Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 120 Cooperation Negotiation Begins (asking for monthly ticket)
The engine's ability to operate continuously still needed to be tested on the test bench, so Director Mao arranged for other people to start assembling motorcycles using the engine brought by Wang Jiankun.

Of course, only two engines, low-range and mid-range, were used. The power obtained by testing the low-range engine was 3.6 kilowatts and the mid-range engine was 5.4 kilowatts.

功率跟马力之间的换算关系差不多是1千瓦=1.36马力，所以三台发动机的马力就分别是4.9马力，7.3马力和9马力。

Even the low-end model with 4.9 horsepower is about 1 horsepower more than the engine currently produced by the Jialing factory, so when assembling the Jialing 50 with the new engine, some spare parts still need to be debugged.

Especially for mid-range engines, although they are the same size as low-range engines, they have much greater horsepower, so the corresponding connectors are very different.

Wang Jiankun took this situation into consideration when manufacturing this engine, so he also brought drawings of parts to be processed and 5 sets of manufactured parts.

This is to facilitate the rapid assembly and debugging of the Jialing factory, because after this engine is used, the Jialing factory can make some enhancements to the Jialing 50, which can greatly increase the load capacity and speed of the motorcycle.

Director Mao was very happy when he saw the parts and drawings that Wang Jiankun took out.

"Engineer Wang, you are so professional. You prepared the modification parts and drawings in advance. Thank you so much."

"Of course. We also want to reach a cooperation as soon as possible. Although the manufacturing of these parts is not complicated, the manufacturing process still takes time, so we prepared several sets in advance. You can install the parts we brought and test them while you organize people to manufacture according to the drawings."

"Okay, okay, I'll arrange for someone to try out these parts. We have semi-finished products for assembly, and it won't be difficult to install the engine. How about we just wait here?"

"Okay, as your technical representative, I will of course follow you in testing until all projects are completed before moving on to the next step. Otherwise, you won't be at ease."

"No, you are professionals. The engines are beautifully made. I wonder what equipment you use to manufacture them?" Director Mao inquired carefully.

Wang Jiankun also intends to promote the 4-axis CNC machine tools manufactured by Hong Kong Xingyao Machinery, so he said: "We use the -axis CNC machine tools produced by Xingyao Machinery, another subsidiary of the group, to process engines."

"Four-axis CNC machine? Can you tell me about it?"

"As the name suggests, a four-axis machine tool has four independent axes of motion. Our general machine tools have three axes, that is, three linear axes (X, Y, Z), and a four-axis machine tool has an additional rotation axis."

"Another rotating axis? How do we control it? We all use manual three-axis machine tools. New employees need a long time of training before they can go into production. Wouldn't it be more difficult to operate with one more axis?" Director Mao asked.

Apparently he had never seen or heard of CNC technology, because the word "CNC" in the name just now did not catch his attention.

"On the contrary, this four-axis machine tool is easier to operate because it is numerically controlled. The operator controls the four axes to move in coordination through programming to complete the processing of the workpiece. There is no need to manually turn the handle to control the position of the tool like the machine tool you are using now."

"CNC? What does that mean?"

"Digital control means that the computer calculates the data and controls the movement of the four axes through some sensors and motors."

"Controlled by computer? I haven't thought about that. Computers are those big computers, right? I saw a report on TV that said computers are bigger than the large machine tools we use, and they are very expensive. It's not cost-effective to use them to control machine tools, right?"

Seeing that Director Mao knew nothing about the current development of computer computing, Wang Jiankun felt that the country's development was still too backward. Although Director Mao was good at studying motorcycles, he did not understand the current cutting-edge development of mechanical manufacturing technology.

Fortunately, he had considered this situation in advance and prepared a small 4-axis CNC machine on board.

This machine tool is used for demonstration and teaching purposes. He also placed one at the scrap recycling station in Wuyuan County, which was given to Fang Guihua and his team to use to make some small parts.

"Mr. Mao, I brought a small four-axis CNC machine on board. How about I move it here so I can demonstrate it to you?"

"Really? That's great. I can't imagine what a machine tool controlled by a computer looks like. If you can show me the real thing, that would be great. I'll call a few people to help move it."

