Chapter 241: 240, Modern Management Of The Airplane Factory, Competing For The First Trans-pacific Flight, The Mystery Of Legal Tender Issuance
Rangoon, Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.
In order to expand production capacity to 100 aircraft per year, Fang Wen was racking his brains.
If there is production capacity for 100 aircraft per year, China will finally have a foundation.
War is a contest of resources and industrial foundation; once true war breaks out, even production capacity for 1,000 aircraft per year won’t be much.
If he didn’t do it himself, China would have no air superiority at all during the War of Resistance.
For this reason, he still needed to recruit people, and the standardized production team model needed to continue being replicated and expanded.
Originally, 46 university engineers leading standardized production teams wasn’t enough; Fang Wen needed more highly educated workers.
At least high school diplomas or above, the kind who could understand blueprints after studying.
This wasn’t easy; to recruit more technicians, Fang Wen had Taishan Airlines Domestic Branch fully assist with recruitment work.
Domestic Branch responded positively.
They understood the general manager’s conduct and knew the treatment at Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, so they all recommended it to relatives and friends, successfully referring a batch of personnel with high school education or above.
But these people still weren’t enough, so broader recruitment began.
Recruiting in the name of Taishan Airlines was very effective; many families, drawn by Taishan Airlines’ reputation, brought their children to learn more.
When they learned it was to enter the factory as workers, many were unwilling, but some from poorer families accepted the recruitment.
In this way, recruits continuously arrived in Rangoon by seaplane for training and then took up posts.
But with so many people coming, the area of Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant was also continuously expanding.
Aircraft manufacturing hangars, welding workshops, components processing workshops, aluminum alloy shaping workshops, laboratories, and so on all expanded accordingly.
There were also dormitories for worker accommodation, bathhouses, canteens for meals, and sports and activity areas under construction.
The more people, the more troublesome management became.
Whether factory internal security, dispute handling, hygiene, daily affairs, and so on, none were easy.
But if not managed well, a small conflict could lead to big problems.
Fang Wen was very clear on this; for example, in future Foxconn, losing something or getting into a fight could cause huge conflicts between fellow villagers, even escalating to opposition between employees and factory management.
For this, there must be a very serious and responsible factory managerial personnel.
Fang Wen pondered this.
Should he put Zhang Yunfei, who had always followed him?
He shook his head and rejected it; Zhang Yunfei was rigid, he would certainly do well what was assigned to him, but he lacked initiative.
With employees at the aircraft manufacturing plant coming from all over the country.
It was easy to form fellow villager groups; once there was conflict, fellow villagers would confront each other, so it required someone flexible-minded and good at mediating conflicts to handle this job.
What about the other Special Action Team members?
No good either.
Fang Wen’s thoughts diverged, screening from a larger pool.
He really found one.
It was Bai Zeshan.
Don’t think just because he usually speaks little and likes reading books that he lacks strong observation skills; if he doesn’t speak, fine, but when he does, it always has meaning.
For this, Fang Wen telegraphed Wuhan headquarters, calling Bai Zeshan, who had just entered the company commercial telegraph office as an engineer, to come over.
Bai Zeshan took a seaplane from Wuhan to Rangoon.
Fang Wen enthusiastically brought him to Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.
Bai Zeshan, unsure why he was here, rarely took the initiative to ask: “General Manager, what do you want me here for? Just say it straight. If you keep not saying, I’ll feel uneasy.”
Fang Wen smiled and poured tea for Bai Zeshan: “How’s it going in the commercial telegraph office?”
“It’s fine, I like that job,” Bai Zeshan replied.
This almost made Fang Wen not know how to continue the conversation.
Thinking for a moment, he asked: “Bai Zeshan, why do you like studying vacuum tubes?”
“I think it’s a technology with great prospects, bound to have major development in the future.”
“Then, if I ask you to temporarily give up related work and do something you can do very well but don’t like, can you do it?”
“Maybe, but I need to know the reason.” Bai Zeshan didn’t refuse outright, showing he wasn’t just an idealist.
Fang Wen breathed a sigh of relief and explained: “The aircraft manufacturing plant is currently Taishan Group’s key focus. I’m expanding its production capacity, for which I’ve recruited technicians from all over the country. These people together easily form cliques and generate disputes and accidents, which would seriously affect company development. I think you can take over the factory’s internal affairs, manage employee life, factory Public Security Brigade, and handle various disputes.”
