Chapter 4

Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu both became curious about Yun Fei's background. Mr. Liu also knew that if Yun Fei was really as he claimed, he wouldn't be able to afford him. Yun Fei would be wasted in his small workshop. He was truly curious about who had raised such a talented young man and why he had ended up in Shenzhen, applying for a job as a worker in his small workshop.

Driven by his curiosity about Yun Fei, Mr. Liu thick-skinnedly followed Mr. Wang into his Santana car.

In the car, Yun Fei learned that Mr. Wang's name was Wang Qingfeng, and he was originally from Northeast China. He was among the first to venture into business. As a former repairman in a machinery factory, he had initially planned to do small business in Shenzhen. However, he discovered that many factories in Guangzhou needed mechanical parts processing. With his keen insight, he raised over ten thousand yuan, spent several thousand to "buy" a second-hand lathe from his former unit, and transported it to Guangzhou to start a business in mechanical processing and repair.

After ten years of development, his factory now had forty ordinary horizontal lathes, eight planers, five milling machines, three grinders, and over ten drilling machines, making it quite strong in processing capabilities. However, there were not many skilled senior workers in the factory, and many of the parts were relatively simple with low precision requirements. The factory's development had stagnated in recent years.

When Wang Qingfeng's secretary and mistress, Zhang Rui (which Yun Fei only learned half a year later), urged them to eat for the umpteenth time at ten o'clock the next evening, the three men in the office burst into laughter.

"Brother Yun, indeed, the younger generation surpasses the older. I admire you..." When they came out, Mr. Liu praised Yun Fei with a smile. After several hours of conversation with Yun Fei, this old fox of a boss for over a year had gained a lot of knowledge.

"Brother Yun, tonight we won't stop until we're drunk. Let's talk about the job while we eat. Don't worry, I'll definitely meet your requirements." At this moment, Wang Qingfeng couldn't help but thank heaven for sending him such a gem.

Led by Secretary Zhang, the group walked to a small restaurant near the factory and started eating and drinking.

Secretary Zhang was very curious about what the three men had discussed in the office, wondering why these two middle-aged men were treating a young boy with such respect. She only learned the truth from Mr. Liu, who was quite drunk.

As soon as they entered the office, Wang Qingfeng eagerly took out a blue A1 blueprint. This was the blueprint Yun Fei had requested to see. Except for the Arabic numerals, everything on it was in English.

Yun Fei spread the blueprint on Wang Qingfeng's desk and focused on it, while Wang Qingfeng and Mr. Liu, who couldn't understand the English, could only stare at Yun Fei helplessly.

Secretary Zhang, who couldn't understand the blueprint, found it boring to watch them and left the office to order food at a nearby restaurant.

Yun Fei studied the blueprint for over ten minutes before looking up and seeing Wang Qingfeng and Mr. Liu staring at him nervously. He couldn't help but smile.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket, offered it to the two men, and lit one for himself before starting to explain the processing difficulties of the part on the blueprint in detail.

"The first difficulty in processing this part is the material. 304 stainless steel is hard and malleable, making it a difficult material to process. In our country, most workers have never encountered it. Whether using YG series or YW series cutting tools, it's quite challenging. In foreign countries, however, their CNC lathes can easily process large quantities of stainless steel products and ensure the precision of the parts."

After saying this, the young Yun Fei picked up the teacup on the desk and drank the tea that had been there for who knows how long. Wang Qingfeng didn't mind Yun Fei using his cup. Seeing that Yun Fei had finished the tea, he immediately picked up the hot water bottle and refilled the cup.

"The biggest difficulty in processing this part is not just the material, but also the high precision requirements for most of the tolerances. It's a thin-walled part with a diameter of over 230 millimeters and a thickness of only 3 millimeters on each side. Controlling the deformation is extremely difficult."

After explaining the biggest difficulty, Yun Fei paused and continued.

"If it were a single piece or a small batch, using a conventional lathe would be fine. However, the blueprint requires 100 pieces to be delivered within a month. Without five or six CNC lathes, it would be impossible to complete."

Yun Fei's analysis made the two men nod in agreement. Although Wang Qingfeng wasn't from a mechanical processing background, he had worked in maintenance and was familiar with stainless steel.

As for Mr. Liu, who was originally a lathe operator, he had heard that stainless steel was very difficult to process, though he had never worked with it. He had done a lot of work with thin-walled parts, but processing thin-walled parts from a material that deforms easily and is difficult to process was a headache for him.

"We do have two CNC lathes. The client knew we had CNC equipment and asked us for a quote. However, we haven't used them since we bought them. They are second-hand German equipment, and we haven't had any training or found the right people to maintain them. We don't know if they are still usable."

"What about the skill level of the workers in the factory? How many are above level six?" Yun Fei couldn't help but sigh at the state of the domestic mechanical processing industry in this era.

Without advanced equipment, they could only rely on the skill level of the workers. In China, skilled workers could produce complex products that were as good as those made by foreign CNC equipment, but the only downside was the low efficiency.

"There is only one level eight lathe operator, Yang Dezhi, but he has never worked with stainless steel. There are four or five level six or seven lathe operators, all of whom are former senior workers from our original factory who followed me here. The rest are mostly apprentices hired after the factory was built. You know, there aren't many state-owned enterprises in this area, and even the skilled workers from heavy industrial cities rarely come here."

Yun Fei was at a loss. Even a skilled housewife couldn't cook without ingredients. Without equipment and a large number of skilled workers, it seemed they wouldn't be able to take on this job.

Speaking of the workers, both Wang Qingfeng and Mr. Liu were also at a loss. In this area, most of the work had low precision requirements, and the skill level of the workers wasn't high. As long as they learned the basic operations, they could work independently on the machines. Even if skilled workers from state-owned enterprises came here, they were often poached by foreign-funded enterprises with high salaries.

"How much is the processing fee per piece?" Yun Fei didn't care which country or company the client was from. For him, no matter how difficult the part, as long as the price was right, he could do it, even with a file.

"Four hundred yuan per piece." Mentioning the processing fee, Wang Qingfeng was excited, but then he became disheartened. Such a lucrative job was out of reach.

"How much?" The number Mr. Wang mentioned made Mr. Liu stagger.

He knew the processing fee was high, but he didn't expect it to be so high. A skilled worker's salary was only three hundred yuan, and this product alone had a processing fee of four hundred yuan. The profit margin must be enormous!

"The price is too low, but let's go to the workshop and see the equipment first. We need to see the equipment to determine if we can do it."