I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

“Alright, that’s all for the presentation. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, feel free to speak up.”

After Jiang Cheng finished speaking, he looked around at the employees in the meeting room.

He wasn’t very experienced in management, but his wife had told him before—if you don’t understand something, don’t rush to make decisions. It’s better to listen to others’ opinions first.

He found that advice very reasonable. Many of the employees in this meeting room were college graduates, far more knowledgeable than he was. Surely, they’d have some practical suggestions.

“Manager Jiang, I have a few thoughts.”

Jiang Cheng followed the voice and saw that it was Xu Yaning, Head of the Design Department at the Clothing Factory, who had spoken.

Xu Yaning was a key talent at the Clothing Factory. The wide variety of clothing styles produced in the workshop were all the work of her and her team.

With someone like her speaking up, Jiang Cheng naturally didn’t dare to take it lightly.

“Go ahead.”

“I’d like to know which areas the Clothing Factory plans to expand into in the future. Our Design Department needs to prepare in advance. If the scope becomes too broad, we may need to increase the number of designers.”

Xu Yaning spoke calmly.

Currently, the Clothing Factory focused on athletic and casual wear. With four people in the Design Department, they could still manage everything from sketches to sample production.

But if the product range expanded, the four of them definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it all.

“President Chen has indicated that as the Clothing Factory gradually expands, it will eventually cover all areas of apparel. The newly renovated workshop will start with footwear.”

“If you have any thoughts or requests, feel free to bring them up.”

Jiang Cheng looked up at Xu Yaning. He had some understanding of the machines in the workshop, but when it came to design, he was completely out of his depth.

Xu Yaning paused to think, then said slowly, “If that’s the case, then we’ll definitely need to add designers specialized in footwear. And if we expand into other areas, we’ll need to bring in specialists for those as well.”

“That’s fine. You can coordinate with HR about the kind of designers you need and start the hiring process. Anything else?”

Jiang Cheng nodded as he listened to her.

“That’s all for now. But if we do add more people to the Design Department, the current office space definitely won’t be enough. We’ll need to expand.”

“Got it. I’ll take care of that.”

Jiang Cheng jotted down her concerns in his notebook. The issue of office space for the Design Department was a key one.

Even though it wasn’t causing problems yet, it was something that had to be addressed in advance. If they waited until it became a real issue, it would be too late.

“Anyone else have any questions?”

After addressing Xu Yaning’s concerns, Jiang Cheng looked around at the other employees.

Soon, he saw Cai Jing raise her hand.

“Cai Jing, go ahead.”

Cai Jing had been personally promoted by President Chen to Head of the Procurement Department, so she was clearly very capable.

“Manager Jiang, as the Clothing Factory expands, the number of employees will definitely increase significantly. But with the current size of the employee cafeteria and dormitories, we won’t be able to accommodate everyone.”

Cai Jing stood up and spoke steadily.

After taking over Li Shen’s position as Head of Procurement, she also had to handle some logistics matters.

The cafeteria and dormitories naturally fell under her responsibilities.

So when she heard that the Clothing Factory was planning to expand, this was the first issue that came to her mind.

“Mm. I’ll find a solution for that.”

Jiang Cheng noted down the cafeteria and dormitory issues in his notebook as well. These were all inevitable challenges they’d face with expansion and couldn’t be ignored.

He then continued to ask the rest of the meeting attendees for input.

After a while, The meeting came to a close, and Jiang Cheng officially announced its end.

Back in his office, he didn’t waste any time. He immediately called the Mechanical Factory to inquire about shoe-making machines.

After all, the new workshop had already been renovated. All that was missing were the new machines and staff.

During the Spring Festival break, the entire Clothing Factory had shut down, with no one staying behind to work overtime. So the machines and new hires hadn’t been finalized yet.

However, during the holiday, Jiang Cheng had already visited the Mechanical Factory to inspect the machines. He was now familiar with the basic models and prices.

All he had to do now was confirm the order with the Mechanical Factory, and they could deliver the machines to the Clothing Factory.

As for the staffing issue, that was easier to handle.

Changfeng Apparel’s employee benefits were well-known. As long as they posted the job openings, they’d have no shortage of applicants.

In fact, they probably wouldn’t even need to rely on job sites. Just the news spreading among workers in the Industrial Park would bring in plenty of candidates.

He still remembered how, when the new workshop was completed, nearly 90% of the employees from the Mechanical Factory had come to apply at the Clothing Factory.

Sure, that situation had been stirred up by some Mechanical Factory staff behind the scenes.

But even if they didn’t poach the majority of other companies’ workers, just attracting a small portion from each company in the park would probably be enough to staff the new workshop.

So he wasn’t too worried about recruitment.

After wrapping up the call, the Mechanical Factory promised to deliver all the machines to the Clothing Factory within three days and to send technicians to help with installation and calibration.

Hanging up the phone, Jiang Cheng sat in his office chair, staring at the long list of issues he’d noted down during the meeting, his brow furrowed.

These problems, They might seem simple on the surface, but in reality, each one came with its own set of complications.

The issues with the Design Department office, cafeteria, and Employee Dormitory all boil down to space.

But right now, the clothing factory only has this one workshop, and there’s simply no extra room to expand the dormitory or cafeteria.

As for renting a new workshop, there aren’t any available units left in the current Industrial Park.

And if they were to rent a workshop in another Industrial Park, the distance would be too far and extremely inconvenient.

And that’s just the infrastructure problem.

The more critical issue lies in the company’s operations. With the influx of new employees from nearby clothing factories, Changfeng Apparel has already opened quite a few franchise stores.

Over the New Year holiday, many of these stores finished renovations and officially opened for business.

But because the brand has no recognition and the prices aren’t cheap, the initial sales feedback has been far from promising.

Some stores haven’t sold a single piece of clothing in days.

That’s a serious problem.

Even though he hadn’t had much formal education, he still understood one thing—if no one’s buying the clothes, the factory is bound to lose money.

Before, he was just the Head of the Production Department. He was aware the factory was losing money, but in that role, there wasn’t much he could do. He didn’t have the authority or the ability to help.

All he could do was focus on improving the quality of the clothes, making sure that customers couldn’t find any flaws when they made a purchase.

But now that he had become the General Manager of the factory, it was up to him to figure out how to turn a profit. That was his responsibility as the company’s leader.