Chapter 63

Lin Qiangsheng arrived at the watch factory. Today, he came to check on the production of the watches, to see if there were any major issues and if they were ready to be put on the shelves for sale.

Watches, of course, must be accurate! If they can make people feel the time is off within a day, that’s a disaster; people will definitely return them. At the very least, they need to be tested for a week, with the time deviation controlled within 5 minutes. Only then can they be considered acceptable.

Currently, the Guoxi Watch Factory produces the SZIA type mechanical watch with a standardized movement. This type of watch is produced in the millions annually across the country. The production process is simple, the parts are standardized, and the components from different factories can be interchanged.

Not only are the watch movements standardized, but at that time, bicycles also had standardized movements. The parts of 28-inch bicycles produced by various manufacturers were basically the same. In the early 1970s, some experts were even organized to develop a standardized movement for black and white televisions, but this did not come to fruition due to the rapid popularity of color TVs.

From this, it can be seen that the Chinese people are not lacking in the spirit of standardization! Of course, sometimes standards are not always beneficial. They can make products less competitive and factories lose the motivation to innovate. The standardization of watch movements was a fatal issue, leading to the near collapse of the domestic watch industry. In the mid-1980s, cheap electronic watches from Hong Kong quickly entered the Chinese market. These watches, which could be bought for just a few yuan, severely impacted the old, uninnovative, and complacent watch factories across the country, causing many to go bankrupt. Only a few large city watch factories managed to survive, barely.

If it weren't for the Swiss watch industry, which, with its centuries-old tradition of mechanical watches, reshaped the new era and trends of mechanical watches worldwide, the Chinese mechanical watch industry would have been doomed!

Thank you, Swiss people! Thank you, Swiss watches!

"Has the inspection been successful? How many seconds does it lose per day?" Lin Qiangsheng asked, holding a delicate leather-strapped copper watch.

The watch's dial was made of paper, the copper case was polished to a bright shine, and the yellow genuine leather strap made the entire watch look vintage and stylish.

The dial had the numbers 12 and 6 at the top and bottom, with the other markers being small metal bars, making it easy to read. There were also two small Chinese characters, "Guoxi," on the dial.

Wang Guoxi looked at the watch and said with a delighted expression, "I've timed it. It loses about 34 seconds a day! This is the best batch of finished products."

"That's about 4 minutes a week. Although it's not as good as the Shanghai watch, it's comparable to the products from other factories. Not bad!" Lin Qiangsheng calculated and nodded.

He himself didn't like wearing watches, but he happily put this one on his wrist.

Seeing Wang Guoxi's tired face, Lin Qiangsheng advised, "Old Master Wang, you should take care of your health!"

Lin Qiangsheng noticed that Wang Guoxi's eyes were dark and he looked obviously fatigued.

He then said to Wang Guoxi's second son, Wang Zhenqiang, who was accompanying them, "Zhenqiang, keep an eye on your father. Make sure he rests more! He should take a nap at noon. At his age, he shouldn't push himself so hard!"

Wang Zhenqiang nodded vigorously and said, "Don't worry, Factory Director Lin. I'll take good care of my father!"

Wang Guoxi waved his hands and said, "I'm fine, I'm fine! I'm happy that the factory can produce a batch of qualified watches!"

Wang Guoxi's smile was strained, but it was genuine.

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "Take care, Old Master Wang! If you collapse, the factory will fall apart, and that would be a loss for all of us!"

Wang Guoxi nodded in agreement.

Lin Qiangsheng then visited a few watch assembly workshops. Each room was crowded with over 50 people, and the three rooms had fewer than 160 workers in total. They were seated on long benches, with parts boxes on long tables. Many workers wore gloves and held tweezers, carefully picking up and installing parts.

The workers sat close together, but the villagers didn't mind. Being close together kept them warm in the winter.

Earlier, Lin Qiangsheng had selected eight workers for moving goods and 20 female workers for sewing watch bands. From Wang Guoxi's parts processing workshop, he chose over 10 more intelligent apprentices. The remaining workers were the assemblers.

Seeing that it was about right, Lin Qiangsheng asked, "Who assembles the qualified watches?"

"This..." Wang Guoxi and Wang Zhenqiang looked at each other.

