone dared to make snide remarks at him in public, he certainly wouldn't let them off.

"I'll make him get lost."

Wu Chen spoke calmly.

"Huh?"

Jiang Nan was very surprised.

She had thought he planned to keep Zhao Hengrui. After all, he was talented.

Besides, Wu Chen didn't seem like a domineering leader.

Wu Chen rubbed his forehead and patiently explained.

"The factory is just getting started. Stability is the most important thing. There's no need to make things difficult for the veteran technicians, but we have to get through the current difficulties first."

Jiang Nan needed money, and he needed Skill Points.

So getting production started as soon as possible was important.

But once the crisis was resolved, he needed to build a team that would follow his orders.

He wasn't a success guru. He had no interest in giving a hundred million yuan to someone who refused to accept his authority.

Jiang Nan nodded thoughtfully.

Wu Chen thought she had no more questions, so he closed his eyes to rest again, considering the theories he needed to learn to obtain the samples.

But out of the blue, Jiang Nan spoke again, and this time she asked a completely unrelated question.

"Teacher Wu, I heard you made a girl cry in the cafeteria?"