Self-Reliance
Now he was standing in front of an assembly stand at the Youth Control Appliances Shop. He picked up the nearly-assembled button switch and terminal board for a machine tool and operated them. He said that the button switch of the factory did not look nice but its quality was quite good, reiterating that he liked Korean products most. He added that if the problem of reliability was resolved, it would be immaculate and the terminal board was of high quality.
He asked how many terminals it had.
An official replied 12, adding that the board might be fitted with two to 50 terminals according to customer needs.
The General praised that the product would be much in demand at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and relevant sectors. Noting that springs were the key to the reliability of electric control appliances, he asked where the factory was obtaining the springs.
This expert question filled officials with admiration.
Another official answered that the factory had imported such springs but now it was manufacturing them by tapping spare materials.
The General asked him if the factory had a shop for reprocessing the materials. He was still doubtful as the products had to go through exacting technical processes.
The official answered, “The reprocessing shop has not been well equipped, and it draws and reheats steel leaf springs and piano strings.”
Satisfied with this reply, the General told other officials that “Self-reliance is the only way to survive!” was truly a good slogan. Then he asked the manager what was the motive for the factory to choose to fend for itself, praising once again that it had made a lot of achievements by itself.
The latter said, “You set the factories in Jagang Province as a model and instructed that other factories should follow suit.”
“You mean you have been to those factories.”
“Yes, sir. There were many things to learn.”
“Um…”
Nodding to the manager, the General said that his factory gave him a great encouragement that day, highly praising it for having developed many products in recent years in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance.
He went on, “If we work hard with confidence in victory as the officials of this factory do, we can achieve anything and will surely build a thriving country.”
