Chapter 154: The Small Workshop Prepares for Expansion

"By the way, Monkey, do me a favor over the next couple of days," Zhao Guoyang said after a moment of thought.

"You got it, Guoyang. Just say the word, and I guarantee I'll get it done," Monkey replied without a moment's hesitation.

Tapping his fingers gently on the table, Zhao Guoyang slowly continued, "Here's the thing. I was in touch with Sister Bai before, and there should be no problem selling the hairpins we produce. What we need to consider next is seizing the opportunity to expand production."

"Over the next few days, go take a look around the recruitment markets in Jianghai County and see if we can find some general laborers. Remember, they don't necessarily need experience in this field, but they must be sharp, clever, and capable of hard work!"

"You got it! Don't you worry, Guoyang. Finding people is on me," Monkey nodded repeatedly.

"Also, regarding Xiaohong, I've already spoken with her. From now on, whenever I'm not around and you run into any production difficulties or minor issues with the die-casting machine, you can always ask her for help."

"Oh, that's fantastic! Ergaizi and I have both witnessed Miss Ning's skills—she's seriously impressive!" Monkey gave a thumbs-up.

At this point, Zhao Guoyang thought of another matter. He turned to Ning Xiaohong and said, "Xiaohong, about the wages we discussed earlier, it feels a bit low now. How about I add another hundred to it?"

Ning Xiaohong shook her head like a rattle-drum and chided with a playful glare, "Guoyang, do you have so much money you don't know what to do with it?"

"Can't you tell? Master asked me to come over and help you whenever I have free time to return a favor to you, not because I actually expect you to pay me a huge sum. If you keep being this polite, you're just treating me like an outsider."

Feeling a bit embarrassed by Ning Xiaohong's words, Zhao Guoyang could only offer a sheepish smile. "Alright then, we'll keep it as it is for now. Later on, depending on how the small workshop develops, I'll reserve some shares for you."

Ning Xiaohong didn't take Zhao Guoyang's gesture too seriously.

In her view, while Zhao Guoyang was certainly skilled in his profession and the small workshop looked prosperous enough, thinking it could grow into anything truly massive was a bit far-fetched.

After all, she knew his financial background—he had only one die-casting machine, and even that was borrowed from her factory.

After giving instructions to Ning Xiaohong, Zhao Guoyang turned back to Monkey and said, "Also, Monkey, as production expands, we'll have a lot more things to handle."

"First of all, our current equipment definitely won't be enough; we need to purchase one or two more die-casting machines. Second, finding a larger workshop space is another major issue."

Hearing this, Monkey couldn't help chiming in, "Guoyang, I understand buying the equipment. But as for the workshop, my house is pretty big. Do we really need to look for a new place right now?"

Zhao Guoyang gave Monkey an exasperated glare and scolded, "You guys, you only care about making money and don't care about your family's rest at all?"

"Our small workshop is definitely going to be running day and night in the future. With such loud noise all day and all night, how are your parents supposed to rest?"

"Oh, right, right! I completely forgot about that!" Monkey replied with a slightly nervous expression.

Seeing that this fellow had finally come to his senses, Zhao Guoyang let the matter drop.

He pondered for a moment and said, "As for the workshop issue, have a word with Ergaizi and ask him to check with Village Chief Sun to see if there's any available workshop space in the village. If we can secure just one unit, the problem will be easily solved."

"Got it, leave that to me. Ever since Ergaizi got his share of the wages last time, he's been hovering around me every single day, just waiting for production to resume properly. If I tell him our small workshop is going to expand production, he'll be a hundred percent on board!"

"Mmm, talk this over thoroughly with Ergaizi. Remember, to achieve great things, one must be broad-minded. Don't bicker over trivial amounts like a few dozen bucks," Zhao Guoyang reminded him.

Of course, Monkey accepted Zhao Guoyang's "teachings" wholeheartedly.

In fact, ever since he started making money, he wasn't as stingy as he used to be, and from time to time, he would even treat Ergaizi to a decent meal.

Naturally, Monkey had his reasons for doing this.

He was quite sharp-witted and knew that if he and Guoyang wanted to run and grow this small workshop successfully, they had to bind Ergaizi firmly to their chariot.

While the three of them were chatting, the basin of mutton soup was soon empty.

Zhao Guoyang gave Monkey a few final instructions, telling him to maintain good contact with Boss Wang at the Guangling City steel market, before he and Ning Xiaohong stepped out of the mutton soup shop.

Once outside, Ning Xiaohong wheeled her bicycle forward with an amused smile. "Hey, Guoyang. Are you guys really planning to make a big enterprise out of this small workshop?"

"Sure, selling a thousand hairpins earned you around a thousand yuan. But if you want to buy two more die-casting machines, this little bit of money is nowhere near enough..."

Zhao Guoyang smiled and said, "I understand what you mean. You're trying to say I should make a few more batches of hairpins, sell them to save up enough money, and then buy the new die-casting machines, right?"

Ning Xiaohong uttered an "hmm" and said, "That's right, that's exactly what I'm thinking. Actually, I agree with one thing you just said."

"If there are enough orders, that die-casting machine can indeed run twenty-four hours a day. Since the workshop needs to hire workers anyway, wouldn't hiring another worker specifically for the night shift solve the problem?"

"Running twenty-four hours a day is a must, but that's still not enough!"

Zhao Guoyang patiently explained, "Products like hairpins, which don't have a very complicated manufacturing process, are quite easy for others to copy."

"If we don't seize the opportunity before most people enter this industry and quickly expand our production scale, we'll easily be overtaken by latecomers."

Pausing for a moment, Zhao Guoyang looked at Ning Xiaohong and said, "Xiaohong, you've always been in the machinery industry, so you should know how important scale is to a factory. The larger the scale, the lower the production cost, and correspondingly, the higher the competitiveness."

Ning Xiaohong nodded slightly. "I know that. Just compare our Xiangyang Machinery Factory and your Hongda Machinery Factory, for instance."

"Although we could also handle the frame welding you brought over last time, we'd find it hard to achieve mass production like you do. That's probably the impact brought by the difference in enterprise scale."

"Well, not entirely, but you've pretty much hit the nail on the head," Zhao Guoyang said, rubbing his chin.

"Actually, when it comes to manufacturing motorcycle frames, it's not that your Xiangyang Machinery Factory can't do it. However, your factory still lacks some specialized talent..."

Hearing this, Ning Xiaohong pouted and said, "Guoyang, are you saying my skills aren't up to par?"

Looking at her displeasure, Zhao Guoyang smiled and explained, "No, no, that's not what I mean."

"To be honest, your foundation in machinery is very solid, and you have a certain proficiency in mechanical drafting. If I really gave you a month or two, you could definitely draw out a complete set of blueprints for a frame."

"However, merely drawing the blueprints is far from enough. How to turn your blueprints into physical objects requires constant communication between you and the frontline production workers. The time consumed by this process might even exceed the time you spent drafting."

"As far as I know, you're the only person in your technical department who truly knows how to draft, right? That means even with the blueprints, you'd have to spend a lot of time explaining things to the people below."

"If that's the case, having a single person handle the entire technical support from start to finish is definitely unviable during frame production."

"That's why I said your Xiangyang Machinery Factory still lacks personnel..." Zhao Guoyang explained earnestly.