Chapter 68

Hu Wenhai originally thought that the assets of Factory 501 were worth only a little over ten million yuan. However, in reality, he had greatly underestimated the accumulation of Factory 501 over the past thirty years since its establishment. △￠

After a week of preliminary calculations—just a rough estimate of Factory 501's assets, without a detailed investigation of the actual situation, but based on the paper records—the results were far beyond Hu Wenhai's expectations.

The final result, rounded off, showed that the total asset value of Factory 501 was over 31.52 million yuan. The most valuable part was not something else, but the "product data" that had previously been considered worthless.

Factory 501 had been a military factory for over thirty years, especially during the time of Luo Liko and Hu Shiwu's generation, who had accumulated and summarized data over several decades. One could not imagine the extent of this until they saw it; it was a treasure waiting to be unearthed.

Think about it: as a military factory, the equipment used by Factory 501 was at best equivalent to the world average of the 1950s. But it was with this equipment that Factory 501 had participated in over a thousand product technology breakthroughs, accumulating a rich technical foundation.

Over the past thirty years, Factory 501 had independently developed over three hundred technologies, upgrading the original equipment, significantly improving the technical level of many devices, and even matching the early 1970s international standards.

Especially as a precision casting factory, Factory 501 had a wealth of material data. In the technical department's archive, there were records of performance tests for over ten thousand types of alloys. This alone raised the acquisition price of Factory 501 by a full ten million yuan, thanks to Hu Wenhai's insistence. But in Hu Wenhai's view, it was a huge bargain!

The range of these alloy data was extremely broad, from common alloys like iron, silicon, manganese, and aluminum. In the military sector, there were special needs for corrosion resistance, high and low-temperature tolerance, and even rare earth and magnetic alloys, as well as some experience in titanium and titanium alloy processing.

In addition, Factory 501 was not lacking in the processing technology for these alloys. Due to China's long-term blockade, everything had to be self-reliant. To process these precision castings, Factory 501 had its own tool production workshop, as well as hot and cold rolling and forging equipment.

It can be said that large state-owned enterprises before the 1990s were generally comprehensive and self-sufficient. Not only were they comprehensive in industry, but they also ran their own social services, such as hospitals, schools, labor protection, employee housing, and property management, covering almost every aspect of employees' lives.

These tertiary industries were originally something Wang Yichun wanted to take care of Hu Wenhai, as most of them were loss-making, and he planned to transfer them to the city's responsibility. But Hu Wenhai immediately stated that this was not acceptable! How could he joke about it? The main reason these tertiary industries were mostly loss-making was due to insufficient marketization and lack of openness to society.

Once he took over, these tertiary industries would all be profitable projects.

In addition, Factory 501 had various materials for natural aging to relieve stress, which were essential for high-precision machine tools. Furthermore, there was a three-hundred-year-old elm tree in the factory area. Hu Wenhai remembered that in 1998, this tree alone was sold to a Hong Kong buyer for five million yuan, and many people later said it was sold too cheaply!

Hu Wenhai knew the reason for the public criticism of state-owned enterprise reform in later years, mainly due to the loss of state assets. That is, only fixed assets were counted, land value was underestimated, and intangible assets such as brands and trademarks were not considered. As for technical reserves and deferred assets, it was even more laughable.

He believed that with Hu Wenhai as the first to take the lead, this situation would likely improve.

Moreover, Hu Wenhai was not at a loss. He originally thought that the technology of Factory 501 was just so-so. How advanced could Chinese technology be in the 1980s? But he was pleasantly surprised. So much technical data, if placed in a technologically backward township enterprise, would be worth far more than ten million yuan, perhaps even a hundred million.

After all, Factory 501's predecessor was a military factory, and its technical strength was indeed top-notch in China. Besides casting and mechanical processing, Factory 501 had undertaken a wide range of projects. For example, during the development of the simulation machine, the 7010 project's simulation signal negative lobe circuit was something that ordinary enterprises could not produce.

After calculating the price of 31.52 million yuan, Hu Wenhai was not annoyed by the amount being more than three times his budget; instead, he was overjoyed. With such a strong technical foundation, he had more options for future projects!