Bai Zeshan looked troubled: “General Manager, this is too difficult, I’m afraid I can’t do it well.”
“I know it’s difficult, and there really isn’t talent in this area; I think you can handle it,” Fang Wen encouraged.
“Can I really?” Bai Zeshan didn’t think so himself.
“You can; you’re good at observing and summarizing, meticulous, and have your own opinions. As long as you learn how to handle worker relations, you can definitely do it well.”
“The problem is I don’t know how to handle those relations?”
“I have some experience; just follow it, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll discuss again.”
As Fang Wen spoke, he took out a prepared brochure.
The contents inside were observations from his future life experiences.
Bai Zeshan took the brochure and read it seriously.
《On how to manage the internal ecology of a large manufacturing factory》
The contents in this book opened up a new world for him.
It was full of future management concepts, with equality and fairness permeating everything.
A total of 8 points.
Establish open communication channels: Ensure employees have smooth channels to express their opinions, suggestions, and dissatisfaction. This can be done through suggestion boxes, regular employee meetings, group meetings, or online platforms to encourage active feedback from employees.
Strengthen employee training and education: Organize regular training courses on professional ethics, communication skills, conflict resolution, etc., to enhance employees’ self-management and emotional regulation abilities. At the same time, emphasize corporate culture and values to foster team spirit and an atmosphere of mutual respect among employees.
Fair and just management: When handling employee issues, adhere to principles of fairness and justice, without favoring any side. Ensure all decisions have clear basis and procedures, so employees feel the fairness.
Timely intervention and mediation: Once signs of conflict or disputes between employees are discovered, intervene immediately and take appropriate mediation measures. By listening to both sides’ opinions, understanding the root of the problem, and proposing solutions, help employees resolve conflicts.
Optimize work environment: Improve working conditions, such as enhancing workplace safety and comfort, reasonably arranging work hours and rest times, reducing negative emotions caused by poor work environments.
Strengthen safety management: Bolster factory safety management to prevent disputes and conflicts arising from safety issues. Also, regularly organize safety drills and education training to improve employees’ safety awareness and self-protection abilities.
Promote cultural exchange and integration: For enterprises with diverse employee groups, actively promote exchange and integration between different cultures to enhance understanding and respect among employees. Through hosting cultural festivals, cultural exchange activities, etc., create an inclusive and harmonious corporate culture.
Continuous evaluation and improvement: Regularly evaluate employee relations management to understand employee satisfaction and existing problems. Based on evaluation results, timely adjust management strategies and methods, continuously improving employee relations management.
After reading these contents, Bai Zeshan was astonished.
“General Manager, I participated in a communism discussion group in Paris, which included talks on factory management systems, but what they said was completely incomparable to these. If all this is achieved, it will be the best factory in the world.”
“Not that good; you try it first, follow what’s above.”
Fang Wen smiled and brushed off the praise; in his view, many were just on paper, even he thought they couldn’t be fully achieved.
After all, future factories all had similar internal management rules, but in fact were full of the same problems.
Bai Zeshan became the Factory Office Director of Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.
Taking on factory internal management, he very dutifully began work.
He really strictly followed the rules and systems given by Fang Wen.
When these systems were put into practice, they produced effects Fang Wen hadn’t anticipated.
Unlike future people, the factory workers really liked these fair and just systems; they felt respected, something rare in this era.
At the same time, they didn’t have so many desires; every change beneficial to them brought joyful gratitude.
Bai Zeshan and the factory people together operated the beautiful factory environment described by Fang Wen, producing strange effects.
Employees stopped quarreling, and conflicts decreased.
They learned mutual love, respect, and assistance.
Not only did internal conflicts in the factory decrease a lot, production efficiency also greatly increased.
This major change gave Fang Wen a great stimulation.
It turned out that different eras and different people demands could produce such huge changes.
Immediately, he decided to extend these management systems to all companies in Taishan Group.
For this, all branches of Taishan Group, including the gambling and shipping companies in the United States, sent managerial personnel to Rangoon Aircraft Manufacturing Plant for study and training.
Those managerial personnel, after learning, just followed the systems by the book once, and got very good feedback.
This change made Fang Wen feel that the Taishan Group he built was becoming more united, perhaps growing bigger and bigger.
Another month passed, and the negotiations on the United States side finally ended.
Through a cat-and-mouse style Chinese negotiation, they got very good results: overall procurement expenses dropped 15%, allowing purchase of more supplies.
These supplies would all arrive in Rangoon within half a year.
