"High manganese steel rake blades? Our supply price is $8."
Dalton was stunned when he heard the translator relaying the price quoted by Zhu Detai.
"Eight dollars, how is this possible?" Dalton's eyes widened and he looked at Zhu Detai in disbelief, "Sir, we are talking about the price of bulk purchase, not 1 piece, but...for example, 100,000
piece."
"The purchase of rake blades is of course in bulk. However, if the quantity is as large as 100,000 pieces, the price can be lower. What, do you have any interest?" Zhu Detai said.
"Uh... we seem to be talking about different things." Dalton was speechless.
From Dalton's point of view, the so-called price of 8 US dollars a piece should be the price quoted by the Northern Agricultural Machinery Factory as a publicity. It doesn't matter if you sell three or five pieces, but it won't work if you sell more. Because Dalton knows how expensive plasma spraying is now,
Only companies engaged in aerospace engines and the like can afford such equipment. If this equipment is used to perform surface treatment on basic parts of agricultural machinery, can the price of a single piece be as low as possible?
But what Zhu Detai said was another matter. Qin Hai promised him that using the thermal spray machine they designed to perform surface treatment on the rake blades, the cost of a single piece would not exceed 3 yuan. Including the disc rake blades themselves
The production cost, the final ex-factory price of each piece in RMB is less than 10 yuan, which is less than 3 US dollars when converted into US dollars. If you quote a price of 8 US dollars per piece, it is already a high profit. If the customer wants 100,000 pieces in one go,
He could definitely lower the price to $7, or even $6.
"If I'm not mistaken, you should use a plasma spraying process for titanium nitride coating on the surface of the manganese steel rake blades, right?" Dalton asked.
"Plasma_Spray_Coating..." The translator knelt down first, wondering how to translate this word.
"No, we use the thermal spray process." Qin Hai appeared out of nowhere and gave Dalton a straightforward negative answer. Plasma spray is called "Plasma_Spray" and thermal spray is called "Thermal_Spray".
There is a clear difference between the two.
"Thermal spraying?" Dalton is indeed the chief engineer of a large company and is quite familiar with the international technological frontier. He frowned and said: "As far as I know, this technology is still in the exploratory stage.
The quality of the coating is very inconsistent, and the cost seems to be high.”
"If I say that we have broken through all the key technical problems, thus greatly reducing costs and solving quality stability, do you believe it?" Qin Hai asked with a smile.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid it's hard for me to believe it," Dalton replied honestly.
"Can you provide evidence?" Hibbs on the side also interjected. He trusts Dalton far more than he trusts Qin Hai. Since Dalton said that this technology is not mature yet, Qin Hai
What Hai said was definitely bragging.
Qin Hai picked up a rake blade from the booth in front of Zhu Detai. He handed it to Dalton and said, "Sir, you can take a look at this rake blade. With your professional vision, you should be able to see the quality of the coating."
.As our factory director Zhu said just now, we can provide you with 100,000 pieces of these rake blades, the quality of which is the same as this one. The price of each piece is no more than 8 US dollars. Does this count as evidence?"
"Maybe... it can be used as evidence." Hibbs turned to look at Dalton and replied reluctantly.
"But, how did you do it?" Dalton's thinking fell into a self-loop. He couldn't believe that the Chinese could achieve such high achievements in thermal spraying technology, but he couldn't deny what he saw before him.
It would be understandable if the Chinese made a few rake blades just to show off their appearance. Now they claim that they can provide 100,000 pieces, and the price is unbelievably cheap. This obviously cannot be explained by the appearance.
Qin Hai smiled and said: "I think there must be many colleagues who have questions like yours. We plan to hold a special report meeting in two days to introduce to everyone our achievements in thermal spraying technology. Second
If you are interested, please pay attention to our upcoming report notification."
"Okay, okay, I will definitely come to listen when the time comes." Dalton nodded.
It was obviously impossible to discuss the technical details any further. Hibbs asked Zhu Detai for two samples of rake blades and led Dalton away. Zhu Detai watched the two Frenchmen walk away and turned back.
He asked Qin Hai: "Xiao Qin, is this thermal spray technology you have developed really so powerful? I think these two foreign devils are really convinced."
Qin Hai smiled and said: "Director Zhu didn't go to see the test results conducted by the organizing committee, right? Your factory's disc rake discs have firmly ranked second in the durability of the rake disc group, and the results are twice that of the following manufacturers.
If it's higher, can people be unconvinced?"
"The second place, then who is the first place?" Zhu Detai asked subconsciously.
"It's Factory Director Liu and the others from Linxi," Qin Hai said.