As he said this, he took Wang Jiankun out of the Motorcycle Research Institute and went to the Logistics Department to call a few strong men to help move the machine tool.

Although it is small, it still weighs more than 200 kilograms. Wang Jiankun went on board and used a crane to lift the machine tool onto a cart on the dock.

Director Mao and his men were looking down at the ship which actually had its own crane. They immediately thought how great it would be if there was also a crane to transport motorcycles.

However, CNC machine tools are still important at this time. After all, Wang Jiankun said that their functions are so powerful. If they are really easy to use, we must convince the factory leaders to buy a few from Xingyao Group.

After the machine tool is transported to the Motorcycle Research Institute, it still takes some time to install it. The base needs to be fixed with screws. Otherwise, if it is used without being fixed properly, the accuracy will be very poor.

There are still many people in Jialing Factory who know how to install. After about an hour, the machine tool was fixed.

Wang Jiankun then began his explanation by starting the machine, demonstrating the operation of the CNC machine from beginning to end to Director Mao and several other researchers.

The researchers at Jialing Factory felt it was very novel to see Wang Jiankun typing on a small keyboard and lines of text and numbers appeared on the small TV.

However, they have strong learning ability. Although they don't understand the principle clearly, they know that this is what the young engineer Wang said about giving commands to the computer. After receiving the commands, the computer controls the movement of the motor according to the instructions.

After programming was completed, Wang Jiankun took a steel rod and put it into the material port, then clicked the start command, and the machine tool closed the protective door and started working.

When Wang Jiankun was working on the machine tool, he would explain while watching the movement of the tool, telling them what this line of command did and what that line of command did.

After about 5 minutes, a shiny valve was produced and fell from the discharge port.

Wang Jiankun took it and gave it to Director Mao, asking him to compare it with the ones made in his own factory.

Looking at this familiar part, Director Mao was deeply moved. A part was made in just a few minutes. If they were to make such a part with high precision in their own factory, it would require at least a level 4 worker and take half an hour to make it.

Moreover, due to the low precision of the equipment, the precision consistency of the manufactured products is relatively low, and extra working hours must be spent on testing to separate qualified products with similar precision, and unqualified products must also be picked out for reprocessing or recycling.

He is also an old employee. He knew the precision should be up to standard just by touching it. Moreover, the processed surface made by this machine tool is surprisingly smooth, and no tool marks can be felt when touched.

At the same time, because it is CNC, Wang Jiankun said that the tool movement can be repeatedly processed after being programmed once for the same part. As long as the workpiece is clamped and positioned accurately, the accuracy consistency of the parts will be particularly good.

Wang Jiankun asked the machine tool to process five parts one after another and asked the researchers here to take them for testing. The results came out soon.

"Director Mao, Engineer Wang, the precision of these six parts is better than our requirements, and the tolerance is also lower than our requirements." The tester came over with the test results and said.

Director Mao took it and looked at it, and found that all the dimensional data were excellent with small deviations, which meant that the parts were highly versatile and would suffer less wear after installation.

"Mr. Wang, your four-axis CNC machine tool is really amazing. I wonder if you can sell some of these machines to our Jialing factory?"

"It should be possible, but this type of machine tool is currently very advanced compared to the rest of the world, so the production capacity is not high, and it also needs to be paid in US dollars. I heard from a colleague that it costs about US$25 per set."

"25 US dollars per set? It's so expensive!" Director Mao said dejectedly after hearing Wang Jiankun's price.

Because of the current shortage of foreign exchange in China, it is very difficult for ordinary factories to obtain foreign exchange to purchase equipment. It is even more impossible for factories like theirs that have switched to producing civilian products to obtain much foreign exchange, so Director Mao is very discouraged.

He knew that if the factory could purchase several of these four-axis CNC machine tools to finish machining some engine and gearbox parts, the factory's own production capacity would be greatly improved, and the quality of the engine would also be greatly improved.

But now that he heard the price was so high, he felt discouraged because he might not be able to buy even two with the foreign exchange he could get.

“But if you can use this mid-range engine to produce a batch of motorcycles and sell them to our Xingyao Group, maybe we can exchange the motorcycles for machine tools,” Wang Jiankun suggested.