At the same time, during exchanges with various factories, Lin Shuiwang unexpectedly obtained some news involving China.
He sent these news along with the good news to Fang Wen.
Rangoon, Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.
Fang Wen stood on the second floor, watching the factory activities.
This was a factory internal activity held every two weeks, with all programs provided and organized by the workers themselves.
Playing Ma Diao（Mahjong）, Zi Pai are regional board game entertainments, with different places having different ways to play.
There was also Chess, which had uniform national play, forming larger activity groups.
Bai Zeshan even invited performers of Peking Opera, Huagu Opera, Yue Opera to perform on the stage built in the factory.
There was also the open-air movie with the most participants, and other niche entertainment activities.
“General Manager, your telegram.” A staff member from the factory telegraph room brought Fang Wen’s attention back.
He took the telegram and skillfully translated the ciphertext.
【Procurement has all been finalized, shipping starts next week.】
【Pan American Airways is preparing to open the trans-Pacific route, expected to make its first flight in November this year, aircraft named: China Clipper.】
【The National Government will issue legal tender this year. Due to insufficient reserves, it tried to borrow from the United States but was not approved. However, the United States side predicts that the National Government will continue issuing legal tender to replace silver dollars despite insufficient reserves.】
The encrypted telegram brought three pieces of information.
No need to mention procurement; the other two were also very important to Fang Wen.
The Asia-Europe route was the first one Taishan Airlines did, and thus gained international influence.
For the Pacific route and Atlantic route, Taishan Airlines also wanted to strive to be first.
The Atlantic route situation was more complex, a bit difficult for Taishan Airlines; but the Pacific route’s first flight couldn’t be taken by Pan American Airways.
Fang Wen felt competitive; he didn’t want to be surpassed by others in aviation flight.
The legal tender matter was also very important.
Currency issuance is no child’s play; to make people accept new currency, especially paper money, there must be reserves.
In principle, currency and reserves are 1:1, like the United States, acquiring large amounts of gold as reserves to issue currency 1:1.
Only such paper money has value, and people dare to use it.
But now China’s situation was different.
To actually issue legal tender without sufficient currency reserves—isn’t this artificially inflating currency value and falsifying?
How much reserves were falsely inflated, and who benefited?
Fang Wen vaguely guessed some, but couldn’t confirm.
He felt that for such a matter, it was necessary to go to Guangzhou and remind his father-in-law Kuang Shanming to be careful.
He then left the factory and piloted the airplane to Guangzhou.
The airplane landed at Guangzhou Airport; due to multiple takeoffs and landings, relations here were already well-established, and airport staff attitudes were very good.
After Fang Wen got off the airplane, they even proactively chatted.
“General Manager Fang, you’re here in Guangzhou to see your father-in-law?”
“Some business; the airplane might stay two days. By the way, use your telephone.”
“The telephone is in the office; please follow me.”
Following the airport staff to the office, Fang Wen dialed the Kuang Family’s telephone.
But learned that father-in-law Kuang Shanming was at the Gold Exchange drinking tea with a group of gold firm bosses.
Fang Wen hung up and found a rickshaw to head to the Gold Exchange.
Inside the Gold Exchange, there was a quiet corner; going up to the second floor from there was where gold firm bosses usually chatted and gathered.
Fang Wen went upstairs and was stopped by the waiter.
Kuang Shanming inside called out loudly: “That’s my son-in-law; let him in.”
The waiter quickly stepped aside, and Fang Wen walked in.
He saw that besides Kuang Shanming, there were five others, all dressed properly, not flashy but with presence.
Kuang Shanming introduced: “My son-in-law Fang Wen; this is Boss Zhao Ruide of Furui Xiang, old Mr. Sun Yaozong of Baoguang Ge, President Li Changsheng of Changsheng Jin Hao, Lady Zhou Jinxiu of Jinxiu Tang, Mr. Chen Hengyuan of Henglong Yin Lou.”
All were leading figures in Guangzhou gold firms; Fang Wen bowed one by one, and they smiled and stood to respond.
Here, everyone was about equal in strength; Fang Wen gave face, so they naturally returned it.
After the pleasantries, Fang Wen said lowly to his father-in-law: “Something big is about to happen; want to hear?”
“Yes, can my these friends listen?” Kuang Shanming asked.
Fang Wen thought, the legal tender matter couldn’t be hidden from everyone.
These gold firm bosses might know something already.
If not, telling them would earn a favor.
