industrial overlord

Chapter 499 Fifteen Thousand Tons of Free Forging

Industry is a system, and the so-called cutting-edge technology refers to the technology built on the top of this system.To engage in cutting-edge technology, one must first build up the underlying foundation layer by layer, without any link in the middle.

For the manufacture of gas turbines, there are two difficulties, one is design, and the other is materials.

The design needs theoretical support, the accumulation of practical experience, and a large amount of experimental data for repeated verification. It is also very difficult to say.But there is also a shortcut to design, that is to learn from other people's experience. The simplest way is to buy a prototype from someone else, disassemble it and measure it part by part, and then form a drawing according to the gourd's drawing, and then Go to the factory to make it.

This practice is called reverse engineering, or reverse engineering.In the early years, our country had no awareness of intellectual property rights, and this kind of reverse engineering was very common.What we call "the first time X was made", most of the time there is a shadow of reverse engineering behind it.

According to rumors, after a certain type of aircraft in our country was manufactured, a Boeing boss was specially invited to visit it.After the boss boarded the plane, he said: "It is obvious that it is not a copy of Boeing."Afterwards, many people felt very honorable about this conclusion, and repeatedly cited it as evidence that this aircraft did not copy Boeing.It's a bit like a family gave birth to a baby, and the neighbor's man ran over and said, "Look, this baby's nose is obviously not like mine." Can the man of this family use this sentence to show off his ability?

After the reform and opening up, we are going to the international market, and it is not appropriate to engage in such blatant copycats. However, in some product designs, it is still very common to obtain inspiration by imitating other people's products.

The design can be faked, but it is difficult to copy the material.Many Chinese products seem to be similar to foreign products, but they are not as good as foreign similar products in terms of performance and service life, largely due to the lack of materials.

The production of materials is divided into several aspects, one is the material formula, the other is the material production process, and the third is the heat treatment process.For example, in order to make metal materials have high fracture toughness, they often need to be forged under a large forging machine.The main girders and landing gear of large foreign aircraft are all forged by large die forging machines. The materials formed in this way can withstand tens of thousands of twists without breaking.

It is said that the landing gear of Airbus's newly launched 380 aircraft was specially brought to Russia for forging, because only Russia has 7.5 tons of die forging machines in the world, and the pressure of die forging machines in the United States is only 4.5 tons.Until the first 21 years of the 10st century, the die forging machine with the largest tonnage in our country was only 3 tons, which greatly hindered the development of my country's large aircraft industry.

It can be seen that to develop a large aircraft, you must at least have a large die forging machine first, and the construction of a large die forging machine involves a series of technical and economic issues.In this way, going back layer by layer, a huge industrial system can be deduced.Some people once fantasized about bringing back the black technology of the 30th century and returning to a powerful country. In fact, this is just a novelist’s ideal. Without hundreds of years of industrial accumulation, even if you are given the blueprint of the 30th century, you cannot create the same performance machine.

After more than ten years of development, Hanhua Heavy Industry is now finally facing the need for technological upgrading. The construction of large forging machines has become more and more urgent on the agenda of the group executives.

"Our chemical equipment company is jointly developing coal liquefaction technology with our brothers. One of the key components is the high-pressure reactor. The required strength cannot be achieved by traditional welding and forming methods. At present, the methods of manufacturing such ultra-high pressure vessels abroad are They are all formed by forging and pressing. We believe that large-scale forging and forming technology will become the main bottleneck for our chemical equipment to improve product quality in the future." Fang Yanwu interjected.

Ma Shengfan also spoke: "Our machine tool company currently has a 6000-ton free forging machine. The forging pressure is barely enough, but the spacing between the columns is too small to produce large forgings. Therefore, I support the group to build a large free forging machine , The spacing between the columns must be at least 7 meters."

Hu Guidao: "I have checked some information. At present, the country has invested a lot in the equipment manufacturing industry, and the research and development of heavy equipment has been continuously strengthened. I predict that the demand for large forgings will explode. For example, the demand for large hydropower and thermal power units. The rotor must be formed by a large open-ended forging machine. At present, there are only three large open-ended forging machines with a capacity of more than 3 tons in China, and they were all built before the 70s. The technology is backward. If we can take the lead in building a new [-]-ton The above free forging machines, just to undertake foreign forging business, are enough to recover the investment."

Everyone started talking to Lin Zhenhua about the necessity of building a large forging machine.According to everyone's ideas, Hanhua Heavy Industry needs to build two large forging machines, including a free forging machine with more than 1 tons and a die forging machine with more than 5 tons.With these two forging machines, Hanhua Heavy Industry's manufacturing capacity will be able to leap several steps in succession.

After listening to everyone's words, Lin Zhenhua chuckled and said, "You guys have already colluded and just waited for me to come back to express your opinion?"

Xiang Zhe also smiled and said: "Zhenhua can say so. You are the head of the group, and you must be the one to decide on such a big event, but you are rarely at home all year round. We have to discuss things first and wait for you Come back and report together."

