Fang Bai rode his bike to his father-in-law's processing factory and saw the entire workshop bustling with activity.
When his father-in-law saw Fang Bai arrive, he told him to sit for a while, as he needed to finish the work he was doing.
Fang Bai stood a few meters away, observing. At this moment, his father-in-law, dressed in dirty work clothes, was operating a lathe, no different from the other lathe operators in the factory. Fortunately, he was still young and strong, so doing this kind of work was not an issue for him.
Seeing that he wasn't wearing safety glasses, Fang Bai reminded him, "You still need to wear glasses. Those reading glasses will do."
Qin Donghai said leisurely, "My rotation speed isn't fast, and there's a baffle. If the speed were fast, the iron wire would fly off intensely, and then I'd need to wear glasses."
"Hmm, be careful. You see, my right hand was injured because I accidentally got it caught in the shearing machine."
Fang Bai said. He knew his father-in-law had noticed the scar on his middle three fingers of his right hand a long time ago, but he was too embarrassed to ask why. An insider could tell at a glance how the injury occurred.
From a production safety standpoint, whether a lathe operator or a drill operator, workers should ideally wear protective glasses to prevent metal shavings from flying into their eyes.
The metal shavings after processing are very hot and sharp, making them easy to cause injury.
"You have few people now, but if you have a lot of workers and don't prioritize production safety, problems can easily arise, and you could lose a lot of money." Fang Bai reminded him again. Seeing his father-in-law pick up and put on his glasses, he chuckled and said that it must be taken seriously.
Just as he finished speaking, a drill operator working nearby let out an "ouch." Fang Bai and Qin Donghai went over to see what happened and asked if he was alright.
"A metal shaving flew onto my eyelid. Luckily, it didn't get into my eye. I'm fine." The worker closed his eyes, took off his gloves, and rubbed his eyes, trying to alleviate the pain.
Fang Bai leaned in to look and found that his eyelid was red and had a slight scratch. It was indeed a minor injury, nothing serious.
But if it had gotten into his eye, it would have been a different story.
Fang Bai then observed the drill operator's safety gear; he was wearing gloves.
According to regulations, workers are not allowed to wear gloves when drilling because of the fear of accidentally getting their hands, or even themselves, caught, which poses a huge safety hazard.
However, if they don't wear gloves, handling workpieces with bare hands can easily lead to cuts, and workers are unwilling to constantly take off their gloves, finding it too troublesome.
"Boss Qin, I suggest that you strictly require workers to wear glasses before working. What if someone really injures their eye? That's not a small problem; their life could be ruined. How would they earn money to support their family then?
And the drill operator's gloves shouldn't be made of cotton or linen, as they can easily get caught. Switch to plastic gloves instead."
As a salesperson, Fang Bai inherently had the right to inspect and audit a factory's production safety. "I think your place isn't up to standard. If you don't change it, I won't give you orders next time."
This is an unwritten industry rule; whether you do it or not is up to you, Boss Qin.
The drill operator shivered when he heard Fang Bai's words, realizing that if his eyes were seriously injured, he truly wouldn't be able to work and support his family.
"Okay, I'll go buy them and replace them this afternoon." Qin Donghai felt he had no objections; whatever the customer said was right.
Fang Bai nodded. It was good that his father-in-law was currently producing according to his requirements.
If the two of them were partners, it might be very difficult for him to listen to Fang Bai's opinions.
Some matters must be led by him.
"The payment for the first batch of orders is due soon. Also, I'll help you get more work, but your workshop must be standardized. Otherwise, if customers come to inspect and your place is a mess, it's impossible for them to give you orders.
If the site isn't managed well, people will think your quality control isn't in place, right?" Fang Bai spoke in a calm tone, offering some suggestions, and then addressing the payment issue, telling him not to worry so much.
Finally, he talked about the order volume, which was like drawing a sweet picture for him.
Qin Donghai's face broke into a wide smile upon hearing Fang Bai's efforts to secure orders. He was very excited and patted his chest, saying, "Okay, your suggestions are good; it's just that I'm not very good at this aspect."
"Alright, first, you need to mark out areas. Just use yellow paint; it'll be more noticeable. Clearly designate where raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products, and non-conforming products should be placed. Arrange them neatly, specify quantities, and use effective labeling.
Finished products should be placed on plastic mats to prevent scratches, and care should also be taken during transportation.
Your equipment should be placed diagonally. Since there are baffles on the outside, I won't say more about that; it was also done before to prevent leaks..."
Fang Bai roughly described the factory planning he had seen in large factories in his previous life. Currently, no matter what kind of factory, they basically don't understand 5S.
The earliest introduction of 5S management was by some island nation enterprises in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Around 2000, some domestic enterprises began to introduce the management concept.