Especially in material and precision casting technology, if the timing were right, Hu Wenhai would have immediately started working on the BYDF0, a knockoff of Toyota's three-cylinder aluminum engine. He originally thought there might be technical and material difficulties, but now it was clear that Factory 501's aluminum alloy processing technology could handle the casting of the engine block.

Without such an accumulation, it would not be surprising to spend one or two years just to figure out the alloy materials and casting and processing techniques for an aluminum engine block.

In another year, the Santana localization project in Shanghai would be underway. With Hu Wenhai's experience at BYD and Factory 501's current technical accumulation, achieving over 30% localization was not a problem—just thinking about the potential profits made Hu Wenhai's head spin!

In short, Factory 501 was a treasure trove, a huge treasure trove for Hu Wenhai!

To start digging into this treasure trove as soon as possible, Hu Wenhai was even more proactive than Wang Yichun in urging the convening of a factory-wide meeting. Once the acquisition plan was approved at this meeting, Factory 501 would be in his hands.

It took a long time, but Hu Wenhai finally looked forward to the Factory 501 employee meeting. A week after the factory committee meeting, on a Monday, a large platform was set up in front of the factory office building. Over three thousand employees of Factory 501 gathered, looking at Mayor Wang Yichun, the leadership of the Machinery Industry Bureau, and the factory's standing committee members as they ascended the platform.

They say that a thousand people can shake the earth and reach the sky. Standing on the platform, Hu Wenhai finally realized, in a tangible way, what Factory 501 meant. From now on, the burden of these thousands of mouths would be on his shoulders.

"Hello, colleagues of Factory 501. I am Mayor Wang Yichun of Xiucheng City. The main purpose of today's meeting is to find a way out for Factory 501, to let us all choose the future path of Factory 501! I won't say much. I believe everyone knows that the municipal party committee and government have already decided to sell Factory 501 to Comrade Hu Wenhai! But this is just the decision of our upper leadership, and we also need to respect the opinions of all the employees of Factory 501! Today, under the supervision of all the employees of Factory 501, we will complete the entire acquisition process and leave the final decision on whether to sell to you yourselves!"

As soon as Wang Yichun finished speaking, someone in the crowd stood up and shouted, "We disagree! How can a state-owned factory be sold to an individual!"

"Right, we disagree!" With the lead, a wave of opposition quickly spread.

However, looking at the number of employees and the opposition, it was clear that only a small group was causing trouble. Wang Yichun tapped the microphone and gestured for Hu Wenhai to handle the situation. Hu Wenhai, who would likely become the head of Factory 501, could not always hide in the corner. This was both a test of his ability to handle the situation and a way to establish his authority.

"Hello, colleagues of Factory 501. Some of you may know me, and some may not. Let me introduce myself: I am Hu Wenhai! To be frank, my father, Hu Jiefang, is the current factory director of Factory 501!"

Hu Wenhai's reputation in Factory 501 was not small, and few employees had not heard of him. Especially his "mischievous" deeds were widely known among the employees.

However, when Hu Wenhai stood on the platform and declared his intention to acquire Factory 501, they realized that the Hu Wenhai they had only vaguely known was actually a young man not yet twenty.

"A kid wants to be a factory director? That's just nonsense! Go back to school!"

"Exactly, how can a kid be a factory director? If something goes wrong, you'll just run to your mom!"

"Ha ha ha—"

The provocative remarks from the crowd continued, but Hu Wenhai remained unperturbed and continued, "But I am not standing here today as the son of a factory director, but as a child of Factory 501, planning to give all of you, and our once glorious Factory 501, a chance! Please don't misunderstand, I am not targeting any one of you. I am saying that all of you sitting here are a bunch of good-for-nothings!"

"What? We are good-for-nothings!"

"Damn, what gives you the right to say that!"

"Damn! You little punk, you're asking for a beating!"

Hu Wenhai's words were like pouring water into a pot of boiling oil, immediately causing a commotion. This time, it was not just a small group causing trouble, but almost everyone's face showed indignation.

Looking around, many people had already stood up, rolling up their sleeves, ready to come over and "reason" with their fists.