In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 376 What happened to the supposedly weak industrial base? Wow, my fitter is amazing!

“Civil engineering and other related work all have strict technical specifications. We just need to find ways to solve them according to the task.”

Xie Wei didn't understand the purpose of Xiao Gang's complaint.

Need funding?
Not a single penny more in funding is acceptable; even Harbin Institute of Technology's own funding is becoming insufficient.

"Such a project, with no prior experience to draw upon and with incomplete supporting infrastructure, will undoubtedly be very difficult to construct! However, the role of large presses in enhancing industrial manufacturing capabilities cannot be underestimated, and we can draw on this experience to build other large components in the future... especially the movable crossbeam that you poured 720 tons of molten steel in one go..."

Li Rui spoke first.

A 720-ton movable crossbeam was successfully poured in one go, setting a national record.

Unfortunately, the project is classified, so such an inspiring achievement cannot be made public so that people across the country can share in the joy.

Xie Wei also sighed.

Because the materials, manufacturing processes, and equipment were far inferior to those of twenty years later, he was initially worried that he would not be able to successfully cast the steel: 720 tons of molten steel required six 120-ton ladles to be cast simultaneously. Not only did he need to ensure that the molten steel in each ladle was completely consistent, but he also had to ensure that the blanks cast during the casting process did not have large sand holes or air pores.

With the support of higher authorities, Erzhong borrowed many experienced technicians and workers from several steel plants, and more than ten experts worked with them to discuss and demonstrate the plan for 17 months before finally determining the pouring plan.

This single component, now the heaviest in the country and perhaps the heaviest in the world, has no data from other countries—due to the embargo!

"The crossbeams are still being processed; the columns are currently being installed..."

Xiao Gang said hurriedly.

Soon, the group got into the car.

It's nearly 30 kilometers from the small airport of the flight academy where they landed to Erzhong. Xie Wei and Li Rui rode in the same car with Xiao Gang and Zhang Dewen, and along the way they learned quite a bit about the production and manufacturing of the large press.

The 6.5-ton press has a much lower level of automation than the 8-ton press that will be built twenty years later; otherwise, the difficulty would be even greater.

Often, when you try to produce a single component, you find that even the equipment used for component manufacturing cannot meet the production requirements…

"Fortunately, we don't need to consider industrial-scale production."

"Give me a break! How many large presses with a capacity of over 4.5 tons are there in the world? Even with the technology and processes, where would we find so many production operations for large-scale production?"

Li Rui glared at Xiao Gang with annoyance.

Even Xie Wei was somewhat surprised by Xiao Gang.

"Xie Wei's method for managing complex engineering systems is really useful. It separates each production node and further subdivides each system in the same way, just like a tree with branches. The management has improved so much compared to before, and it's also much easier to find the problem..."

Almost all managers who come into contact with the complex engineering system management methods from Harbin Institute of Technology say they are easy to use.

Harbin Institute of Technology manages all its projects according to this method, and a group of people who study management methods are constantly tracking, adjusting, and improving it.

Xie Wei naturally understood.

"No matter how effective a management method is, it still needs people to implement it. This management method has been promoted to multiple organizations from the very beginning..."

Xie Wei sighed.

Even the best system needs to be supervised by capable leaders to ensure its effectiveness.

The school is able to utilize various projects because it has very strict requirements for standardization from the very beginning, and also has many measures such as economic penalties to ensure this.

The school doesn't even have enough people to meet its own needs.

Xiao was about to ask for the person, but before he could even speak, Xie Wei cut him off, preventing him from bringing it up again.

We chatted along the way and soon arrived at the gate of the Erzhong factory, which has a somewhat historical feel.

There were no welcoming crowds lining the streets, nor any boisterous welcoming scene, which made Xie Wei feel much more relaxed.

Anyone who has met Li Rui a few times knows that he and his colleagues are pragmatic people who dislike superficiality and empty gestures.

The different factory buildings present a stark contrast: the light steel factory buildings are brightly colored, tall, and spacious; while in more areas of the factory buildings on one side, the red brick walls of the Soviet-style brick and concrete factory buildings are mottled, and many places on the cement roof are covered with moss.

The car drove along the factory grounds for a while, and Xiao Gang pointed to the huge newly built light steel structure workshop not far ahead and introduced it to everyone: "That newly built light steel structure workshop over there is where the large press is located..."

The workshop is quite far from the old factory area.

"This factory is quite large."

Xie Wei sighed.

He had only heard of it before, but had never been here.

"One No. 2 Heavy Machinery Plant accounts for half of Deyang City. The combined building area of ​​all other third-tier units in Deyang doesn't even equal that of No. 2 Heavy Machinery Plant!"

