novelraw Chapter 26: The Fully Automatic Washing Machine Experiment is a Success
Chapter 26: The Fully Automatic Washing Machine Experiment is a Success
One week later...
October 9th, Thursday.
On this day, a light drizzle fell over Hong Kong.
The sky was dark and a cool breeze was blowing.
This suggests that autumn is approaching.
After a month of round-the-clock research and development, good news finally came from the laboratory.
He left home early this morning and headed straight to the laboratory.
If HK Electric will be the springboard for his business empire, then the electrical company is a very important piece of the puzzle for Li Ka-kong's future business sector.
Therefore, Li Jiagang naturally attached great importance to the company's first product, as it was the first product to establish his electrical appliance brand, making it extremely important.
"Chief Engineer He, let me see the finished product quickly!"
The person arrived before the voice.
As soon as Li Jiagang stepped into the laboratory, he loudly called out to He Jianmin, the person in charge of the laboratory.
"Chairman, you've arrived." He Jianmin pulled Li Jiagang into a central room: "Chairman, look, this is the finished fully automatic washing machine."
"Okay, okay, okay!!!"
Li Jiagang said "good" three times in a row.
It's clear that he was very excited at that moment.
Li Jiagang circled around the washing machine, asking, "Are all the tests and trials done without any problems?" While asking, he also personally checked the machine for any defects.
In this respect, he is the most professional.
As a future professor specializing in mechatronics, the electrical and electronic industries of this era pose no challenge to him.
If it weren't for the factory's insufficient production capacity and manufacturing capabilities, and the company's lack of brand awareness, Lijiagang might have compiled several sets of electrical appliance technologies suitable for that era and handed them over for research and development and production.
"Yes, Chairman." In response, he also arranged for someone to throw several sets of dirty work clothes into the washing machine: "Chairman, you see," He Jianmin pointed to the buttons on the washing machine, "once it's set up, it can start the automatic water filling, washing, and spin-drying functions."
After He Jianmin pressed the button, the washing machine did indeed automatically add water. Next, he had to check if the water level sensor was working properly, and the subsequent washing, spin-drying and other functions were all working normally.
As long as everything is in order, he can register the trademark, obtain the product certificate, apply for any applicable technology patents, and so on.
Next, we can proceed with material procurement, partial parts manufacturing and procurement, and once the production line returns, we can begin mass production and assembly.
Finally, it will be put on the market for sale.
Half an hour later...
He Jianmin set the washing machine to wash for half an hour, and it completed the task as usual, which made Li Jiagang very satisfied.
"Not bad, not bad." Nodding, he turned to look at the newly arrived Takafu Kaido: "Let's proceed to the next step of the work."
"A management meeting will also be held tomorrow."
"Yes, Chairman."
Soon after, he instructed He Jianmin to compile some technical data and information about the washing machine. He needed to arrange for someone to conduct official testing, apply for patents, register trademarks, and so on.
After leaving the laboratory.
Li Jiagang went straight to the "Hong Kong Electric" company.
A handover and summary meeting will be held today.
In the past few days, the handover work of HK Electric has come to an end. Once some minor issues are resolved, the handover of all work will be completed.
This meeting was to begin planning the future development and spin-off of HK Electric.
Nine o'clock sharp.
The HK Electric meeting room was filled with management.
The original management team of "Hong Kong Electric" has not been changed for the time being. Before finding any mistakes or dissent against him, he will wait until he stabilizes the company before carefully observing the capabilities of this management team.
If there are no problems, keeping them isn't a bad idea, since he will continue to expand the company and will need a lot of talent in the future.
However, in order to ensure that Hong Kong Electric would have complete control over everything afterward, Li Jiagang temporarily arranged for Huo Jianning to join the company as his agent.
Although this position has no real power, it allows the chairman to oversee and intervene in all matters of the company, including financial statements.
At the same time, Li Haiming, the former administrative manager of his electrical appliance company, has now been directly assigned by Li Jiagang to serve as the vice president of "Hong Kong Electric".
The position of general manager remained unchanged, still held by Neil Ward, an Englishman.
After glancing at the management team present, Li Jiagang slowly began to speak: "Colleagues, this meeting is my first formal meeting since taking over the company. I hope we can work together happily and grow Hong Kong Electric together."
