"The gasoline engine we are using now comes from the production line of Modu's inventory. This thing is still a Soviet technology from the 1950s. It is really too old."
"Don't talk about the 1950s. If you look at it by American standards, this is their technology in the 1930s, which is completely at the level of World War II. Our current materials are not bad, and we can make new ones."
"You young people also want to follow Mr. Zhou and mess around with new standards? Mr. Zhou doesn't understand, and you don't understand either? Although the technology of this gasoline engine is old, it is durable and durable."
"Old comrade, you can't just look at the durability of the leather, but also consider the economy. Our current gasoline and materials are not bad, and the engine compression ratio can reach ten, which is much better than the current 'five'."
"Yes, that's right. Although our materials are not as good as those abroad, they are still much better than a few decades ago. The engine cylinder wall can be made thinner, and the processing accuracy is fully satisfactory."
"You are all wrong. This kind of single-cylinder gasoline engine has little potential to be tapped. I think we should just copy Japanese technology. Why bother?"
In front of a square table were three generations of technicians, old, middle and young, and seven or eight people were discussing a few drawings in a lively manner.
Lao Zhang, the sand foundry worker, wore a faded work clothes, frowned and listened to the discussion for a while, then left with a sigh. He walked out of the iron door of the workshop, took a long breath, and felt the relaxation he had not seen for a long time.
Lao Zhang suffers from severe lung disease due to his long-term work in the harsh environment of mold sanding. He coughs constantly every day, and it kills him every time.
When he arrived in Tianyang, he went directly to the hospital to take X-rays. The doctors shook their heads and said that there was no cure and could only be treated conservatively. As a result, the logistics team of "Holy Light" sent him a bottle of "plain water" and asked him to drink it.
On the day he drank it, Lao Zhang coughed desperately in the toilet. Different from the painful coughs in the past, this time he became more relaxed every time he coughed, coughing up a lot of thick phlegm and blood.
After drinking "plain boiled water" for three days, Mr. Zhou even came to visit him once. The two parties shook hands and chatted for a few words, and Lao Zhang felt as if he had saved his life.
When sleeping on weekdays, Lao Zhang would spend most of the time coughing. The whole family was sleep deprived. When he went to Tianyang to sleep peacefully for three consecutive days, he was extremely happy.
Lao Zhang asked himself what magic medicine he was drinking?
The 'Holy Light' only replied, "Probably because the water and soil in the sky are more nurturing, any disease can be cured easily."
After almost recovering from his illness, Lao Zhang had to work. The workshop he stayed in was an old factory building built in the 1960s by Tianyang Machinery Factory. It had a beam frame structure and was more than 5,000 square meters. It was quite spacious.
‘Shengguang Machinery’ wants to develop ‘She Tun Xiang’, but Tianyang Machinery Factory is too big and currently only rents a few of its factories for production.
When we first rented the workshop, the workshop was messy, dirty and dark. Zhou Qingfeng immediately requested that the entire workshop be renovated. ISO standards clearly stipulate the cleanliness of the workshop.
Technical matters are difficult to handle, but cleaning matters must be handled.
We can’t learn from Asan when he builds airplanes. The workers wear slippers when entering the workshop. We can’t learn from Asan when he builds tanks. The workers just poop in the tank body.
As for Ah San's ability to build an aircraft carrier after three launches, Zhou Qingfeng is not worried. This is a unique national skill, and you can't learn it without drinking enough water from the Ganges River.
The old workshop originally contained dozens of old equipment, like an industrial museum.
For example, the large insulated sand box used for sand foundry looks like a Soviet product. It is huge in size and consumes a lot of energy. When this thing is started, the light bulbs in the entire workshop will flash twice.
The quality of the thermal insulation sand box is related to the quality of the castings. Especially for large castings, the slower the cooling process, the better. They need to be insulated in the sand box for a long time and cooled to 200 degrees before unpacking.
However, the heat preservation time is long, the equipment turnover is slow, and the efficiency is low. Small local factories will open the boxes at 500 to 600 degrees Celsius, allowing high-temperature castings to be directly exposed to cold air.
The castings produced by this process look fine, but in fact they are equivalent to overall quenching. The internal stress is extremely high and it is difficult to improve product quality.
Many machine tool factories in China do this. They save time and reduce costs during production without paying attention to details. The quality is not as good as that of Japan and Germany, and even Taiwanese products.
After the workshop was rented, the old Soviet antiques were moved away and the entire space was cleaned and renovated.
Zhou Qingfeng re-ordered the goods in Shanghai. For example, the sand box has no technical content, it is just a super large "heating quickly", and the domestic one is also very easy to use.
Slowly raising the temperature reduces the pressure on the power grid, slowly cooling down to ensure the quality of the castings, and at the same time doing a good job of heat insulation to reduce energy consumption. It is enough for the equipment to do these things.
Many details in production require experienced workers like Lao Zhang to control. Once he came, the scrap rate of cylinder castings for small engines with a displacement of 50 CC was reduced by half, greatly improving production speed and quality.
The cost will naturally drop.
Just when Lao Zhang felt that he was worthy of the salary and treatment given by Mr. Zhou, a new trouble arose.
‘Holy Light’ needs to upgrade its technology, and the factory will introduce computer-aided design and manufacturing. Not only will machining be converted to CNC machine tools, but casting will also need to reduce margins and reduce machining time.
Although CAD modification of a small 50cc displacement engine is a fuss, Zhou Qingfeng's meaning is very simple - I will not only produce this small displacement engine forever?
The necessary technical reserves still need to be developed.
CAD technology is actually the cooperation of many disciplines and processes such as molding, casting, machining, CNC, computer design, etc. This is not just a matter of moving a few computers, but involves the entire production line.
If it is completed, "Shengguang Machinery" will definitely produce large-displacement engines and high-power transmissions. The production line for manufacturing three-wheeled vehicles will turn into manufacturing vehicles with four or more wheels.
More than 300 key technical personnel from all over the world are dividing the work and carrying out their respective tasks. This is a learning process from scratch, with a large amount of information distributed, and everyone is immersed in it.
The quarrel between the old, middle-aged and young engineers was just a small fragment not worth mentioning in determining the technical route. More and deeper exchanges of wisdom are underway.
But this revolutionary progress is very painful for Lao Zhang.
He suffered the disadvantage of being uneducated and had always been at the bottom of the production ladder. When he finally felt proud, he found that he was almost useless.
Computers sound very advanced. With them, will there be no need for workers like Lao Zhang?
Walking out of the workshop, there is a large transformer standing outside. This is specially used to supply power to high-power equipment in the workshop.
A group of electricians are working around the transformer. It seems that they want to replace this old guy who has been working for decades to improve the power supply capacity of the workshop. Because CNC production puts forward higher requirements for power supply.
Thinking about the Soviet-style thermal insulation sand box that had been moved to nowhere, Lao Zhang felt that he was like these antique gadgets. They can still be used, but they can no longer keep up with the times.
"Oh, what will we old workers do in the future? We have only had a few good days, is it possible that we will lose our jobs?"
Lao Zhang was walking back and forth outside the workshop, worried. Hearing the sound of trucks on the road outside the workshop, a young apprentice ran in happily and shouted: "The CNC machine tool is here, imported CNC machine tool!"
Sigh... Here comes another deceptive thing. Will we old guys be allowed to live?