Reborn in 2012, building a new energy empire

Time flew by, and the second interview took place in the conference room of Jiutian Investment.

Jiang Haoran sat at one end of a long table, with several resumes spread out in front of him.

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the blinds, casting neat stripes on the smooth tabletop.

Chen Jingge sat next to him, with a notebook and a steaming cup of tea in front of him.

Today we are meeting the second candidate.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Jiang Haoran said, "Come in."

The man who pushed open the door was about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. He was wearing a dark blue jacket over a neatly pressed but old-fashioned shirt, and carrying a slightly worn black briefcase.

He was of medium height, with slightly tanned skin from years of working in workshops or at customer sites, and a steady gaze that carried the focus and prudence characteristic of a technician.

"President Jiang, President Chen, hello. I am Zhao Haichuan." He walked to the table, bowed slightly, and spoke in a moderate tone.

"Please have a seat, Mr. Zhao." Jiang Haoran gestured, his gaze sweeping over the name on the resume. Zhao Haichuan, thirty-seven years old, graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a major in Mechanical Engineering; his work experience section was filled with detailed information.

Chen Jingge pushed a glass of warm water in front of him. Zhao Haichuan nodded his thanks, took the glass with both hands, but didn't drink it; he simply placed it gently in front of him.

"We've reviewed your resume," Jiang Haoran said bluntly. "You've worked at Tyco Precision for eight years, responsible for R&D, after-sales service, and leading major client projects. Why are you considering leaving?"

Zhao Haichuan paused for two or three seconds, seemingly organizing his thoughts, before speaking steadily: "Tyco mainly provides supporting services to leading silicon wafer companies, importing slicing machine maintenance and cleaning equipment. I worked there for quite a while, rising from assistant engineer to deputy director of the technical department. There are several reasons for leaving..."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "One is the technological ceiling. The company's strategy is rather conservative, focusing more on optimizing existing product lines. Key equipment is entirely imported, and we are slow to make decisions about truly cutting-edge new technology routes that may require significant investment."

"Secondly, since last year, the industry has been in a downturn, and the company has reduced its R&D budget. Several forward-looking pre-research projects that I led have been cut."

He looked up at Jiang Haoran: "I heard that you're working on a domestically produced slicer. If that's true, it's closer to the core of the industry and more challenging than any project I did at Tyco. I want to do something truly groundbreaking, even if it's difficult and risky."

Jiang Haoran nodded without commenting, and continued, "Your resume mentions that you led a team to be stationed at a client's site for three months to resolve process compatibility issues with new equipment. What exactly happened?"

When the topic turned to specific technical issues, Zhao Haichuan's eyes lit up noticeably, and he leaned forward slightly: "That was two years ago, when we sold a new multi-wire cutting machine to 'Sunshine Silicon Industry'."

"The equipment tested perfectly in our factory, but when it reached the customer's production line, with their special slurry and process parameters, the cut silicon wafers always had fine lines on the surface, and the yield rate remained low."

"The customer believed it was a problem with the equipment and requested a return. The company sent me to the site. I led a three-person team and lived in the customer's workshop. For the first month, we almost disassembled and reassembled the equipment repeatedly, ruling out all possible problems with the mechanical assembly, control system, and tension module, but the line marks were still there."

His tone was calm, yet it carried a focused intensity: "Later, we changed our thinking and suspected that the problem was not with the equipment itself, but with the 'interaction' between the equipment and the customer's specific process environment."

"We spent a lot of time monitoring the water temperature, mortar flow rate, and even the temperature and humidity fluctuations in the workshop environment of our customers' production lines, and comparing the cutting data."

"In the end, we found that the problem was in the mortar that the customer had mixed himself. The proportion of an additive was slightly excessive. At a certain temperature, it would have a subtle chemical reaction with our cutting lines, resulting in line marks."

"We adjusted some of the equipment's operating parameters and advised the customer to fine-tune the additive ratio. After more than a month of repeated testing, the problem was finally solved. That equipment then ran stably for the customer for three years, becoming one of their main models."

After a moment's thought, Zhao Haichuan continued, "Through this experience, I've learned that solving problems requires considering one's own limited perspective and placing the equipment within the entire process chain. Secondly, the patience, communication skills, and tenacious spirit of technical personnel are often more important than the technical parameters on paper."

"Third," he paused, "it makes me even more convinced that there are no shortcuts in high-end manufacturing; it's all about meticulously working on the details and solving one specific, seemingly minor problem after another."

"Your resume also mentions that you led the localization of a key component of a certain type of slicer, reducing costs by 30%. What was that component? Was the replacement process smooth?"

"It's the core servo motor and encoder components of the tension control system," Zhao Haichuan answered quickly. "We used a complete solution from Yaskawa in Japan, which was expensive, had a long delivery cycle, and was very troublesome to repair and replace if it was damaged, affecting the customer's production. The company decided to try localization."

"The process wasn't smooth," he admitted. "Our initial samples lagged behind imported products in terms of precision, response speed, and long-term stability. The biggest challenge wasn't the underlying principles, but rather the consistency of manufacturing processes and materials."

"We formed a joint task force with the selected suppliers. Our engineers were almost always stationed at their factories, following up on every step from raw material selection and heat treatment processes to assembly procedures, conducting failure analyses together, and revising process documents together."

"It took nearly half a year and seven iterations of the prototype. The final product achieved more than 95% of the performance level of imported parts in terms of key performance indicators, reduced costs by 30%, and shortened the delivery cycle by two-thirds."

Although the process was quite arduous, this experience showed me the potential and resilience of the domestic supply chain, and also allowed me to accumulate a wealth of experience in deep cooperation with local suppliers.

The interview lasted for nearly an hour and a half. Jiang Haoran asked very detailed questions, ranging from technical details to project management, from teamwork to cost control.

Zhao Haichuan's answers were always solid and unpretentious. When he encountered something he was unsure about, he would directly say, "I need to check the data from that time," rather than being vague.

Finally, Jiang Haoran closed the resume and looked at him: "If you were to be in charge of the overall R&D and project management of Kirin Technology's domestically produced slicing machine, what kind of support would you need? What do you anticipate the biggest challenge would be?"

Zhao Haichuan had clearly thought about this issue, and his answer was very organized: "I need to have full authority to work with the core technical team; I need clear authorization and decision-making space, especially in the selection of technical routes and the selection of suppliers, so that there can be no time-consuming approvals at every level; I need sufficient and patient financial support, because the trial and error costs in the early stages of this kind of R&D from scratch will be very high."

"The biggest challenge..." he pondered, "I think it's system integration and process verification. Assembling high-performance components into a stable and reliable whole machine is not easy in itself. What's even more difficult is that this whole machine must be perfectly adapted to the new diamond wire cutting process and achieve acceptable efficiency, yield, and cost in a real silicon wafer production environment."

"This requires repeated and extensive process testing, as well as in-depth cooperation with potential seed users. The process may be lengthy, and unexpected technical bottlenecks may be encountered along the way."