Chapter 173 Weaning
"Our Director Liu is truly incomparable. His work ability and attitude are beyond reproach, but he is a little too stubborn sometimes." Luo Tao smiled and continued, "But to be honest, which capable person doesn't have a bit of temper? In fact, most people who follow the rules are mediocre."

"Actually, not entirely. Mainly because I'm a leader. Sometimes if I want to get things done, I have to find another way. Our factory still needs people who follow the rules. Without them, the factory will have no foundation." Liu Biao glanced at the model workers sitting next to him and said with a smile.

"You're right, but sometimes if you want to achieve something, you have to be willing to take risks. Comrade Xu Qiang is an example. He has only been in the industry for two months, but he has accomplished so many great things. I am really ashamed of him."

Luo Tao always admires Xu Qiang because in his opinion, Xu Qiang is indeed a very rare talent.

Several leaders at the same table could also see Luo Tao's favor for Xu Qiang, and one of them even filled the glass in front of Xu Qiang with wine.

"Director Luo, I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. I'm just an ordinary worker. If it weren't for the support and help from Director Liu, I would be nothing." Xu Qiang raised his glass and said to Luo Tao and Liu Biao, "Director Luo, Director Liu, thank you for your support and help. I'd like to toast you two."

After Xu Qiang finished speaking, he drank the wine in the glass.

Generally speaking, when subordinates toast their leaders, they must drink it all, and the leaders can just show their appreciation. But this time, Luo Tao and Liu Biao both drank the wine in their glasses in one gulp.

"You have to continue to work hard in the future to live up to Director Luo's high regard for you." Liu Biao said to Xu Qiang, then turned to Luo Tao and asked, "Director Luo, can we delay the reduction of our factory's military orders for another year or two next year..."

The last time Deputy Director Gao Zhiguo came to inspect the factory, Liu Biao paid for him a meal out of his own pocket and discussed this issue at that time.

However, Gao Zhiguo was only the second-in-command of the Provincial Defense Science and Technology Office, and he did not have the authority to make some decisions. So when Luo Tao arrived this time, Liu Biao still wanted him to delay the reduction of military orders.

After all, reducing orders by 1/3 all at once has a huge impact on their factory. Although the workers' wages are temporarily guaranteed thanks to the wealth accumulated over the years, over time, the funds will inevitably be depleted, and the factory will also have no extra money to carry out other projects such as factory construction.

"Lao Gao has already told me about your situation, but there is nothing I can do. These are all policies issued by the state. The specific implementation plan is formulated by the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building. I can only follow orders." Luo Tao frowned and continued:

"In fact, your factory is relatively good. As far as I know, many small and medium-sized third-tier enterprises in Jiangxi will see their orders reduced by half or even 2/3 starting next year!"

"what……"

Hearing this, everyone present turned solemn.

The current situation has clearly exceeded everyone's imagination.

In the past, Shengli Machinery Factory was like a child waiting to be fed. Every year, the superiors gave them plenty of orders, and they only needed to complete the tasks on time.

But now, the situation has changed dramatically.

Cutting one-third of completed orders in a year is already a very difficult situation for Shengli Machinery Factory. They dare not even imagine whether Shengli Machinery Factory can survive if the orders are cut in half, or even 1/3.

As for those small and medium-sized enterprises that have seen a greater reduction in orders, their difficulties are not small, but after all, they have fewer employees to support. Therefore, as long as they can develop one or two popular civilian products, they can support the employees in the factory. However, for a large factory with tens of thousands of employees like Shengli Machinery Factory, more and larger project orders are necessary to enable the factory to develop healthily and sustainably.

"In fact, the specific situation is related to the products produced by each enterprise. The state will give priority to eliminating some enterprises with backward technology and outdated products. For those enterprises with advanced technology and strong military product innovation capabilities, their superiors will also provide support. For example, the two new products developed by Comrade Xu Qiang this time, if they can pass the review of the ministry this time, your factory will have a much better time next year." Luo Tao said with a smile.

"It's all thanks to Comrade Xu Qiang."

"Yes, Xu Qiang helped the factory solve a big problem this time."

For a moment, several other leaders and model workers present also praised Xu Qiang.

However, Li Cunzhu, who was sitting next to Deputy Factory Director Xie Changjiang, remained silent, his face looked a little serious, and he seemed to be thinking about something.