"I don't seem to be going out to visit the mountains and rivers, right?" Lin Zhenhua called Qu. Contribution to the company, right?"

Xiang Zhe said: "We don't mean to criticize Mr. Lin. We hope that the more cooperation intentions like this, the better. However, when Mr. Lin is happy outside, shouldn't he also get in touch with his family more to learn about the company? The business situation of the company, so as not to be blinded by the company's current situation?"

"By the way, when it comes to this, I think of one thing." Lin Zhenhua said, "Our company should also establish an information network system. The future era must be an era of the Internet. We transmit information by telephone and fax. approach is outdated.”

The matter of going online has been in Lin Zhenhua's mind for more than ten years.When I just traveled here, Lin Zhenhua was really afraid of the days without the Internet.After more than ten years, Lin Zhenhua has adapted to the lifestyle of this era, but he misses the convenience of networked life all the time.Nowadays, the Internet has entered China. Although the popularity is still very low, Lin Zhenhua can't help but let Hanhua go online.

Xiang Zhe said: "Xu Wei has already been doing this. The company has introduced a set of Notes office system from Lotus Company, and it is only being tested at the Xunyang headquarters. Xu Wei made a report and suggested that the system be connected to On the Internet, it is possible to share information among branches across the country and even around the world. I am currently asking him to conduct an experiment.”

Lin Zhenhua said: "Internet access should be treated as a major event. China's current level of Internet development is still very low, but I estimate that within five years, the Internet will enter thousands of households. Enterprise informatization is an inevitable Trends, we should have a senior executive responsible for this."

Xiang Zhe and Hu Wei met each other's eyes with a smile, and then said: "It turns out that Zhenhua also has this idea, which coincides with what I communicated with Lao Hu in private a few days ago. We also think that Hanhua's The pace of informatization construction needs to be accelerated, I would like to nominate Xu Wei as the information director of the group, what do you think of Zhenhua?"

Xu Wei was one of the overseas returnees introduced at the same time as Xiang Zhe, Hu Wei and others. He graduated from Oklahoma State University and majored in industrial software.Over the years, he has been engaged in the company's internal software development and management work, and now he is also a middle-level cadre.If the group wants to set up an executive in charge of informatization, Xu Wei is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.

Lin Zhenhua nodded: "I agree with this proposal. Xu Wei is indeed a good choice for the candidate of the information director, but everyone should check it out again to see if there are other candidates. Let's discuss it in a few days. Hu Gui, you continue to talk about free forging."

"Well, yes." Hu Gui replied, looking at his notebook, and continued: "As for the large free forging machine, we currently have three plans, namely 1.1 tons, 1.25 tons and 1.5 tons. There are prototypes for the first two levels of forging machines in China, and it is not difficult to imitate them. At present, there are no forging machines of 1.5 tons in the world. If we want to build them, there will be a lot of technical difficulties.”

"Someone has to do it first, and it's time for the Chinese to lead the world trend." Lin Zhenhua said softly.

Lin Zhenhua majored in mechanics in his previous life, so he has some understanding of the development history of large forging presses.The earliest 19-ton free forging press in the world can be traced back to the 20th century. After entering the 60th century, various industrial powers have built their own 3-ton free forging press, including three [-]-ton hydraulic presses built in China in the [-]s. .

By the end of the 20th century, the tonnage of the world's largest hydraulic presses and hydraulic presses was 1.4 tons, mainly concentrated in Japan and South Korea.The old industrial countries such as the United States, Britain, Germany, and Italy, due to the declining manufacturing industry, gradually reduced the demand for large-scale forgings. More than a dozen large-scale casting and forging factories have been closed, and more than a dozen forging machines with a capacity of more than 6000 tons have been dismantled. The construction of forging machines is at a standstill.

On the contrary, China has gradually become the center of world industry, large-scale complete sets of equipment emerge in endlessly, and the demand for large-scale forgings is increasing day by day. In the first 21 years of the 10st century, China built 5 sets of free forging machines with a capacity of more than 1.5 tons, including the 1.6-ton hydraulic press of Yizhong, the 1.65-ton hydraulic press of Erzhong, the 1.85-ton hydraulic press of Shanghai Electric, and the [-]-ton hydraulic press of CITIC Heavy Industry The tonnage of the hydraulic press exceeds the tonnage of the largest free forging machine abroad.

What Lin Zhenhua has to do now is to advance this process by 10 years. In his eyes, a 1.5-ton free forging machine is not a problem at all.

　This chapter and the next few chapters will refer to some real-world materials.Book friends who are interested in heavy industry can go to Baidu for two reportages: "Giant Lifting the Sky - The Birth of the 15000-ton Hydraulic Press of China First Heavy Machinery Group Corporation", "Carrying the Tripod - China Erzhong Building the World's Largest Hydraulic Press" , It does seem to make people feel like their blood is rushing.I will gradually write some of these stories into this book.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)