Chapter 152: Building a Rice Cooker

Seeing that all the tools and materials were ready, Zhou Yimin decided to try making a simple rice cooker.

In truth, a rice cooker doesn’t have many parts and has a simple structure.

Before long, Director Ding arrived at the R&D room. He had originally intended to ask Zhou Yimin a few questions, but seeing Zhou Yimin busy, not only did he refrain from disturbing him, he even stopped Team Lead Wang and Section Chief Zheng from speaking.

“Come on, let’s talk outside,” said Director Ding, leading Wang and Zheng out of the room.

Once outside, he began asking them some questions.

Eventually, he learned that the rice cooker idea had been casually suggested by Lu Guofu’s two sons, and that Comrade Zhang Jianshe from the Research Institute had provided the technical knowledge.

“If even comrades from the Research Institute are offering ideas, there shouldn’t be any major problems,” Director Ding said happily.

A rice cooker—it sounded like a rather high-end product. Something like this should be popular, right?

Since the Japanese already had production lines for them, it should be possible to look up sales figures and market responses overseas.

Thinking of this, Director Ding immediately went to find Factory Director Hu.

When it came to looking up foreign info, Director Hu was more efficient. Of course, Director Ding could check as well, but it would take much longer—and they were eager to confirm things quickly.

Upon arriving at Director Hu’s office, Director Ding got straight to the point.

When Director Hu heard what it was about, a look of excitement flashed across his face. He immediately picked up the phone and made a call.

As it happened, he had an old comrade working in the foreign trade department. It would be easiest to confirm things through him. If rice cookers were indeed hot-selling items abroad, then their factory could also begin production and work hard to develop an export-ready product.

“Comrade Zhou Yimin is already working on the development? What else does he need? The factory will try to meet all his needs,” said Director Hu to Director Ding.

That was the steel factory’s attitude.

“I’ll go ask him,” Director Ding said, and immediately returned to the R&D room.

Meanwhile, Director Hu began considering who should fill the vacancy left by Zheng Lidong’s departure.

In the past couple of days, plenty of people had been lobbying him. To be honest, Wang Weimin didn’t have much of an edge. But with Director Ding’s backing, he had a bit of a shot.

Now, Director Hu was thinking that if Wang Weimin got promoted, he could free up a spot for Zhou Yimin. That actually sounded quite good.

If Zhou Yimin really managed to develop a rice cooker, the factory couldn’t possibly ignore such a contribution, right? Another raise in rank? Giving him a team leader position would be more sincere.

With that thought, Director Hu made his decision.

Besides that, Lu Guofu’s sons and Zhang Jianshe from the Research Institute also deserved some recognition, didn’t they? According to Director Ding, Lu Guofu’s sons were still students, which made things easy—a few token prizes would be enough.

As for Zhang Jianshe from the Research Institute, Director Hu also wanted to establish a connection. After all, anyone who worked at the Research Institute was undoubtedly top-tier talent. If the steel factory needed technical support in the future, they might be able to help.

Therefore, Director Hu intended to seriously consider how to thank Zhang Jianshe.

First of all, a letter of thanks was a must.

Then would come some form of material appreciation.

At that moment, Zhou Yimin had just completed the heating plate for the rice cooker. Since it was handmade, it was a bit rough.

Just then, Director Ding spoke up, “Yimin, do you need anything else?”

Only then did Zhou Yimin realize—why was he doing it all himself? The factory had so many skilled technicians; he could just have them do it! They’d do it faster and better.

“Director, could you call over a few skilled technicians to help?”

Director Ding immediately laughed. “No problem! Director Hu said you’re free to use any personnel or equipment from the factory.”

Then, Director Ding went back to report to Director Hu.

He had no intention of going to the workshop himself—he didn’t get along with Workshop Director Liao and the others. If he went now, wouldn’t that just give them leverage over him?

So Director Hu personally went to the workshop to pick the personnel—he selected seventh and eighth-level technicians.

“Director, you see? I’ve said before, Comrade Zhou Yimin would be a perfect fit for our workshop. We’ve got all the equipment and skilled workers he could ever need,” Workshop Director Liao tried again to recruit him.

Director Ding snorted, “You make it sound like being in Logistics means we can’t use your workshop’s machines and people.”

Director Hu quickly spoke up, not wanting the two to start bickering again.

“Alright, you all, come with me,” Director Hu said to the technicians.

Everyone headed together to Zhou Yimin’s R&D room.

Zhou Yimin explained the working principle of the rice cooker to Director Hu and the technicians. The model he was working on included a keep-warm function.

It was still the most basic version of a rice cooker and didn’t have much of an edge.

The keep-warm rice cookers had only just hit the market in Japan this year. They could use labor cost advantages to reduce the rice cooker’s price and compete on pricing.

Of course, Zhou Yimin didn’t say any of this out loud.

Foreign market info was best left for others to find on their own—it would be hard to explain if it came from him. He was just a purchasing agent, so how could he know so much about overseas trends?

The technicians, after hearing the explanation, got to work.

They even redid the heating plate Zhou Yimin had made. In their eyes, that thing was completely substandard.

“Ahem, you all know my hands-on skills aren’t exactly top-notch,” Zhou Yimin said awkwardly.

Director Hu burst into laughter.

To him, this was exactly how a young man should behave!

“Each profession has its specialty! There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Comrade Zhou Yimin. Your greatest strength is your brain. In the future, just leave this kind of work to the factory’s craftsmen. You focus on product design,” said Director Hu.

Director Ding and the others all voiced their agreement.

Roughly an hour later, all the parts were completed, including the rice cooker’s shell.

The shell was also made of metal, and key spots were fitted with insulating materials, so even when powered on, the shell would not conduct electricity.

Zhou Yimin began assembling it.

He couldn’t help but marvel at the technicians’ skill. The parts were crafted as precisely as if they had come off a production line.

Soon, a finished rice cooker appeared in front of everyone.

“Did you bring the rice?” Director Hu asked.

He wanted to test the rice cooker’s performance on the spot.

“Right here,” said Team Lead Wang, who brought over a bowl of rice and a pot of cold water from the cafeteria.

They skipped the washing step. Once the rice was placed in the pot, they poured in the water.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Zhou Yimin said.

Wang paused his pouring.

Zhou Yimin plugged in the power and pressed the cook button on the rice cooker.

Everyone heard a soft “tick” as the indicator light for cooking lit up. Luckily, this was the steel factory—otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy to find a small bulb like that.

“It’s already started?” someone asked.

Zhou Yimin nodded. “It’ll probably take about twenty minutes. Once the rice is done, it’ll automatically switch to keep-warm mode.”

By this point, more and more factory leaders had gathered around the R&D room to watch.

(End of Chapter)