The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 209 Terrifying Production Efficiency
"Since you're so confident, I'll wait for your good news."

As a deputy leader of the Ministry of Machine Building, Wu Jianhong certainly didn't care about the small amount of tea and cigarettes he was given. It was fine with him; it wasn't like he couldn't buy other tea and cigarettes.

As long as we can manufacture good machine tools and enable the country to achieve better development, it's just a matter of a small share of tobacco and tea.

"Since you're all here, let's get down to business."

After Deputy Leader Wu sat down, he glanced at Deputy Director Liu, who, upon receiving the signal, quickly brought out the data and reports collected during the overseas research trip.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, Dean Shen, and Engineer Lin, this is a summary report from the Ministry on suitable sites for the R&D project of heavy machine tools, based on extensive investigations of the two regions."

"Take a look first, and let us know your thoughts after you've seen it. Let's try to finalize the venue as soon as possible, and then I'll go there to do some preparatory work."

After saying that, Deputy Director Liu took out three documents and handed them to Zhou Zhiqiang and the other two.

After Zhou Zhiqiang and the others took it, they began to read it.

It contains a detailed investigation summary of Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant and Wuhan Heavy Machinery Plant, and not only these two plants, but also the surrounding industrial clusters.

Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant is located in Northeast China, an old industrial area that was already quite developed before the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The development of heavy machine tools requires a lot of special alloy steel, and there are two steel mills near Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant, so the supply of special steel materials is definitely not a problem.

There are quite a few talented people here, with a good number of researchers and university students, and the machine tool factory is also a force to be reckoned with.

The only drawback might be the lack of large forgings; however, the demand for large forgings is not very large, so the ministry can issue a production order and then transport them over.

The supporting factories near Wuhan Heavy Machinery Plant, such as steel and power plants, are also quite good, and there are many bearing factories. In terms of supporting industrial chain, it is only slightly inferior to Liaoyang.

Moreover, it is convenient to transport large forgings, as they can be quickly transported over the Yangtze River.

This report is very detailed, even including the amount of electricity that can be supplied in the surrounding area, and it also examines the time it takes to transport large forgings to Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant.

It is clear at a glance that it is indeed a major engineering project that the China Ocean Engineering Design Institute (CODI) issued and that the ministries and commissions were determined to undertake.

After reading the report, Zhou Zhiqiang pondered for a while, then put away the research report and looked at Dean Shen and Engineer Lin.

By this time, the two of them had almost finished reading the report. After the three of them put the research report away, Deputy Leader Wu asked, "Have you all finished reading it? Now, let's hear your opinions. If the heavy machine tool project is to be carried out, where would be the most suitable place to put it?"

Zhou Zhiqiang and the other two exchanged glances, none of them speaking immediately, as if waiting for the other to speak first.

It wasn't that Zhou Zhiqiang was afraid of saying something wrong; he simply wanted to hear Dean Shen and Engineer Lin's opinions before revising his own.

Both places are fine, it depends on their opinions.

However, seeing that no one spoke up, Deputy Leader Wu called out, "Why is no one saying anything? Do we have to worry about someone making a mistake in our internal meeting? Zhiqiang, you go first."

"Okay, if I were to offer my humble opinion, I think Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant would be a better fit."

Heavy machine tools have high requirements for special steel, and Ansteel and Special Steel over there can provide excellent support. Even the power plant and bearing factory have better hardware requirements...

"Also, if a CNC system is needed, the semiconductor electronics factory in Beijing can provide support quickly. The only downside is that large forgings need to be transported."
However, compared to its other advantages, the issue of large forgings has a very small impact.

Zhou Zhiqiang then discussed some issues related to resource allocation and integrated management, which was met with nods of approval from Vice Leader Wu, Dean Shen, Engineer Lin, and others.

The fact that Zhou Zhiqiang can say these things indicates that he already has a suitable R&D plan for the heavy machine tool project.

Dean Shen continued, "That's true. Liaoyang has done very thorough research on special steel. If the current special steel cannot meet the needs of heavy machine tool research and manufacturing, we will probably need their help."

Lin also said, "There are many factories in the north that can produce electronic components and precision devices, and I also think that Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant is more suitable."

