Chapter 277 – Safety Guidelines

Section Chief Wang quickly disassembled part of the machine and immediately discovered the issue—one of the components had been severely worn down, which was why it had been making abnormal noises.

“Director Fang, get Engineer Tan to machine this part,” he instructed.

Upon hearing this, Director Fang quickly went to find Engineer Tan so as not to delay production.

Engineer Tan was one of the few Level 8 fitters in the rice cooker factory.

Level 8 workers were incredibly rare nowadays, and each one was considered a treasure of the factory. Even factory leadership spoke to them politely, afraid to upset them and risk them quitting.

Fitting was one of the oldest metalworking techniques in mechanical manufacturing. Fitters could produce parts with complex shapes and high precision.

Highly skilled fitters could even create components so intricate that even modern machine tools couldn’t handle them—such as high-precision gauges, templates, or complex dies.

Of course, such talents were exceedingly rare.

Moreover, their speed was nowhere near that of automated machines; human labor simply couldn’t compete with machines in that regard.

Some Level 8 fitters could even handle design, drafting, and process planning. They were experts in mechanical design and drafting, proficient in the machining properties of various metals, cutting performance, and the creation, modification, and repair of all kinds of tools.

When Director Fang found Engineer Tan, he quickly said, “Tan, please process this part as fast as possible.”

“Alright, Director Fang. This part isn’t complicated—just a bit high on precision. Give me some time,” Engineer Tan replied confidently after glancing over the component.

In his eyes, no part was unworkable—only nonexistent. As long as there was a blueprint or dimensions, he could fabricate it.

Some people came over just to watch the excitement, while others hoped to learn a trick or two. After all, every time you advanced a level, your wages increased significantly, not to mention the added respect.

Seeing the crowd, Engineer Tan didn’t chase them off. In fact, he was always willing to teach when someone asked. He had a strong sense of responsibility and knew that the more skilled fitters the country had, the better off it would be.

However, fitting required a natural talent. Without it, one could spend a lifetime and still not become a high-level fitter.

Director Fang waited anxiously, and nearly an hour passed.

“Done,” Engineer Tan finally said with a relieved breath.

Director Fang was delighted. “Excellent, excellent! As expected of Engineer Tan. You nailed such a precise part in one go.”

Zhou Yimin asked, “Section Chief Wang, do machines often break down?”

Seeing how smoothly everything had gone, he suspected this wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Section Chief Wang sighed. “That’s right. Due to outdated technology, design flaws, and poor material quality, the machines end up being unstable, unreliable, and prone to failure.

Ours are actually in relatively good shape—the machines aren’t too old…”

Because of technical limitations, the machines had low machining accuracy and efficiency, which made it hard to meet the demands for high-precision processing.

On top of that, design defects often led to structural issues, stress concentration, and vibrations.

Section Chief Wang took the opportunity to air all his grievances in one go.

Zhou Yimin nodded. He understood the gap between domestic and foreign standards.

Even foreign machines that had already been phased out were often still far more advanced than what was available domestically.

But what could be done? There was no shortage of talented individuals—what the country lacked was an industrial foundation. The current state of domestic industry was simply too underdeveloped.

Everyone who heard Section Chief Wang speak could only lower their heads in silence.

At that moment, Director Fang hurried over with the freshly machined part and said, “Section Chief Wang, the part’s ready.”

Wang took the component and measured it with a caliper, exclaiming in admiration, “As expected of Engineer Tan. The precision is absolutely flawless.”

The higher the precision of a component, the better it would serve the machine.

He began reassembling the machine, but this time, he deliberately slowed down so the research and development team could observe and take notes. Understanding the value of this rare opportunity, they listened with full concentration.

Soon, the machine was fully reinstalled.

Wang powered it on and found the strange noise had disappeared. He immediately said, “Director Fang, the machine is now repaired.”

“Thanks for the help, Section Chief Wang,” Director Fang said.

Thankfully, this wasn’t the most important machine in the workshop. Otherwise, the entire production line would have come to a halt—and as workshop director, that would have been a big responsibility, potentially delaying production targets.

Wang waved it off. “Just doing my job.”

Watching from the side, little Li remarked enviously, “When will I ever have skills like Section Chief Wang’s?”

Someone nearby rolled their eyes. “Don’t aim so high. Come talk to me after you’ve put in ten or twenty years of hard work!”

What are you thinking? It’s not even dark yet and you’re already daydreaming?

Wang laughed and encouraged him, “Little Li, keep working hard. Surpassing me won’t be a problem. I believe in you, kid.”

Even though he knew it was just encouragement, Little Li was thrilled and felt fired up.

Zhou Yimin stood frozen for a moment, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Ah, young people—so easily stirred by a few words.

With that kind of motivation, he’d probably be willing to plow a few acres if you asked.

“Yimin, any suggestions?” Wang asked when he noticed Zhou Yimin’s expression.

Was he thinking of something new? After spending some time working together, Wang had come to value Zhou Yimin’s imaginative ideas quite a bit.

“Not really,” Zhou replied. “Just thinking about something else.”

“Oh, right—safety is no small matter. I think we should really take it seriously. Otherwise, if an accident happens, it won’t just delay production—it could endanger our workers’ lives…” Zhou added.

He then shared some common knowledge about modern-era workshop safety and management.

In the future, such knowledge might be considered basic and expected of every worker, but at this point in time, it was still relatively advanced.

At first, neither Section Chief Wang nor Director Fang took it too seriously. But the more they listened, the more serious they became.

Especially Director Fang—he felt like he’d just struck gold.

Eventually, he pulled out a notebook and started jotting down Zhou’s advice, turning them into concrete safety guidelines.

“Yimin, slow down a bit,” he suddenly said, unable to keep up with the note-taking.

Zhou slowed his pace and continued sharing purely practical knowledge.

Ten minutes later, Zhou felt he’d said everything he had.

“Alright, that’s about it,” he concluded.

Director Fang handed over the notebook. “Comrade Yimin, take a look and see if I’ve missed anything.”

He had a hunch that submitting these safety guidelines might earn him some recognition. With any luck, they might even become standard reading for every factory.

(End of Chapter)