Ekins and McGee followed Mao Haodong for a few streets, and the more they walked, the more shocked they became. They found that although each of these businesses on the street was small, and some even had only one shopkeeper and no helper, all of them together had a strong manufacturing capacity no less than that of a large machine factory.

Ekins did come with a few drawings on his trip, and he walked into a random shop and asked the owner if he could make a set of molds for himself according to the drawings and how much it would cost. The young shopkeeper plugged the USB flash drive containing the electronic documents of the drawings into the computer, called up the files, and then looked at the files and began to calculate for Ekins, he explained each production process clearly, and the man-hour expenditure and cost composition of the process were almost exactly the same.

"Can you make it for $1,500?"

After listening to the shopkeeper's offer, Eakins was almost stunned, and blurted out a word of amazement, not considering that saying so might prompt the other party to increase the offer.

"So, how long will it take?" asked McGee.

"It's too late today. The shopkeeper reflexively looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, if you're in a hurry, six o'clock......

"How is this possible!" exclaimed McGee's turn this time. He has also ordered molds from other companies in the United States, a mold that is simpler than this, and the other party delayed a month and a half to make it, and the young man in front of him can dare to say that it can be delivered in 14 hours.

"It's a $500 deposit, can you start making it for us now?" McGee counted out five dollars and handed them to the shopkeeper.

"It's totally okay, you guys go play with Brother Dong first, and come early tomorrow morning to get the goods. The shopkeeper accepted the money and said confidently. He and Mao Haodong know each other, so he has the title of Brother Dong.

"No, we want to stay here and see how you do it. McGee said.

"This ......" The shopkeeper was a little confused, he turned his head to look at Mao Haodong, and asked, "Brother Dong, what's going on?"

Mao Haodong said with a smile: "Ah Ming, these two are in the United States, and they want to know why we can take such a big order, so they came over." It's okay, they want to see it, let them watch it, and we have nothing to hide from others. ”

"Well, okay. The shopkeeper, Amin, gave in. He picked up the phone, dialed the number, babbled something in the local dialect, and then went back to the computer and sent the drawings that Ekins had just given him.

Mao Haodong explained to Yikins: "Your mold should be forged into a blank with No. 13 die steel. Ah Ming doesn't have a forging machine here, and he just called to arrange for someone else to do the forging. ”

"So, how far is this forging plant from here?" asked Ekins.

"It's not far away, it's the street in front, it's called Gansheng Forging. Amin pointed in the direction and said.

"Can we go and see?" asked Ekins.

Ah Ming learned from the style of foreign movies, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Whatever, actually, what's so good about this?"

Ekins didn't think it was anything to look at, his curiosity was completely aroused. He wanted to see how the Chinese could make the mold he needed in 14 hours, and according to his idea, it was a great thing to be able to make this set of molds in 14 days.

Mao Haodong had to take Ekins and McGee to Gansheng Forging Company again, but in fact, it was just another small factory. Mao Haodong also has some contacts in the local area, and he is also an acquaintance with the boss of Gansheng Forging. After listening to Mao Haodong's introduction of the situation, the boss smiled and beckoned Ekins and McGee to sit down, saying that he had just placed an order for the blank of No. 13 die steel, and the steel store would arrange someone to send it over.

Sure enough, everyone waited less than a quarter of an hour before someone drove a pickup truck to deliver the ingots. The boss asked a few guests to sit for a while, and he took the workers to collect the goods and transport the ingots into the back workshop. Mao Haodong took Ekins and McGee into the workshop, and saw that the workshop was already in full swing.

Heating, furnaceing, cooling, drawing, upsetting, punching, annealing...... A series of operations are methodical, and the hydraulic press roars and beats the billet, which looks quite industrial and beautiful. Ekins and McGee are both connoisseurs, so they naturally see more things, and they find that in every aspect of the operation, the boss is accurate in controlling temperature, pressure, etc., and shows a very high level of skill.

Due to the long annealing process time of the forgings, the group escorted the forged forgings back to Amin's mold shop, and it was already more than 9 o'clock in the evening. Amin has made various preparations before production, received the forgings, he first arranged for someone to do an inspection, to determine that the geometric size, defect depth, annealing hardness and other indicators of the forgings meet the requirements of the original design, and then began to enter the machining process.