All three agreed that Liaoyang No. 1 Machine Tool Plant was the best choice, mainly because the industry in Northeast China was relatively developed.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was among the top in the country. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was one of the important areas that received aid from the Soviet Union. Its industrial base was much stronger than that of the south.

The assistant listened and took notes, quickly recording everything Zhou Zhiqiang and the others said.

Deputy Leader Wu then spoke up, saying, "I understand what you've said. If there are no problems, then we will temporarily designate Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant as the research and development site for the heavy machine tool project."

Comrade Nianjun, please make preparations and go there soon to arrange the preliminary coordination work.

Deputy Director Liu said, "I understand, sir."

Deputy Director Liu was responsible for coordinating everything from clothing, food, housing, and transportation to resource allocation and coordination with local factories, research institutes, and the government.

Once all this is done, the R&D team can go there and immediately take charge of the R&D work.

"Engineer Lin and Team Leader Shen, which of you will come with me first?"

"I'll go. The work in the hospital has been arranged recently, and with Vice President Yu overseeing things, there shouldn't be any problems."

Shen Changlin said, "Comrade Zhiqiang and Engineer Lin can discuss the R&D plan in Beijing first, and then we can discuss it in detail later."

Zhou Zhiqiang replied, "Okay, I'll set aside more time to think about it."

Everyone in the conference room knew that Zhou Zhiqiang had a CNC machine tool project and was familiar with him.

It's already quite good that he can take the time to hold meetings and discuss things before the project is completed. We can't expect him to completely abandon the CNC machine tool project to focus on the heavy machine tool project.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, you mentioned before that it would be best to directly develop heavy-duty CNC machine tools. Do you have any ideas about adapting CNC systems to heavy-duty machine tools? Have you also thought about the issues of bearings and servo linkage?"

"No, but the best way to complete the overhaul of the submarine's propulsion system is to directly develop a CNC machine tool."

After a pause, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "What we are manufacturing now are small machine tools, and at most we can adapt the CNC system to medium-sized machine tools."

However, the drives for large machine tools are a completely different story; they must be redesigned.

Simply copying it won't work. If you do copy it, you might not even be able to coordinate it properly, and the error could be alarmingly large.

Shen Changlin said, "Then we'll have to see how the research and development progresses. Liaoyang No. 1 Heavy Machinery Plant also has some old Russian blueprints and documents, which might come in handy later."

Deputy Director Liu also spoke up, saying, "The bureau is already compiling and organizing the data and drawings for the heavy machine tools. It will be completed within a week, and then we will send them to the three of you."

Afterwards, the group discussed some requirements for the heavy machine tool project, but there was nothing else to add. The next step was to make overall plans and add details as needed, rather than trying to get everything done right away.

"Boss, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now. I'm quite interested in the CNC machine tools in the factory."

After Zhou Zhiqiang saw that there was nothing to add, he said to Deputy Leader Wu, "If everything goes smoothly, we can conduct a long-term operational test lasting a month in a few days."

If it passes, then the CNC machine tool project can be declared a successful conclusion. "In theory, it should undergo two thousand hours of continuous operation testing, but due to time constraints, we will start with seven hundred and twenty hours of continuous operation testing."

"Okay, go ahead."

Deputy Leader Wu said with a smile, "I think you're just eager to get my share of the cigarettes and tea."

"Haha, of course I want it."

After exchanging a few jokes, Zhou Zhiqiang got up to say goodbye and left.

After going downstairs and taking a car back to the factory, Zhou Zhiqiang went straight to the precision workshop; when he returned, the CNC machine tool had just been assembled and was about to undergo startup testing.

Upon Zhou Zhiqiang's return, Professor Yu entrusted him with announcing the start of the test. This was no small matter, so Zhou Zhiqiang immediately started the CNC machine tool and continued processing and testing.

Three days later, in the precision workshop of the Second Machine Tool Plant.

Several technical staff were busy loading semi-finished parts onto the machine tool's processing table. Once they were secured, the technicians stepped back to signal that the machine tool could be started.

"Let's begin processing."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, the CNC machine tool was started, and then the bearings and other parts inside the machine tool began to hum, and soon began to process the semi-finished blanks.

During the previous few adjustments, there was always a deviation of about ten microns. Last time, there was even an error of fifteen microns, and the manufactured product was completely unusable.

