"This shape is still a bit...well, it's still a bit far from what I expected."
This was in the art teaching and research room of Yupu County No. 1 Middle School. Gao Fan looked at some drawing papers and said politely.
After signing a contract to produce plastic bottles with Yu Guorong, Gao Fan called back to Cangtang and asked Gao Yiping to wire a 5,000 yuan deposit to Chengda Plastic Factory, and then urged Yu Guorong to hurry up and design the plastic bottle.
Gao Fan conducts business outside under the banner of Canghua Company, but in fact, this company is just another name for the Canghai Fertilizer Factory Labor Service Company. There is no systematic administrative organization at all, involving things like capital transactions.
, you can only ask the Finance Department of Canghai Fertilizer Factory to act as your agent.
Gao Fan is not in a hurry to establish his own administrative system. Canghai Fertilizer Factory has a ready-made system available, so why does he need to build another one by himself?
So far, all the employees of Canghua Company are unemployed young people from the fertilizer factory. Even if there are some talents that can be put to great use, they still need to go through some tempering. Gao Fan has enough patience to wait.
After Yu Guorong received the deposit, he immediately started arranging the design and production of the mold.
The design of the spray part is not difficult. After all, the principle is already there. With the industrial foundation in Renqiao, it is no problem to design and manufacture such a device.
The difficulty lies in the shape design of the plastic bottle, which Yu Guorong did not expect.
According to the original ideas of Yu Guorong and Chen Xingquan, isn't a plastic bottle just a cylinder? Or to be more particular, it can also be made into a cylinder with an elliptical cross-section.
But when Yu Guorong showed two drawings and asked Gao Fan to pick one, Gao Fan showed a look of disgust on his face. He said that his products were exported to Japan, so wouldn't it be embarrassing to use such an ugly bottle?
Went abroad?
Gao Fan's reason made both Yu Guorong and Chen Xingquan find it impossible to refute. The products they made in the past were all sold domestically. In this era, Chinese people have no requirements for the appearance design of products. Strong and cheap are king.
As for it being good-looking, the worst possible thing is putting a coconut-style label on it, with red and green colors, wouldn’t that be enough?
But Gao Fan said that the products should be exported overseas, and foreigners are very picky. What else could Yu Guorong and others say?
Nowadays, some people in Renqiao who got rich first are keen on buying imported consumer goods. Yu Guorong and Chen Xingquan also have imported electrical appliances in their homes. They have to admit that things made by foreigners are more beautiful than those made by China.
Gao Fan remembered some later designs, but could not draw them accurately. In desperation, Yu Guorong could only take Gao Fan to Yupu County and ask Qiu Zhiping, an art teacher at the County No. 1 Middle School, for help.
In the past, when Yu Guorong encountered customers who had special requirements for product design, he would always ask Qiu Zhiping for help. Qiu Zhiping was Yu Guorong's dedicated designer.
"Isn't it just a plastic bottle? Let me draw some shapes for you."
Qiu Zhiping was easy to talk to, so he casually drew the shapes of a few bottles. He was fat and thin, which was really eye-catching. Yu Guorong had introduced it to Gao Fan before, saying that Lao Qiu also graduated from one of the top art schools in the country.
Because of sports, I fell into the position of being a middle school teacher in a place like Yupu. In terms of level, I was top-notch.
"This doesn't work. It doesn't meet the ergonomic requirements."
Gao Fan was not completely fooled by the appearance of the plastic top. He was picky about it from a professional perspective.
"What ergonomics?" Qiu Zhiping was a little confused.
"It's ergonomics, which talks about the negotiation relationship between people and products." Gao Fan explained, and then began to comment on Qiu Zhiping's designs:
The chubby shape looks cute, but it cannot be held in one hand and is inconvenient to use.
The shape and volume of the slender strip cannot be guaranteed, and the same is not possible.
This gourd-shaped one is quite unique, but the handshake point is too far away from the nozzle button...
Qiu Zhiping understood it immediately. Regardless of whether he was an arrogant artist in the past, after staying in a place like Renqiao for a long time, he became pragmatic. He did not have the slightest resistance to Gao Fan's requirements.
So he continued to design, while Gao Fan stood by to criticize him. The old man and the young man chatted happily, but they did not notice that Yu Guorong's face was getting more and more ugly.
"Okay, this is what I want!"
Gao Fan finally made the decision. The bottle designed by Lao Qiu combines industrial and artistic sense, and is no less beautiful than the beautiful bottles Gao Fan saw in later generations.
An artist once said that the pursuit of beauty is timeless.
but……
Technology has its time.
Looking at the manuscript jointly designed by Gao Fan and Qiu Zhiping, Yu Guorong cried sadly:
"Brother Gao, this bottle is really good-looking, but how do you want me to open the mold?"
Molds are processed using machine tools. It is best to open cylindrical molds and roll them out directly with a lathe. Square molds are also easy to handle. Planing first and then milling is also a routine operation.
But the shape Gaofan wants is an S-shaped line from top to bottom. What kind of equipment is needed to process it?
People always say that things in the past were ugly, but little do they know that this is not a difference in aesthetics between the two generations, but a difference in processing ability.
For example, the military trucks produced by a certain truck factory in the past had square heads and square heads, which were neither beautiful nor aerodynamic. However, they had the advantage of being very easy to manufacture.
A streamlined front requires a special mold and a high-pressure stamping machine. For a square-headed front, just fold the steel plate with a bending machine. The requirements for production equipment are reduced by several levels.
It is most suitable for a poor country.
Later generations of daily necessities can pursue aesthetic appearance because the level of mold manufacturing has improved. With the use of composite machining centers, we can break through the processing limitations of lathes and milling machines, and produce streamlined molds with ease.
But now, where can Yu Guorong find a composite machining center for Gao Fan?
"Old Yu, are you saying that you can't make such a mold?" Gao Fan asked.
Yu Guorong shook his head: "It's not that I can't make it. There is no factory in the entire Renqiao area that can make such a mold."
"Is there one in Shuinan Province?" Gao Fan continued to ask.
Yu Guorong said: "There are several large machinery factories in the province. Their equipment is good and there are some experienced workers with excellent skills. They may be able to make this mold. However, I can't talk to these factories. I would like to ask others to help me open this mold."
I'm just a mold, and people won't even care about me."
Gao Fan thought about it and asked: "Is the technology of Shuinan Chemical Equipment Factory sufficient?"
"That is definitely enough." Yu Guorong said, "Its technology ranks first in our province."