Zhang Dewen said with a proud look, "The original design was for an annual production of one million tons of forgings..."

Erzhong not only produces aerospace forgings, but is also a production base for heavy equipment such as large artillery, large rolling mills, large equipment, and power plant casting and forging equipment.

"The vibrations generated by the 6.5 tons of equipment during operation can travel quite far. If it's too close to the original factory area, the severe vibrations will affect production precision, so the area around the workshop has been modified..."

As they walked toward the workshop, Xiao Gang introduced the place to the group.

From the outside, you can't tell anything at all.

The workshop entrance is large enough to allow two Jiefang trucks to pass side by side.

"This is for the convenience of transporting large parts. The large high-frequency furnace used for heating the blanks was transported in and installed before the walls around the workshop were even built."

Big!
This was Xie Wei's only feeling when he saw the interior of the workshop specially built for the large press.

In one corner of the workshop, there are several high-frequency heating furnaces that are more than ten meters high.

The area in front of the heating furnace is very spacious.

On both sides of the factory building, supported by a thick steel structure, two overhead cranes spanning the entire factory area, with wide and thick beams and multiple steel cables on their hooks, are being installed.

Standing inside, one feels extremely small.

"That is a 500-ton forging machine designed by Tsinghua University and other schools. After it is built and put into operation, this die forging machine can press a single part weighing 500 tons."

Liu Weiming only knew the design specifications of the large press, but he didn't expect there were other items involved.

Long Yaohua said with emotion, "The impact of such a large press on the supporting facilities is beyond imagination... In order to produce this large press, Erzhong now has the capacity to cast 720 tons of steel ladles at once."

The感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion) is not only due to the improvement in Erzhong's production capacity.

Furthermore, Xie Wei insisted on developing the large press first before investing in the large aircraft project. During the construction of the large press, the various supporting requirements were precisely what domestic manufacturing could achieve with a little more effort.

It's no wonder that Shen Hong, a bigwig, kept insisting on transferring Xie Wei to the Major Equipment Bureau of the Machinery Industry Commission.

Large-scale equipment!
A vital national asset.

"Director Li, Director Xie, what brings you here?"

Wearing safety helmets, Huang Wenhu and Han Ruijun hurriedly came over to greet the group upon their arrival.

"I had some business to attend to here, and I thought I'd check on the construction progress while I was at it."

Li Rui said.

"Installation can only begin after the overhead crane is installed. The foundation over there has already been laid... and the C-shaped patches for the columns have also been processed."

The workshop was empty, with little equipment in sight. In front of the high-temperature furnace, there were several pits of varying depths and thicknesses, with the amount of concrete poured on them unknown.

"The 6.5-ton press is 13.5 meters underground and 24.5 meters above ground, with a total height of 38 meters. These pits are for installing the underground parts. The work platform will only be slightly higher than the ground for easy operation."

Seeing Xie Wei looking at the different pits, Han Ruijun introduced them to him.

"Calling it a pit is inappropriate. There is maintenance space around that area. Once these pillars are installed, unless there is a major malfunction requiring replacement, they can only be left until they are scrapped..."

Huang Wenhu said with a smile.

Xie Wei nodded.

Installation hasn't started yet; the workshop is very empty, and you can't see anything at all.

Accompanied by several people, Xie Wei followed Li Rui to the machining workshop to see the large parts that had been processed and were being processed.

The 32-meter-long, 220-ton C-shaped patch, laid flat on the ground, looks only long, but it is by no means thin. Its surface is coated with a thick layer of grease for rust prevention.

The main crossbeam being machined on the gantry milling machine looks very solid. To the naked eye, you would never guess that this thing will weigh nearly 700 tons after it is finished!
The huge machining workshop doesn't have many machine tools.

Xie Wei saw the largest gantry planer inside, with a track length of at least 40 meters!
"Is this really something that China, with its supposedly weak industrial base, can manufacture now?"

Xie Wei raised a question.

These heavy equipment pieces all require a very strong foundation in heavy industry and processing capabilities to manufacture.

"The difficulty in manufacturing heavy equipment lies not in achieving machining functions, but in machining precision. Take this modified 40-meter gantry planer for example; when machining from one end to the other, the straightness can only be controlled within 0.5 millimeters. Soviet counterparts could control it within 0.2 millimeters..."

Han Ruijun explained with a pained expression.

"Such a large error? What about the finished product..."

Xie Wei became worried.

It's unlikely that due to insufficient processing precision, the 6.5-ton press will require frequent repairs after its completion.

"No, we used a laser measuring instrument to check, and the straightness of all C-type patches was controlled within 0.1 millimeters."

