170: Chapter 170 Mission in Progress (Part 2)

" President Lin... " Factory Director Yu opened his mouth in astonishment. " Is this President Wang... Wang Shuo? "

Lin Junfeng glanced at Factory Director Yu in surprise and nodded. " Yes, our President Wang's full name is Wang Shuo. "

Wang Shuo...

Factory Director Yu felt a wave of regret.

How could he not know this name?

The commotion involving the second young lady of the Chen Group a couple of days ago—he was very likely the new son-in-law of the Chen Group.

A mistake, a huge mistake. For the past two years, he had been focused on how to cut corners, only reading gossip in the news, and had completely overlooked the important fact that Wang Shuo was the general manager of Frontier Technology Co., Ltd.

No wonder the words "Frontier Technology" always felt familiar, yet he could never recall where he had heard them.

Now it all made sense.

Frontier Technology Co., Ltd. was Wang Shuo's company, and Wang Shuo was the designer of the "Mark I System," which had caused their factory's orders to be booked until the end of next year and forced them to work overtime to catch up!

He needed to learn his lesson. In the future, he couldn't just focus on the gossip of wealthy families; he had to understand the backgrounds of the main characters, preferably even their family members' names and social connections.

That way, no matter whose name was mentioned, he could handle any situation with ease.

Factory Director Yu was still quite confident in his ability to pick the right side.

In fact, he had been given this position by the shareholders of the Chen Group, but smart as he was, how could he not see who the actual helmsman of the Chen Group was?

So, as soon as he became factory director, he kicked the Chen Group shareholders aside and hitched his wagon to the Chairman's ship.

If the Chairman said one, he would never say two; if asked to go east, he would never go west.

This was his only advantage, and the only reason Chen Zhongxuan could allow someone who knew absolutely nothing about technology to remain in the position of factory director for so long.

After all, the complexity of the Chen Group meant that Chen Zhongxuan had to have someone he could command.

And this person also had to be smart and capable of getting things done.

" Factory Director Yu, there is one more thing I need to trouble you with. "

" No trouble at all, no trouble at all. " Having figured out the situation, Factory Director Yu became even more enthusiastic. " President Lin, please go ahead. "

" We need a few people to watch over these CNC Machining Centers to promptly remove the finished workpieces and insert new raw materials. " Lin Junfeng was also a smart man, and having worked his way up from the bottom, he understood immediately and smiled. " Besides that, I also have to trouble Factory Director Yu to prepare a separate workshop; we need to set up a temporary production line. "

" No problem at all. "

Factory Director Yu nodded. " I'll have Group 1 and Group 2 stay behind to help, and I'll take you to see the site for the temporary production line. "

" Thank you very much. " Lin Junfeng nodded slightly. " Tan Yan, you stay behind to help as well. "

After making the arrangements efficiently, Factory Director Yu led Lin Junfeng and the others out of the workshop.

" Everyone. "

Tan Yan looked at the twenty or so engineers in front of him and said, " Sorry to trouble you all. The work is very easy: just take off the finished workpieces and load the new raw materials. "

" It's that simple? "

An engineer asked in confusion, " Don't we need to set the tool path files or anything like that? "

" No need. "

Tan Yan shook his head slightly. " You all just need to put the raw materials in; you don't need to operate any other buttons. "

" Alright, time is tight, let's begin. "

...

Meanwhile.

In Donghai City, Zhenghe New Energy Company.

Cao Xue looked quietly at the young woman in front of her, who was about the same age as herself, her brows furrowing slightly.

" Assistant Liu, is this how your company always does business? For such a big matter, shouldn't the general manager come forward personally? "

" We have limited time. " Liu Yemei said indifferently. " I have already analyzed your company's situation. If you don't accept this investment, your company is very likely to be squeezed out of the market and face bankruptcy. "

" That would still be better than giving you 67% of our shares! "

Cao Xue said angrily, " I don't know what kind of technology could be worth so much that you'd demand 67% of the shares right off the bat. I won't even mention the controlling interest; do you know how much money I've invested in this company? "

" I have calculated it. " Liu Yemei closed the folder. " Based on the current situation in the energy industry, taking into account your company's site, factory construction, equipment investment, labor costs, raw material costs, and so on, the total value would not exceed 25 million. This is a generous estimate; the current value is likely even lower. "

This number made Cao Xue feel a bit deflated. She even suspected that someone had leaked information; otherwise, how could someone just take a look and calculate a number that was so close to the truth?

This was practically cheating, wasn't it?

In fact, this wasn't something Liu Yemei had calculated on her own; even she couldn't have calculated all this in just over ten minutes.

This was a conclusion reached after Ling calculated the rough figures, and she filled in the gaps.

Although the data Ling relied on was organized by her, the speed of Ling's growth still made Liu Yemei feel somewhat alarmed.

" Fine. " Cao Xue finally yielded, feeling stifled. She really needed investment, whether it was technology or capital. " Let me see what the technology is first. "

" The technical documentation is highly confidential and can only be handed to you by President Wang personally. " Liu Yemei shook her head. " Our President Wang only instructed me to tell you one name. "

After a pause, Liu Yemei said word by word, " Quasi-solid-state battery technology. "

Cao Xue was stunned. She had heard of solid-state batteries; the theoretical community currently considered them the future direction for energy storage batteries, but what the hell was a quasi-solid-state battery?

And what kind of company was this? It was one thing for the boss not to show up when acquiring other companies, but now, for a technology-based equity investment, they weren't even providing technical specifications, just a name? Was this confidence or arrogance?