However, true popularization might not happen until around 2010.
That was Fang Bai's impression; he couldn't recall the exact dates.
Now, Fang Bai talking about 5S with his father-in-law could be considered the first person in China to promote the 5S concept.
Of course, he only offered some suggestions to his father-in-law; saying too much would be overwhelming. He could only remind him more in the future.
Even if Fang Bai spoke today, it would be good if some improvements were made; he didn't expect too much change.
His father-in-law was already running day and night shifts, and working at night could easily lead to safety issues.
Mechanical factories had many industrial injuries every year, and in this era, it was even more frequent; severe safety accidents were not uncommon.
Situations like steel mill furnaces collapsing and burning people to death, or coal mine collapses, were quite common.
The 5S management concept is applicable to both small workshops and large enterprises, and it's not too advanced; it just depends on how it's used. Fang Bai's ideas, such as marked classification areas and work habits, can all improve work efficiency and quality.
Of course, if it's done haphazardly, purely for show, it will be detrimental to the enterprise. Fang Bai also specifically instructed his father-in-law not to do it just for show.
The ultimate goal of 5S is to improve efficiency and quality. Anything that contradicts this means the 5S concept hasn't been fully grasped, and it's just a pointless struggle.
Fang Bai stayed for about ten minutes, then he left to look for orders.
The upgrade for his index finger had to wait until after the college entrance examination, which was a long wait. Currently, only two things could be upgraded: earning money to upgrade to intermediate and building connections to upgrade his ring finger.
Aside from recovering from injuries, upgrading his middle finger didn't hold much significance for Fang Bai right now; he needed to establish a company and design products.
Of course, he didn't know what new functions his middle finger would have when it reached LV3. He needed to accumulate a million in wealth. If selling TVs could be stable, he could achieve it by next year.
Currently, connections played a significant role in Fang Bai's interactions, but he could only probe one person a day, which was too few, so he wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
The best way for him to build connections now was to interact with high-level executives at valve factories. Just knowing someone without shared interests didn't count as a connection at all.
Fang Bai's target valve factory this time was Nanjang Valve Factory, owned by Huang Xing.
Huang Xing was a very capable person. After retiring from the military, he worked for a few years and then established his own valve manufacturing company in 1985. He was also capable of independent research and development, creating many industry-shocking invention patents and three "world's firsts" in valve manufacturing.
However, later, he was unfortunately swindled by his nephew, who loved gambling, causing the shoe factory under the Nanjang Group to collapse, resulting in significant financial losses.
Family businesses are like that; they have both advantages and disadvantages, but at least they are better than partnering with outsiders.
In non-family partnerships, partners often go their separate ways once there's a slight conflict.
But family businesses don't; if things aren't going well, they still scold and continue working.
Overall, Huang Xing was a very good person. He would become successful in a few years and do well in both political and business circles, making him worth befriending.
There were too many valve factories in Yongjia County, including small workshops, numbering no less than a thousand. Fang Bai walked along the street for a while and found one.
More than ten minutes later, Fang Bai arrived at Nanjang Valve Manufacturing Company.
Currently, Nanjang Valve was not very large, even smaller than Boreli Valve Service Society.
Carrying a pager and dressed impeccably, the security guard saw Fang Bai enter the main gate and politely called out to him, "Boss, who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for your General Manager Huang; I have something to discuss."
"He should be in the office on the second floor, or in the workshop."
"Okay, thank you." Fang Bai handed him a cigarette, and the security guard took it with a smile.
"I have to guard the gate, otherwise I would have taken you in."
"It's alright, I know where it is."
Fang Bai smiled and walked into the factory.
Compared to some other companies, Huang Xing managed things quite well; the security guards understood etiquette.
He managed the factory using his military discipline, which was strict but effective, leading to good development in the following years.
Fang Bai had interacted with Huang Xing in his previous life. His company primarily produced butterfly valves and control valves. Gate and globe valves were not many; they were mostly outsourced for processing and then assembled and sold by themselves.
Butterfly valves are simple to clamp, and Fang Bai didn't want to do butterfly valve processing business. There wasn't much room for improvement in processing, and the profit wasn't high, but the technical requirements were not low.
The orders he was looking for now were all from his previous interactions, which he had some understanding of.
He didn't expect to get an order this time; getting orders wasn't that easy. His main goal was to build connections.
The old farmer had worked in state-owned enterprises, foreign companies, and private enterprises, and had personally participated in 5S evaluations. At first, he truly didn't understand and just went through the motions. In recent years, he delved into grassroots management and understood it quite thoroughly. It wasn't just for appearances or to improve customer satisfaction, but rather to improve the company's work efficiency, safety, and quality itself.