"Enough with the small talk, let's get to the point."
"First, regarding the power plant issue."
"First: The company has signed its first Regulation Scheme Agreement with the UK and Hong Kong governments, which locks in the company's electricity prices and profit caps within a 15-year regulatory framework, making cost reduction the key to profitability."
"This agreement is crucial for the company's development, cost reduction, and increased profitability."
"Everyone carefully familiarized themselves with the agreement after the meeting."
"Second: Lamma Power Plant startup project."
"The Lamma Power Station is very important to HK Electric in the future, and I don't want any delays or problems that affect the construction progress of this project."
"The Lamma Power Station project will be overseen and coordinated by Vice President Li Hai-mei."
Third: Optimization and upgrading of power plant units.
"The lack of in-depth maintenance and optimization of the power plant units for a long time has greatly increased the company's power generation costs, and in-depth upgrades and optimizations are needed."
Meanwhile, the aging of cables and distribution lines throughout Hong Kong Island has led to insufficient power supply, increasing the power generation costs of power plants.
The relevant departments must provide me with a rectification plan as soon as possible, and replace the old lines with new ones promptly, ensuring a unified, neat, and organized plan.
Fourth: Personnel adjustment and integration.
"No changes will be made to office personnel at this time."
"More than ten departments, including the power plant unit department, maintenance department, power grid equipment management department, infrastructure technology department, safety supervision department, material control department, and administrative allocation department?"
"Do you think this is necessary?"
"Toslen, as the chief engineer of the power plant, do you think some departments are necessary?" Li Jiagang questioned him loudly.
Although this is not my fault.
Because HK Electric was previously under public joint management, even if these departments were useless, they increased company costs and wasted company resources, which was borne by everyone, so he ignored them.
However, as the chief engineer of the power plant, he did not prioritize the company's interests, nor did he reduce costs for the company. In fact, since taking office, he has never once proposed to deal with the power plant's useless departments.
Li Jiagang believes that this is his problem.
He may be a very capable engineer, but he is not a good manager, and one could even say he is irresponsible to the company.
I'm sorry for his managerial position.
"I'm sorry, Boss, I will compile an updated list of departments that are necessary for the new crew as soon as possible and remove any unnecessary departments."
Faced with the new chairman's questioning, Torslen knew he was in the wrong, so he lacked confidence and quickly apologized, fearing that Li Jiagang would make an example of him.
He has lived in Hong Kong for quite some time and is familiar with the Chinese saying "a new broom sweeps clean." How could he not be worried?
"No need." Li Jiagang took a document from Huo Jianning and threw it in front of him: "I have compiled a list of those who need to be included."
"At that time, the power plant will follow this plan and retain five major departments, which will then be divided into multiple subgroups. All remaining departments and personnel will be laid off."
Management Department, Technical Department, Execution Department, Logistics Department, Supervision Department.
He divided the power plant into five departments.
The management department is indeed comprised of managers, and even the job assignments for each department are clearly outlined in the plan. Besides overseeing their own departments, the management department is also responsible for coordinating and maintaining plans, budgets, outsourcing management, development, and so on.
The technical department is entirely composed of technical engineers.
The executive department consists of engineering and technical personnel and technicians engaged in repair, maintenance, and emergency repair.
The logistics department is responsible for material procurement, distribution, transportation management, and so on.
The supervisory department is responsible for regularly conducting spot checks on all aspects of the power plant to supervise whether there are any non-standard or dangerous operations and projects.
Other departments such as environmental surveys, technological upgrades, administration, and operations would be completely redundant.
Because technicians can do these jobs.
This power plant department integration plan was not arbitrarily altered by Lijiagang to save costs.
Rather, it was a personnel adjustment and cost-saving plan implemented by Hongkong Land after acquiring HK Electric in 1981.
Li Jiagang happened to have seen this news, so he made some modifications based on his memory and his own knowledge, and came up with this revised plan.
"Yes, Boss."
"I will integrate the various departments of the power plant as soon as possible."
"OK, next up is land resource integration."
Real estate resource integration is Li Jiagang's current top priority. Hong Kong Electric has a lot of good land, and he can take advantage of this opportunity to enter the real estate industry.