Cao Xue was so angry she laughed.

" CEO Cao. " Liu Yemei said indifferently. " Our President Wang also said that if you can agree, we can sign a memorandum first. You will see the finished product by tonight at the latest, and it won't be too late to make a decision then. Believe me, even if you only have 33% of the shares left, this technology will allow you to earn more than before. "

So confident?

What gave this President Wang the certainty that she would definitely agree once she saw the actual product?

Cao Xue felt a bit doubtful, then gritted her teeth and nodded in agreement.

It was only a few hours; she could afford to wait.

...

A few minutes later, Liu Yemei walked out of the conference room, took out her phone, and dialed Wang Shuo's number.

" President Wang, the battery production line and the extra raw materials you asked me to prepare are all ready. "

" Thank you for your hard work, Sister Liu. "

The call ended.

Wang Shuo turned back and watched as the robotic arm deftly removed a canister of orange-yellow liquid metal from the high-frequency furnace and poured it into various molds. Then, it quickly added various catalysts. After waiting for it to solidify, a robotic hand removed it and placed it into a small rolling mill for repeated forging. After cooling, it was heated again and continued to be forged.

It was a proper small-scale steel mill.

" Ling, how much longer until enough alloy steel bars can be produced? "

" Estimated time is two hours, Sir. "

" Can the time be shortened? "

" It cannot be shortened, Sir. Shortening the time would cause defects in the production of the alloy steel bars, and the finished workpieces would not meet performance requirements and could result in unpredictable consequences. "

There was no helping it then.

Fortunately, he had previously had Ling store nearly a ton of the iron-based Room-temperature superconductor, which was more than enough to meet this demand.

If this stuff also had to be produced from scratch, that would be a real hassle—not something that could be done in just a few hours.

Letting out a soft breath, Wang Shuo asked, " Ling, how is the installation of the Mark I System coming along? "

" Installation is complete, Sir. "

Ling's voice remained steady and gentle, without any fluctuation.

" Then let's begin. "

...

Following Wang Shuo's command, inside the Chengdong Machinery Factory in Donghai City, thousands of miles away, the numerous engineers were suddenly awakened by the synchronized sounds of mechanical movement.

They looked up in surprise, only to find that the progress bars that had just been displayed on the CNC Machining Center screens had vanished, and in their place was a sophisticated 3D stereoscopic view.

All twenty-five machines were the same.

What surprised the engineers even more was that not only were the views displayed on these twenty-five machines identical, but even the cutting actions being performed were astonishingly synchronized.

" What... is going on? "

An engineer stared blankly at the spectacular scene in front of him, his lips slightly parted.

" It must be backend operation via a network terminal. " Another engineer exclaimed in admiration. " I'd heard of the Mark I System's reputation, but I didn't expect it to have serial control capabilities. "

" Controlling twenty-five machines at once... tsk tsk. "

Little Sheng's master stroked his chin and clicked his tongue in admiration.

CNC Machining Centers could be controlled in series via network cables, but the number was usually limited, and it was rarely used in most situations.

Very few people would use wireless methods to control CNC Machining Centers in series, let alone control twenty-five machines for simultaneous processing at once.

This placed high demands on the system, so high that most systems currently on the market did not support it standalone, and most required additional software for compatibility.

Moreover, based on his experience, he could clearly see traces of optimization in the tool paths. If he had designed many of these tool paths himself, they would have been much more complicated, not only wasting material but also wasting time.

No wonder...

No wonder the people from this company were so confident. The system didn't need them to participate in anything at all: automatic detection, automatic matching, automatic calibration, automatic generation of tool paths, automatic optimization, automatic error correction, automatic operation, and it could even adjust in real-time based on the process and actual feedback.

Except for not being able to automatically remove raw materials and workpieces, everything else could basically be done automatically.

They... seemed to be doing just that...

The Middle-aged man sighed, the pride in his heart gradually dissipating, and the frustration of being looked down upon lessened significantly.

This company was not simple... If it continued to develop along this trend, the company would probably be able to launch a new system very soon. By then, engineers like them would likely be out of a job.

This gave the Middle-aged man a sense of urgency.

Immediately, he looked up and scanned the surroundings, and as he had hoped, he saw his apprentice in front of one of the CNC Machining Centers.

This young man would never give up such a good opportunity.

Watching young man's focused expression, the Middle-aged man smiled slightly and did not disturb him.

An hour later, the sound of the machines running gradually quieted down.

" Everyone, open the machines, remove the workpieces, and insert new raw materials! "

The voice came from a distance, and the Middle-aged man could tell it was that employee from the Frontier Company.

The Middle-aged man smiled slightly, opened the hatch cover, and took out the processed workpiece.

Although he didn't know the specific purpose of this workpiece, that didn't stop him from appreciating the machining craftsmanship from the perspective of a professional.

It looked bright and translucent, with a substantial texture, and felt as silky as satin to the touch; he couldn't even feel a single rough spot.

The Middle-aged man was a bit surprised. He had been using these machines for a long time and was intimately familiar with their performance. How did he feel that the quality of the items processed this time had improved so much compared to before?

He turned his head slightly to look at his companion, only to see that he was also holding a workpiece, with a look of surprise on his face.

It seemed it really had improved; it wasn't his imagination.

Was this also the credit of the Mark I System?

Was it possible to directly improve the hardware performance of a machine through a system?

If he had asked his colleagues or other practitioners this question before, he would probably have been laughed to death.

But now, the workpiece in front of him told him that it was possible! And it had already been achieved!