Chapter 278: Proposal

When Zhou Yimin began speaking, it seemed like something was missing from what he originally intended to say, so he added, “Right now, the working conditions in the workshop are very poor, and the hygiene is bad too. If the workers have to work in such an environment for a long time, it’s very likely to cause health problems.”

Actually, this point had been mentioned earlier, but Director Fang hadn’t written it down in full.

“Many of the workers are the main breadwinners of their families. In most cases, they just push through with their bodies, and that can easily turn minor issues into major ones…”

Section Chief Wang and the others found this very reasonable after hearing it, and they began jotting it down.

“Comrade Yimin, anything else?”

He felt Zhou Yimin was like a sponge—give him a little squeeze, and more ideas would come out.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yimin offered another opinion: “I think there’s a lot of equipment in the factory. Relying only on Section Chief Wang and his team might not be enough to handle it all?”

“Yimin, what do you mean by that?” Section Chief Wang asked with some confusion.

What did he mean by “not handle it well”?

Under his leadership, the R&D department had always dealt with equipment issues promptly. Did that count as not doing a good job?

“Section Chief Wang, I didn’t mean it that way.” Zhou Yimin realized his words had been misunderstood.

“What I mean is, since there’s so much equipment, we could have Xiao Li and the others teach the workers in the workshop how to maintain and service it. With consistent upkeep, the chances of equipment failures would be lower, and efficiency would be higher,” Zhou Yimin explained.

After listening to this, Section Chief Wang finally understood. It did make sense.

Young people really did think things through better. He nodded and said, “So according to what you’re saying, we should have Xiao Li and the others train the workshop workers in maintenance, to extend the life of the machines and reduce failures.”

“Hmm! That’s a solid suggestion. Let’s do it!”

Getting workers to pay attention to the equipment while using it wasn’t hard.

But at that moment, Director Fang raised a concern: “If we follow this plan, won’t it slow down production?”

His top priority was to ramp up workshop output. Only then could both the workers and he himself secure bonuses and recognition.

Section Chief Wang didn’t know how to respond to Director Fang’s concern right away. After all, maintenance would indeed take up production time. And for a director focused on output, it was understandable that he’d have reservations.

“We could do this: schedule the maintenance sessions on Saturdays, and they don’t need to be long—just an hour or even half an hour after the shift ends. That way, we wouldn’t take too much time away from production, but we’d still be taking care of the equipment,” Zhou Yimin suggested.

It was a compromise that could strike a balance between both sides.

Sure enough, both Section Chief Wang and Director Fang were satisfied with Zhou Yimin’s idea—it was acceptable to both of them.

“No problem then! As long as it doesn’t cut too much into production time, it’s all good,” Director Fang nodded.

After all, if the machines kept breaking down, that would also affect production. So proper maintenance was clearly the better option.

“Yimin, come with me to the Factory Director’s office,” said Section Chief Wang, pulling Zhou Yimin along.

This was an important matter.

In fact, at the time, many factories didn’t have this concept at all. Workers only operated machines; they didn’t maintain them. If this idea could be spread more widely, considering how many machines were in use across the country, extending their service life would be a great benefit to the nation.

That way, there’d be less need to buy new equipment, foreign currency could be saved, and it could be used where it mattered most.

Zhou Yimin allowed himself to be pulled along by Section Chief Wang.

This kind of behavior might look strange to people in later generations, but in this era, it wasn’t a concern at all.

They rushed to Factory Director Chen’s office and didn’t even bother knocking—just barged in.

Director Chen was about to scold whoever it was for being so rude, when he saw it was Section Chief Wang and Zhou Yimin. The words of reprimand stuck in his throat and didn’t come out.

“Yimin, Section Chief Wang, what’s the matter?”

Since they had come in such a hurry, something urgent must be going on. Could it be that Yimin had another good idea?

“Director Chen, Yimin just brought up a safety issue in the workshop. I think it’s important enough that we should hold a meeting to confirm it,” said Section Chief Wang urgently.

Director Chen was a bit puzzled—he didn’t even know what the proposal was yet. What meeting? Be specific!

“Here’s the situation—”

Then they laid out the entire plan, from start to finish.

The more Director Chen listened, the more surprised he became, and he realized just how important the matter was. He immediately said, “Alright, I’ll call an emergency meeting with all the factory leadership right now.”

“Xiao Huang, come in for a moment.”

Xiao Huang heard the director and quickly entered, standing to the side. “Director, is there something you need?”

“Notify all the factory leaders to head to the meeting room right away,” Director Chen ordered.

Noticing the urgency in the director’s voice, Xiao Huang quickly responded, “Understood, I’ll go inform them right away.”

And with that, he rushed out. After all, there were quite a few people to inform, and it would take some time.

It wasn’t like the future, where you could just drop a message in a green chat bubble group, or open a video meeting online. Back now, even notifying people for a meeting had to be done entirely by running around.

Director Chen turned back and said, “Comrade Yimin, Section Chief Wang, get everything you just said written down. If there’s anything else to add, do it now—we’ll need it for the meeting.”

Zhou Yimin and Section Chief Wang both nodded and started making notes. Section Chief Wang didn’t want such a good plan to fail just because it wasn’t presented well enough to be implemented.

But honestly, his concern was unnecessary. As long as the leadership wasn’t blind, they’d recognize the importance of this plan. No one would oppose it; in fact, they’d all pitch in to refine it further.

Only then could they all “get a piece of the pie” when the factory safety handbook was finalized.

Not long after, Xiao Huang pushed open the door and announced, “Director Chen, everyone has been notified.”

Director Chen nodded. “Yimin, Section Chief Wang, let’s go to the meeting room first. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

“Got it,” Zhou Yimin and Section Chief Wang replied in unison.

All the summoned leaders were confused. It was nearly the end of the workday—why hold a meeting now?

Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?

But since it was Director Chen himself who called it, they only dared to grumble quietly among themselves, not out loud.

Those who had arrived early in the meeting room were all puzzled—what on earth was so urgent that it needed to be discussed right now?

(End of Chapter)