"But I have something to tell you." Luo Tao changed the subject and continued, "Although the two military batteries are products developed by your factory, they may not be produced in your factory. Maybe you will only be given a portion of the production capacity and orders."

"This is a bit unreasonable. This is a product developed by our factory. Why should we let others produce it?" A model worker who lives opposite couldn't help but say.

However, Liu Biao and other factory leaders seemed to be indifferent to this. The reason was very simple. There was no monopoly on domestic military products. The design and production of many products were also uniformly allocated and arranged by the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building. In other words, all eggs should not be put in one basket.

One of the very important reasons is to ensure wartime supply. For this reason, basically several military industrial enterprises produce the same product, and orders are allocated according to the needs of the troops and the specific conditions of each factory.

However, as the first unit to develop the product, Shengli Machinery Factory will definitely get a share of the profits. The superiors will allocate funds to build one or two production lines in this factory. The leaders of the factory are all aware of this matter.

"In fact, many of your factory's products are also developed by other manufacturers. The supply of arms must be stable. The country makes such arrangements for wartime considerations..." Luo Tao replied with a smile.

"We will fully obey the arrangements of our superiors." Liu Biao said at this time.

"I can understand your feelings, but since your factory has such good product technology research and development capabilities, you can actually consider the development of military products for foreign trade. In this regard, as long as your products can be recognized by foreign customers, our province and the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building will provide strong support." Luo Tao said.

"So what I mean is... other manufacturers can't just copy the military products developed by our factory, right?" asked a model worker on the other side.

"Of course!" Luo Tao smiled and said, "But there are a few points I want to make. First of all, our most advanced technology cannot be sold outside. Secondly, we must meet domestic military needs. The last point is that for products that are not included in the national plan, you can only use existing equipment and production lines to produce them. If you want to build a new production line to meet foreign trade exports, you can only pay for it out of your own pocket..."

“This is too difficult…”

Luo Tao's words originally aroused everyone's hope, but his words were like pouring a bucket of cold water on everyone.

In fact, among the current domestic military-industrial enterprises, those that are able to engage in foreign trade in military products basically produce mid- and low-end military equipment and weapons, and are facing the dilemma of overproduction and inventory backlogs.

Among the enterprises that truly control domestic high-end military production, very few are involved in the export of foreign trade equipment, because these enterprises already have sufficient domestic military orders. Due to production capacity and national military technology confidentiality requirements, they do not export at all.

For example, the artillery fuses produced by Shengli Machinery Factory are very advanced proximity fuses in China. There are several other manufacturers that produce this kind of product. Although there are some problems of overcapacity, the country rarely exports this kind of product.

However, for current military-industrial enterprises, military product foreign trade is indeed a very tempting cake.

With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq hoped to establish its dominant position in overseas regions through this war, so it needed to import a large number of weapons products.

At that time, Chinese military industrial enterprises seized this opportunity and actively provided weapons and equipment support to both Iran and Iraq.

Because China's weapons and equipment are not only lower in price but also of improved quality.

This ultimately led to China becoming one of the main arms suppliers to Iran and Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.

It was also because of this war that many domestic Chinese military-industrial enterprises were saved, and it even became an important source of income for many Chinese military-industrial enterprises. It also opened the door to the international market for Chinese military-industrial enterprises.

But in general, the military products provided by China to Iran, Iraq and other third world countries are not considered top military products in the country, but the number of orders and transaction volume are quite astonishing.

According to national statistics afterwards, throughout the 80s, Chinese arsenals exported weapons and equipment worth about US$40 billion to the two countries, a figure that has not been broken since then.

If Shengli Machinery Factory can catch the express train of foreign trade export of military products for the two-wing war, it will undoubtedly bring huge profits to the company, and the problem of a sharp decline in efficiency due to the upcoming domestic orders will also be solved.

More importantly, through the delivery of these orders, the company's technical level and production capacity can be improved, and there will be more funds to develop new products and new technologies.

However, if Shengli Machinery Factory really wants to catch this express train, it still needs to cross many hurdles.

"The country has significantly reduced orders for domestic military factories this time. To put it bluntly, it wants to cultivate your ability to be self-reliant." Luo Tao paused, then continued: "At present, a direction has been pointed out, that is, the production of military-to-civilian products. Of course, if your factory wants to go to the next level and engage in military product foreign trade production, then you need to produce military products that meet international demand!"

(End of this chapter)