There were no problems with the positioning, but problems arose during processing, which really gave the group a headache for a long time.

This time, Zhou Zhiqiang checked it several times and corrected all possible deviations before proceeding with the processing test.

After a long while, once the machine tool stopped making noise, the technicians immediately stepped forward, carefully removed the machined parts, and began testing.

After testing all the dimensional parameters of the machined parts, the technician looked up excitedly and said, "Factory manager, the maximum error is less than two microns, it finally meets the standard."

"Two strands?"

"Is it really just two strands!?"

Upon hearing this, those around him asked in shock, and even Professor Yu looked pleasantly surprised.

The shape of these parts is perfectly compliant with the specifications, the error is so small, and the processing efficiency is so fast. They have succeeded.

Zhou Zhiqiang managed to suppress his excitement and calmly reached out, saying, "Give it to me so I can check it."

"Here you go, factory manager."

The technician handed the finished parts to Zhou Zhiqiang, and then brought over measuring tools as well.

After Zhou Zhiqiang had checked it several times, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Alright, it's passed!"
Now we can begin testing long-duration processing operations. Next comes the rigorous testing and refinement through time and complex tasks.

After listening to Zhou Zhiqiang's words, everyone in the workshop agreed and then began to prepare for the next test.

------

As the spring breeze blows, the temperature in Beijing gradually rises.

April is almost here, and many families are no longer burning stoves at night. It seems that summer has arrived a little earlier this year than last year; it's only been a little over March and we're already taking off our cotton-padded coats.

dong dong!

There was a knock on the office door. Zhou Zhiqiang looked up and called out, "Come in."

Then Zhang Yaoguo pushed open the door and walked in, went to Zhou Zhiqiang's desk, handed him a document and said, "Boss, this is a document given to you by the technical department. They said it is very important."

"Oh, okay."

After Zhou Zhiqiang took the document, Zhang Yaoguo left.

After everyone left, Zhou Zhiqiang opened the document and took a look. It contained records of parts recently processed by CNC machine tools in the precision workshop, as well as the inspection reports of the CNC machine tools.

The production efficiency was so high that it exceeded everyone's expectations.

In order to test production efficiency, Zhou Zhiqiang specially applied to the ministry for a component that was extremely difficult to process and needed for military and national defense.

Previously, a senior technician could only produce two or three products a year, but after using CNC machine tools, he produced six products in half a month, and all of them were qualified products.

This is just one CNC machine tool. If ten of them were manufactured, they would have taken all the military parts orders from the No. 1 Machine Tool Factory in Beijing.

There are other parts, but then we'll need different models of machine tools and a change in the processing method, but it's not very troublesome.

This processing efficiency truly leaves even highly skilled workers far behind.

The CNC machine tool was tested and found to have no problems. Although it would be safer to complete 2,000 hours of machining operations for testing, it is now enough to report this good news to the leadership.

After making his decision, Zhou Zhiqiang picked up the phone and dialed: "This is Zhou Zhiqiang from the Second Machine Tool Plant. Connect me to the First Ministry of Machine Building office. Hello, this is Zhou Zhiqiang. Transfer me to Director Ren's call."

After the call connected, Zhou Zhiqiang heard Director Ren's voice and then said, "Director Ren, I have some good news for you, you must know what it is; if Deputy Leader Wu isn't busy, why don't you bring him to our factory for a look?"

Director Ren on the other end of the phone said, "Okay, I'll go ask the leader right away. Wait for my news. If the leader is free, we'll be there in half an hour."

"Okay, then I'll wait for you at the factory."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and continued reading the documents. The development of CNC machine tools had truly created a milestone in China's industrialization.

When CNC machine tools become more widespread, even if only one-fifth of the population uses them, we will still be a world-class industrial power.

It should at least rank in the top ten.

National development relies on industry, and the development of many cutting-edge fields is also inseparable from industry.

About half an hour later, Zhou Zhiqiang felt that the leaders should be arriving soon, so he got up and went downstairs.

Not long after he went downstairs, Zhou Zhiqiang saw two jeeps drive up and quickly stop in front of the factory office building.

Deputy Leader Wu and Director Ren got out of the car and then said to Zhou Zhiqiang with a smile, "Where is the machine tool? Zhiqiang, take me to see it first."

(End of this chapter)