Welding a brighter future: Engineer strives for more innovation in science and technology
Editor's note:
More than 70 Shanghai delegates will travel to Beijing to attend the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opens on October 16. Before departure, they talked about what they expect to deliver to the congress, which will set the tune of the Party's work and guide the country's journey over the next five years.
Zou Fengheng inspects the new loader at the Lonking (Shanghai) Machinery Co.
Becoming a scientific and technological powerhouse is one of the most important developing directions in China.
And it is also a dream of Zou Fengheng, one of the Shanghai delegates who will attend the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month.
As the general dispatch director of Lonking (Shanghai) Machinery Co, the 46-year-old focuses on the G60 High-tech Corridor, a high-tech industry incubation area that connects the nine cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the cultivation of scientific and technological professionals.
He will bring his experiences and suggestions to the national congress for the development of China's sciences and technologies over the next five years.
Zou checks the welding.
If you are in Lonking, you may hear the legend of "Bucket King" – Zou can build the buckets immediately after he sees the new blueprints of the loaders.
"When I was new to the firm in 2001, I have already heard of him although he didn't know me," said Huang Youcheng, general manager of Lonking (Shanghai) Machinery Co.
The skill of welding and the understanding of equipment cannot be learned overnight.
Zou was a welder with only a high school education when he joined the company in his hometown, Fujian Province, 23 years ago. In 2000, he became one of the first batch of employees in the Shanghai base of Lonking.
At that time, his salary was only 1,000 yuan (US$140.3) a month. Although his friend persuaded Zou to work with him on the construction site in Shenzhen City, not far from his home, with a monthly salary of 3,000 to 6,000 yuan, he resolutely refused.
"If I worked for the company, I could learn the skills and technologies," Zou said. "They are the solid basis of my work."
Zou instructs his apprentice to use a robot for welding.
During the apprenticeship, he only took three months to master basic welding skills, half the time of other people. After laying a good welding foundation, he started to innovate to breakthrough the technology at that time.
A 1.2-meter beam, one of the main parts of the loaders, welded by his colleagues had two or three connection parts, which would harm the strength and aesthetics of the loader. So, he spent his free time thinking about solutions.
It was summer. Zou held the beam and the welding tools while doing mabu, or "horse stance" in the workshop. He needed to hold this position for 20 minutes to weld the beam.
"I could not move even if sweat flowed into my eyes or mosquitoes flew around me," Zou recalled. "Some small air holes are likely to be the cause of weldment fracture."
After two to three months, finally, his beam was welded without any connections. And in the following 15 years, his technical breakthroughs help the warranty time for the welding part increase from 2,600 hours to 5,000 hours.
Since 2019, he has nurtured 123 intermediate welders, 64 senior welders and 24 technicians.
In 2010, to keep up with the speed of urban development and learn new knowledge and skills, Zou spent six years on further education and advanced study during the night on weekdays and the day of weekends. Now he has a degree in engineering from the Shanghai University of Engineering Science.
"Love whatever job one takes up because if you love your work, you will not only do it well, you will enjoy it," Zou said.