Xie Wei immediately became curious.

"Artificial!"

Han Ruijun explained, "The four pillars, with a total of 16 patches, took a full 14 months to process. The first patch took 67 days to process due to an unreasonable process. Later, we kept adjusting the process, first roughing all of them and letting them deform naturally. After a few months, we did semi-finishing, and finally used fitters in conjunction with machine tools for finishing. We measured while processing. In order to produce these 16 patches, the factory also transferred 63 level 7 fitters and 27 level 4 fitters from companies such as Dongfang Turbine and First Heavy Industries to do the final scraping."

"Not scrapped?"

Although Xie Wei knew it was very inappropriate to ask this question, he couldn't help but ask it anyway.

He doesn't know much about machining. There was a saying online: "If it's too big, you have to carve it; if it's too small, you have to weld it; if it's too thick, you have to pad it."

Of course, that's not what he meant.

Something this big, bearing the pressure of tens of thousands of tons, definitely cannot be repaired by welding.

"Of course there are! This thing is 32 meters long, and it's easy to cause problems if you're not careful. It's under tremendous pressure and can't be repaired by welding. Even if we find that the pores produced during the casting process are too large, it would still have to be scrapped even in the finishing stage. We used 22 blanks for 16 finished products. If it weren't for the process improvement and the hundreds of senior fitters and dozens of engineers who stayed in the workshop, we probably would have scrapped more than 6 pieces."

At this point, Han Ruijun, Huang Wenhu, and the others all wore expressions of unbearable recollection.

Ultimately, the problem lies in inadequate processing capabilities and technology.

Major equipment is not just a test of design capabilities.

If we're talking about design capabilities, even our neighbor India could probably design a 4-ton press, but as for manufacturing...

"There was almost no experience to draw upon for this production. Much of it was improved upon from the experience of producing 12500-ton free forging and 30000-ton die forging machines more than ten years ago. This will make producing similar large parts much easier in the future. Take this C-type patch, for example; in the later stages, the machining can be controlled within a 17-day production cycle..."

Xie Wei nodded repeatedly as he listened.

His requirement to first develop the supporting infrastructure is exactly what he's doing.
Only through production and manufacturing can one accumulate experience, and then continue to take on more challenging tasks.

Just like the original 8-ton press, once it was designed, manufacturing began.

After its successful manufacture, it is said that a 16-ton press has been designed and will be built immediately if the country needs it.

Before producing the 80000-ton press, China had no experience to draw upon.

The West wouldn't let the Chinese get close to those large presses at all, as if they could immediately acquire the technology just by looking at the Chinese.

"That's right, don't neglect quality issues in order to meet deadlines. This is a crucial piece of national equipment; it's not just needed for aerospace forgings, but also for many other important pieces of equipment!"

After the visit, we also learned about the construction progress of the large press.

The installation will take eight months, followed by another eight months for testing.

"Of course, we'll try to get the schedule ahead of schedule if possible."

Xie Wei addressed the crowd.

"Don't worry, Director Xie, this is a national treasure that can be passed down to future generations! No one dares to underestimate its importance."

Xiao Gang said earnestly.

Such a large press has a service life of over a hundred years.

Xie Wei nodded, "If there are any funding needs, you can ask the school. As long as it's not too excessive, we will support you!"

"We have enough funding now, more than enough! Plus the profits from our own civilian products, it's enough."

The leaders of Erzhong hurriedly stated that they were well aware of the financial pressure faced by Harbin Institute of Technology, and that funds had been tight on them throughout the research and production process, even requiring the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense to extract a considerable amount of money from its slush fund.

"Your double standards are so obvious!"

Li Rui said with dissatisfaction.

He was referring to the higher-ups' desire to expedite the test flight progress of Project 10.

Xie Wei rolled his eyes at him. "Without this, the aircraft's components won't be strong enough. Aren't you afraid it will fall apart in the air?"

"..."

One sentence left Li Rui speechless.

"Director Xie, why don't you have dinner before you leave? There's no rush."

Xiao Gang didn't expect that Xie Wei would even make up for it by having a meal, and then prepare to leave after understanding the situation.

"There will be plenty of opportunities after this meal. Once the large press is completed and put into operation, I'll come over here for a free meal."

Xie Wei said with a smile.

"I will definitely come to pick you up in person when the time comes."

Xiao Gang looked very serious.

They all knew that if it weren't for the insistence of this young man, the 6.5-ton press would have been under construction for who knows when, and might not have even been located at Erzhong.

After the reform and opening up, with the sharp reduction in military production plans, orders for forged products such as heavy artillery are now very few, and the company has difficulty paying the monthly salaries of its 17000 employees.

(End of this chapter)