Factory Director Liu in Linxi refers to Liu Shuo. The test results of the zirconia ceramic rake blades they produce have reached more than 600 hectares, and they are well-deserved first place. Zhu Detai also knows about this matter, because brother
The ceramic factory had no experience in making rake blades at all. When they opened the mold, Qin Hai specifically asked Zhu Detai and hired two technicians from the Northern Agricultural Machinery Factory for guidance.
Zhu Detai didn't care about this strong competitor. He smiled and said: "The one made by Director Liu and his friends is just a toy. No one will take it seriously. When we were on the plane, I heard Director Liu say
, the wear resistance of their ceramic rake blades is not mentioned, but the toughness and strength are far from enough, making them unsuitable for agricultural production.”
"This is indeed the truth. Don't worry, Director Zhu. After the wear-resistant test is completed, the organizing committee will also conduct a strength test. In addition, the cost factor will also be taken into consideration. In the end, the first place in the comprehensive score will definitely be Director Zhu."
Yes." Qin Hai gave Zhu Detai a reassurance.
Of course, Hibbs is not the only one who has been paying attention to the durability test. As the test results gradually became clear, the Chinese delegation's booth began to become lively again. Qin Hai gathered all the translators together,
A simple training was conducted, telling them some professional knowledge about thermal spraying, and unified the caliber, claiming that there would be a report meeting on thermal spraying in two days.
The boring and lengthy durability test is finally over. All the products participating in the test are roughly divided into three echelons based on their durability life.
The first echelon is 4 types of ceramic basic parts, including ceramic disc rake blades provided by the Chinese delegation, and 3 other ceramic basic parts provided by several Western companies. The durable life of these ceramic basic parts generally reaches more than 800 hectares.
Far exceeding the life of metal basic parts. However, their shortcomings are also extremely obvious, that is, insufficient toughness and cannot be used in harsh working conditions. In addition, the price of ceramic basic parts is also very high, and they have basically no practical value.
The second echelon is products using ceramic coatings. What is striking is that the products in this echelon all come from the Chinese delegation. To be more precise, they all come from the thermal spray machine owned by Qin Hai.
Although there is only one thermal spraying equipment, the Chinese delegation provides more than a dozen products, covering all basic agricultural machinery parts.
Using metal as the base and coating the surface with ceramic materials takes into account the high toughness of metal and the high wear resistance of ceramics, without significantly increasing the cost. The basis for the evaluation of basic parts by the Expo Organizing Committee is wear resistance.
There are many indicators such as toughness and cost. The calculation of cost is based on the supply price promised by the manufacturer, which cannot be faked.
The wear resistance of the basic parts treated by the Chinese delegation using thermal spraying is more than double that of other similar products, and there are no obvious disadvantages in toughness, cost, etc. The comprehensive score of the final evaluation naturally ranked first without any suspense
Already.
As for the third echelon, they are basic parts produced by traditional processes. What everyone is competing for is the metallurgical process and surface treatment process of metal materials. The products provided by the Chinese delegation for surface treatment using the surfacing process were on the same stage as well-known foreign companies.
The performance in the competition was good, basically at the upper-middle level. This result was enough to satisfy Cui Hongchun and the business leaders.
The Chinese delegation won the first place in all individual items of the wear resistance test of basic parts!
This news immediately caused a sensation in the entire expo venue.
For those professionals who have been watching the testing process, this result has been foreseen for a long time. If there is any surprise, it is that they did not expect that these products with such outstanding wear resistance would be so cheap. And for professional level
For the casual viewers, this news is simply unbelievable, because in everyone’s minds, China is just a developing country with backward technology. How could it have such terrible results?
"Mr. Minister, how do you feel about the Chinese delegation winning first place in all individual categories?"
"I heard that these products use a mysterious process called thermal spraying. Can you introduce the details of this process?"
"Our experts pointed out that spraying technology is a technology widely used in the military field. Does your technology come from the military?"
"What other amazing technologies has the Chinese military mastered? Can you reveal them..."
Foreign reporters also know very well how to catch a thief and capture a king. They first found Cui Hongchun and surrounded him in Gaixin. The microphones were stretched out so far that they just missed Cui Hongchun's mouth.
Cui Hongchun's face was full of spring breeze and he talked eloquently:
"We in China are committed to agricultural modernization. The investment in agricultural science and technology is very considerable, and it is inevitable to produce some excellent results. I solemnly declare that these results have nothing to do with military technology. I believe that in the near future,
In the future, we will show you various excellent and outstanding results in more fields, so please pay attention. As for issues related to thermal spraying technology, we will hold a special report meeting in the next two days.
I would like to explain to everyone and ask everyone to wait patiently.”
When he said the last sentence, Cui Hongchun showed an imperceptible bitter smile on his face: