Chapter 52

In the following days, Hu Wenhui was responsible for accompanying Hu Jiefang, thoroughly exploring the area around New York.

The luxurious experience at the Central Park Hotel truly broadened Hu Jiefang's horizons, and he kept exclaiming that this capitalist world was indeed corrupting, yet he eagerly tried all the service offerings.

Hu Wenhui maliciously thought that if he weren't here, his old man might even want to taste the flavor of a Siamese cat...

Cough, cough, Hu Wenhui quickly threw such malicious speculations about his father out of his mind. The future decades had already proven that Comrade Hu Jiefang was absolutely not that kind of person.

Starting from the next day, Hu Wenhui took Hu Jiefang to visit all the tourist attractions in New York. The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Wall Street, and the Empire State Building—yes, Hu Wenhui even specially took Hu Jiefang to the World Trade Center to take dozens of photos. There was no choice; in another dozen years, this attraction would no longer be visible...

Having lived in Xiucheng, a small city, for decades, Hu Jiefang truly broadened his horizons. Not only was he surprised by the immense material wealth in the United States, but he was even more astonished by the efficiency of the people's work. After experiencing the service attitude of state-owned mall clerks, seeing the service attitude of Americans made him genuinely wonder which side was truly his "comrades."

As the factory manager of a factory with thousands of workers, the efficiency of the workers was his greatest concern. He didn't realize this while in China, but when compared to Americans, the low efficiency in China became evident.

After meeting with William and discussing the timing and form of the supply, Comrade Hu Jiefang eagerly asked if he could visit an American factory.

William was originally not interested in such a request, but for some reason, after making a phone call, he returned with a different expression.

"Alright, Mr. Hu Jiefang," William's expression was somewhat subtle, and he nodded, saying, "Grumman has an aircraft factory near New York, and I have been granted permission to take you on a tour."

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" Hu Jiefang shook William's hand, feeling that Americans were even closer to him than his own son.

Then, William and the two Hus got into a car and sped off towards Long Island, New York.

This journey took quite a while. Although William said it was a factory near New York, the travel time alone was over two hours. The three of them set out in the morning and didn't arrive at a clearly heavily guarded factory at the end of a road until noon.

William first obtained three passes at the guard post at the factory entrance, handing two of them carefully to Hu Jiefang and Hu Wenhui, and warned, "This is a Grumman fighter aircraft manufacturing plant. Always carry your pass and keep it in a visible place, or it will be very troublesome if you are caught by the guards!"

"I understand, I understand!" Hu Jiefang, who ran a military factory himself, knew all about confidentiality regulations and nodded vigorously.

After passing through the outer fence of the factory, the three of them drove for another ten minutes before seeing a rather modern factory.

If not for seeing it with his own eyes, it would be hard to believe that such a luxurious use of land could exist in the寸土寸金 (highly valuable) area near New York. Hu Wenhui believed that just the value of this land alone would likely increase by millions of dollars for Grumman each year.

Even before entering the factory's workshop, William's car had already passed through two checkpoints and undergone three inspections, with security so tight that not even a fly could get in. Along the way, Hu Jiefang was captivated by everything he saw.

Without even mentioning other aspects, just looking at the design of Grumman's factory grounds, it was clearly several times better than Factory 501. The landscaping and roads were not to be mentioned, and even the details like signs and reminders were thorough and exquisite. Although it was an industrial manufacturing plant, driving around the grounds, one hardly heard the sound of machinery.

In Grumman's factory, it was rare to see idle workers aimlessly wandering around. Even the staff who passed by were walking briskly or driving electric carts in a hurry.

William skillfully parked the car in the parking lot in front of an office building, and soon someone came out to greet them.

"Colon..."

The person started to say a word but then looked embarrassed and stopped, finally just extending his hand and smiling, "William, it's been a long time since you've been here. How is Erica?"

William shrugged helplessly and smiled, "Thanks, she's busy running for state representative, you know, very busy."

"Let me introduce you. This is a manager of a Chinese military factory, and we have some business with his factory." After exchanging pleasantries, William introduced Hu Jiefang, "This is Mr. Hu, and this is Little Mr. Hu. They hope to visit your factory. Raul has called you, hasn't he?"

"Yes, very welcome, guests from China! My name is Mark Hunter, you can call me Mark."

Hu Wenhui translated the conversation for Hu Jiefang, who quickly extended his hand, shook Mark's hand vigorously, and said with enthusiasm and a touch of flattery, "Thank you, Mr. Mark, for your generosity! I will never forget the friendship of American comrades!"

Hu Wenhui's forehead almost sprouted three black lines, and a crow flew by, so he had to rephrase Hu Jiefang's words into a more normal expression of gratitude.

However, as a high-end manufacturing plant of Grumman in New York, the various technical levels of this factory put a lot of pressure on Hu Jiefang, to the point that the usually confident Hu Jiefang was now slightly hunched.

This was not surprising. Ah, Hu Wenhui was very familiar with the psychological gap that Chinese people felt after suddenly opening their eyes to the world and realizing their backwardness. The most famous example was probably when General Liu visited an American aircraft carrier, a founding hero who humbly asked ordinary American soldiers questions. The photo of him craning his neck to look at an American helicopter made many Chinese youth cry.

Fortunately, Mark was clearly well-instructed from above and took Hu Jiefang's visit very seriously. Not only did he personally accompany him, but he also answered all his questions in detail.

The first place Hu Jiefang wanted to visit was the main assembly workshop, the largest and most prominent part of the factory.

The steel structure building was as high as fifteen meters, with a fully enclosed frame. Even standing at the entrance of the workshop, the sounds of work inside were only faintly audible.

This quiet atmosphere was a completely new experience for Hu Jiefang, who was used to the noise of factories. He walked into the workshop with a sense of reverence, and the long steel structure workshop seemed to have no end in sight. The busy workers did not react to the sudden appearance of this group and continued to work in a tense and orderly manner.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Hu Jiefang asked, "Mr. Mark, why do your workers look so rushed? I see some of them walking as if they are creating a breeze."

Mark replied calmly, "Our Grumman factory has very strict management, and all work has standard progress requirements. Any delay caused by any person or any position will result in punishment for the entire work group, so the workers will never relax their standards and actively improve their efficiency."

After Hu Wenhui translated, Hu Jiefang asked in confusion, "What do you mean by a work group? Don't you use assembly line production?"

"Haha, that Ford-era production method is long gone," Mark shook his head, walked to the nearest aircraft, and drew a circle with his hand, saying, "Assembling an entire F-14 fighter jet cannot be done like producing a car on an assembly line. There are too many parts, and such a production line would be incredibly complex. Moreover, fighter jet assembly involves many complex situations that cannot be handled by mechanized assembly line workers."

Seeing that Hu Jiefang was listening attentively, Mark's vanity swelled, and he explained tirelessly, "One of our work groups can assemble an entire fighter jet from start to finish. The group consists of eight people, led by a senior engineer. Every worker in the group can perform every assembly task. Our engineers and workers alike work on the front lines, and each worker can also provide input on work management."

Finally, Mark proudly waved his fist and looked at Hu Jiefang, saying, "Our Grumman factory organizes production according to post-Fordist principles. Not only managers, but also engineers and workers can reform management systems. The only requirement is to improve production capacity. Therefore, our Grumman factory can be said to be the factory with the highest management level in the world today!"

After Hu Wenhui translated his words, Hu Jiefang's face, which had been filled with admiration, suddenly showed a complex look.

"Tell me, Wenhui, did you translate correctly? Why does it sound a bit like the Steel City Constitution we promoted in the early days..."