Wang Guoxi said, "I didn't keep track of that. I was just focused on selecting the watches with the most accurate timekeeping from the first batch. I didn't remember who assembled them!"

The first batch produced a total of 120 watches, from which 50 with the most accurate timekeeping, controlled within 5 minutes a week, were selected. A less than 50%合格率, but it was still a decent result.

Lin Qiangsheng thought for a moment and said to Wang Guoxi, "Here's what we can do. Have the workers prepare a large lunch box. They can place the watches they assemble in their own boxes and label them with their names. This way, we'll know who assembled each watch. Workers who assemble qualified watches will be paid based on the number of qualified watches they produce!"

Wang Guoxi nodded in agreement. Currently, a good worker could assemble one watch per hour. The bare watches didn't take up much space, and the large lunch boxes could hold many. Labeling them would make it clear, and this was indeed a good idea.

"Oh!" The workers in the room started to chatter excitedly when they heard that those who assembled qualified watches would be paid.

Lin Qiangsheng waved his hand and smiled at everyone, "As long as you can assemble qualified watches, the factory will not shortchange you!"

"Factory Director, didn't you say we wouldn't be paid for two months?" a straightforward young villager asked.

The young man next to him immediately slapped him and said, "Are you stupid? Getting paid is a good thing!"

The straightforward young man rubbed the back of his head and said, "No, I just thought that since we weren't getting paid anyway, I didn't work hard. Now I understand. Since the factory director will pay us, I'll work hard to assemble the watches properly."

The young men burst into laughter, and Lin Qiangsheng also smiled, but his smile had a deeper meaning.

Not getting paid means not working hard—what a simple truth! Lin Qiangsheng realized he had been wrong to consider the 200 people a burden!

This was a mistake. Recognizing his error, he said loudly, "As long as you work hard, the more qualified watches you assemble, the more you earn!"

"Uh..." Lin Qiangsheng hadn't finished speaking when Wang Guoxi pulled on his sleeve.

After they stepped outside, Lin Qiangsheng asked, "Old Master Wang, why did you pull me?"

Wang Guoxi looked at Lin Qiangsheng and said with a mix of anger and amusement, "If I hadn't stopped you, what were you going to say?"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "Of course, I was going to say how much to pay for each qualified watch!"

Wang Guoxi asked, "How much were you planning to pay for each watch?"

"Ah!" Lin Qiangsheng thought for a moment. He originally intended to say one yuan per qualified watch, but it didn't feel right.

If he paid one yuan per watch, a worker who assembled 10 qualified watches a day would earn 10 yuan a day, 300 yuan a month!

More than his father earned! This was absolutely impossible! If a farmer could earn 300 yuan a month, it would be a sensational news story, and he would surely be sent to prison for years!

Lin Qiangsheng closed his mouth. After a while, he said to Wang Guoxi, "One dime per watch, then."

Wang Guoxi shook his head, his wrinkles trembling. "That's still a bit high! In the countryside, if a farmer could earn 40 to 50 yuan a month at home, who would still farm? We would make a serious mistake! Besides, when the factory was established, didn't we agree to pay workers 20 yuan a month, with other positions calculated separately? Factory Director Lin, why are you suddenly increasing the pay? This is not good! Changing policies frequently is not good!" The old man was almost heartbroken, seeing the young Lin Qiangsheng acting recklessly. If it weren't for the equipment and the workers he had hired, the old man would have taken over the factory himself.

Lin Qiangsheng scoffed inwardly. He was promoting production efficiency!

But after thinking about it, he realized he had acted impulsively without consulting the older colleagues. He nodded and said, "Alright, Old Master Wang, you're right! Let's not talk about money for now!"

Wang Guoxi finally calmed down.

Lin Qiangsheng thought for a moment and asked the old man, "Old Master Wang, did the old workers and colleagues you wrote to about the factory respond?"

Wang Guoxi nodded and said, "A couple of them did. Some are too old and don't want to move. Others, who are in difficult circumstances, are happy to hear about the factory and want to come."

Lin Qiangsheng clapped his hands and smiled, "Great! Give me their addresses, and I'll send someone to pick them up!"

Wang Guoxi glanced at Lin Qiangsheng, his eyes darting, and ambiguously nodded.

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and urged Wang Guoxi to hand over the letters.

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