The operation of machining also has a fixed process, such as rough machining, flaw detection, quenching and tempering, heat treatment, finishing, etc., and the workers are familiar with it, and there is no feeling of hecticism at all. In the middle of the night, everyone felt a little hungry, Ah Ming asked people to make a phone call, and after a while, the food delivery brother came on a battery car to deliver a hot meal. Considering that there were two foreigners on the scene, Amin also ordered another pizza for them, and after tasting it, Eakins and McGee felt that it was even more authentic than the pizza in the small town of Baal.

"It's just perfect collaboration, it's amazing!"

At four o'clock in the morning, when Amin showed a set of molds that had passed the inspection to Ekins and McGee, Ekins couldn't help but admire.

"Pizza is also part of this collaborative chain. McGee commented.

"It's no wonder that every time we order from Mr. Mao, no matter how complicated the fixture, he can ship it within two days, because he has such a huge supply chain behind him. ”

"This is completely unimaginable in our small town of Barr. ”

"Mr. Mao, I would like to ask, is this the largest industrial center in China?" Eakins asked Mao Haodong.

"Are we here?" Mao Haodong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you mean we Shiyang, or Jinnan?"

"He must have asked us Haidong!" Amin reminded. Just kidding, Jinnan dares to say that it is the largest industrial center, how can you make Pujiang and Pengcheng embarrassed?

Yikins didn't know what to say, he gestured a circle with his hand and asked, "All the factories you have here, I don't know if they refer to Shiyang or Jinnan." ”

Mao Haodong explained: "Shiyang is our county, and Jinnan is our city. In the whole of Jinnan, there are 12 districts and counties, all of which are similar to our Shiyang, and they are engaged in industry, but there are some differences in the industries of each district and county. ”

"Tomorrow, ah no, I mean today, can you take us to see the twelve districts you mentioned?" McGee asked.

"It's been a night, aren't you tired?" Mao Haodong stared at the two half-grown old men in surprise, he was only in his 20s, and after staying up all night, he was also a little sleepy, how did these two old men look more and more energetic, could it be that the jet lag had not been reversed?

Ekins and McGee didn't seem to be more energetic because of the jet lag, they were really stimulated by what they saw, and their cerebral cortex was in a state of excitement. The guest made a request, and Mao Haodong couldn't refuse, so he arranged for Yikins and them to go to the hotel to rest first, and he hurried home to sleep. At 9 o'clock in the morning, Mao Haodong found an acquaintance to help him drive, went to the hotel to pick up Ekins and McGee, and began to inspect other districts and counties in Jinnan.

"This is Songqiang County, which was made of connectors in the early years, and two percent of the standard connectors in the world are made of Songqiang. ”

"Pingji County, gears are particularly famous. What gear do you need, you can't buy anywhere else, there's definitely something here. Even if they don't, they can build it for you right away, and it won't be worse than the big factories. ”

"Xianghe County, the ...... of bolts"

Mao Haodong sat in the passenger seat and introduced the two foreign businessmen like a few treasures. Cars drive along the bustling streets, and the signs and large posters of the shops on both sides are overwhelming. Eakins and McGee sat in the back row, pressing down on the window pane and looking out, their hearts churning.

In the morning, Mr. Eakins asked Mr. Mao if it was China's largest industrial center, referring only to Shiyang County. But now he knows that Songqiang County, Pingji County, Xianghe County, etc. in Mao Haodong's mouth are not inferior to Shiyang. And there are as many as 12 such counties in this so-called Jinnan City.

"Mr. Mao, how many factories are there in your Jinnan City?" asked Ekins.

"This is what stopped me. Mao Haodong said, "50,000, or 100,000? By the way, last time Yao Weiqiang, the chairman of our Jinnan Chamber of Commerce, gave us a report, saying that there are now 10 million migrant workers in Jinnan, plus our Jinnan locals, there are almost 12 million workers. ”

"12 million workers?" Ekins was dumbfounded. Is there any mistake, the entire United States only has 13 million manufacturing employees, and China has 12 million people in Jinnan alone, which is equivalent to the scale of the manufacturing population in the entire United States.

Indeed, American workers are more productive, and the added value of the products produced by one worker may be equivalent to that of 10 Chinese workers. But this is because the United States has dumped all the low-value-added products to China. Bolts, gears, fixtures, etc., are very labor-intensive when produced in small quantities, and American workers don't bother to make such things, they just import parts from China and assemble them into valuable equipment. But if all these things have to be taken back and let the Americans make their own, it will be too difficult to overcome, where do you find 12 million workers to build an industrial system like Kinnan?

"Ikins, I have an idea. McGee rolled her eyes, brought her mouth to Ekins' ear, and whispered.