He was planning to get a batch of motorcycles for his uncle's Southern Liberation Front. His uncle's territory was mountainous and the roads were narrow, so cars were not practical there. Only the newly conquered Myitkyina and the nearby small plains were suitable for cars. Other places still used bicycles as a means of transportation.

If it is upgraded to a motorcycle, the flow of people within the base will be much faster.

It just so happened that the Jialing Factory needed advanced CNC machine tools, and my uncle's Nanjiezhen needed a large number of motorcycles, so it would be better to exchange the machine tools for a batch of motorcycles.

"Really? Can I exchange a motorcycle with an upgraded engine for this four-axis CNC machine tool?" Director Mao said in surprise.

"Yes, you can trade in your motorcycle. Xingyao Machinery also has a three-axis CNC machine tool with high precision. It is more suitable for producing parts without much curvature. Its efficiency is several times higher than the manual machine tools you are using now."

"Well, I have to go and propose to the factory manager and try to exchange the motorcycle for a batch of machine tools."

After saying that, he planned to go find the factory manager.

"Director Mao, how about we wait until these two motorcycles are assembled and tested before we go and discuss the engine supply together?"

"Well, well, sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, so let's talk about it later."

"How long will the assembly take? An hour is almost up. Are you not used to it anymore?" Director Mao was anxious and urged the two groups of institute employees who were assembling motorcycles.

"It will be ready soon. We have assembled it and are in static debugging. We can start testing soon."

After waiting for a few minutes, a researcher rode on each of the two motorcycles and started the ignition.

The sound when starting is much better than their original factory ones, and the smoke from the exhaust pipe is also very light. After idling for more than 1 minute, the exhaust gas is almost invisible, which shows that the combustion is very complete and does not burn the engine oil.

After idling for a few minutes, Director Mao asked the two men to ride the motorcycle on the test field nearby.

After shifting into gear and stepping on the accelerator, the motorcycle drove smoothly to the test site nearby.

The two men kept accelerating and decelerating in the field to test the engine's performance when shifting gears, and then stepped on the accelerator in the highest gear to test the maximum speed.

The two had a lot of fun riding on the field. The power of these two engines is more than that of their original ones, so the acceleration feels great and the top speed can be easily reached, unlike the original ones that require a long distance to accelerate.

Director Mao was watching the tests on the field and found that the performance of the two engines was indeed very good. When the accelerator was stepped on hard to accelerate, the sound was very clear and there was no harsh sound of mechanical friction.

The exhaust does not emit black smoke when you step on the accelerator to accelerate, which means that even with violent acceleration, the combustion in the engine is relatively complete.

The testing lasted about half an hour on site. Most of the test subjects were carried out and the data obtained were very good.

During this half hour, Director Mao became more determined to promote this cooperation.

So after completing most of the tests, he quickly sorted out the recorded data, wrote down his opinions, and then took Wang Jiankun to find Director Tang and his team.

At this time, Director Tang was taking Chen Xingdong and his entourage to visit the entire motorcycle production process, from the manufacturing of various parts to the assembly of the entire vehicle.

Director Mao found them in Assembly Workshop 1.

Along the way, Wang Jiankun also used his superpowers to project his abilities onto the Jialing Factory. A small number of workshops here were relatively standardized, with the appearance of assembly lines, but production in most workshops was still relatively messy.

However, the workers were in good spirits and worked very seriously. Wang Jiankun felt that the disorder was caused by the fact that the production organization had not been optimized, resulting in a lot of waste of workers' actions.

Of course Chen Xingdong also discovered this problem. After all, he had been managing Xingyao Electronics for more than half a year. When comparing it with the production line operations there, he saw many shortcomings. However, he could not say anything. After all, he came here this time to include engines and CNC machine tools in the supplier list of Jialing Factory.

Director Mao walked over and talked to Director Tang for a while, and took out the test report he brought with him and showed it to Director Tang.

After a while, Director Tang came over and found Chen Xingdong.

"Mr. Chen, we already have preliminary test results for the engine you brought. How about we move to the conference room to discuss future cooperation?"

"Okay, that suits me just fine."

So the group came to the conference room in Guabang Mountain and started formal cooperation negotiations.

(End of this chapter)