The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 37 Department Leaders' Visit
Upon hearing this, Bai Shaokang agreed without much hesitation.

He now has great confidence in Zhou Zhiqiang's technical skills and also admires the young man's ability to endure hardship.

When they first met, Bai Shaokang was very polite to Zhou Zhiqiang because he was like that to everyone.

Having spent three months with Zhou Zhiqiang, Bai Shaokang has personally witnessed Zhou Zhiqiang always being at the forefront, arriving earliest and leaving latest on several occasions.

This young man, a college student, is more hardworking than some veteran frontline workers, and he is also very steady and doesn't have a frivolous personality at all.

Therefore, Bai Shaokang unconditionally supports Zhou Zhiqiang on technical matters, and this performance alone is enough to warrant his support.

However, after agreeing, Bai Shaokang subtly reminded Zhou Zhiqiang that it would be best to talk to Zhang Deli about it.

As a technical consultant, you should at least know some technical things.

Even if Bai Shaokang didn't say it, Zhou Zhiqiang still planned to inform Zhang Deli.

After saying that, Zhou Zhiqiang went to the office building of the Second Steel Rolling Mill to borrow a phone and called Zhang Deli.

Zhang Deli originally planned to come over in the afternoon, as he had a class in the morning. However, after hearing that Zhou Zhiqiang was going to refine a new type of alloy steel that could greatly reduce existing costs, he immediately wanted to come to the Second Steel Rolling Mill.

As for the students' classes, let's make them up on Saturdays for now. Both production and teaching are important, but teaching can be made up, while production cannot be delayed.

When Zhang Deli arrived at the steel rolling mill, he also noticed something was wrong at the workshop entrance, but he didn't think much of it, as he had seen places with even stricter security measures before.

"Zhiqiang".

After seeing Zhou Zhiqiang talking to his team members about technical matters in the workshop, Zhang Deli walked over and greeted him.

"Professor Zhang, you've come at the right time. Come and take a look at this."

Zhou Zhiqiang stepped aside to make room for Zhang Deli and continued, "For some time now, I've been secretly thinking about developing a 'middle-tier' alloy steel by focusing on three areas: heat treatment technology, steel structure, and cost optimization."
"This can be used in parts of some important machinery to increase their service life. Professor Zhang, these are the ideas I've been gathering recently. What do you think?"

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Deli said, "Well, it's hard to say. No one can say for sure until the result is out."

However, the heat treatment process technology is now basically reliable, so my opinion is that it's worth a try.

"And Zhiqiang, I heard the test went very smoothly, and our results have given the higher-ups quite a surprise."

Zhang Deli revealed some information, saying he only learned about it from a friend.

When testing the strength, toughness, and other data, the new alloy steel gave them a pleasant surprise, as it can basically meet the needs of all their domestic military weapons.

Moreover, according to the information they gathered, the Russians don't have steel with such good performance either. In the field of alloy steel, they are actually half a step ahead of the Russians.

Because of this, they had many more things to negotiate with the Russians.

However, these are things that the higher-ups worry about; researchers and technicians can't worry about them.

After deeming the new alloy steel feasible, Zhou Zhiqiang arranged for its smelting to begin.

The new smelting process is ready; to smelt another type of alloy steel, only some minor modifications are needed.

Without further ado, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately set to work. As usual, he divided the group into teams and began smelting new alloy steel.

The alloy steel produced this time will mainly be used in general machinery parts. It doesn't need to have top-of-the-line performance; the goal is simply to reduce costs and extend the service life of the machinery. Besides, their project team needs to keep busy; otherwise, waiting for the alloy steel test results every day would be rather pointless, and everyone is receiving subsidies.

------

A jeep slowly drove into the No. 2 steel rolling mill. After being inspected at the gate, it was quickly allowed to enter the mill.

In front of the factory office building, Kang Yongqiang, the Party Secretary of the Second Steel Rolling Mill, Chen Zhipeng, the Factory Director, and Xie, the Deputy Factory Director, were all waiting.

Upon seeing the jeep arrive, Secretary Kang and Factory Director Chen quickly stepped forward.

However, upon seeing that it was Zhao Guangzheng and Liu Fuhua who got out of the car, the men from the Second Steel Rolling Mill immediately snorted in annoyance.

Xie Desheng, who was on good terms with Liu Fuhua, said directly, "Old Liu, if you're going to come, why didn't you come earlier? Coming at around the same time as the leaders, isn't that taking advantage of them?"

They rushed forward to greet them, almost bowing.

Zhao Guangzheng quickly said, "I'm sorry, Secretary Kang, Director Chen, Director Xie, there was a problem with the car before I left. It took half an hour to fix, which caused the delay."

Secretary Kang waved his hand and laughed, "Accidents are beyond human control, this has nothing to do with you, Director Zhao. Let's wait for the leaders together."

"it is good."

After Zhao Guangzheng agreed, he stood on the other side of Kang Yongqiang.

A short while later, two more jeeps arrived at the factory gate. This time, it must be the leaders. Kang Yongqiang and his group went forward to greet them.

After everyone got out of the car, Secretary Kang said with a smile, "Director Han, welcome to our inspection."

The visitor was the director of the Iron and Steel Bureau of the Ministry of Metallurgy, a genuine senior official, two levels higher than Kang Yongqiang, the eleventh-level secretary of a large factory directly under the ministry.

"Secretary Kang, you're too kind. Leader Wang also planned to come, but he was delayed by something today, so I had to come alone."

After shaking hands and greeting everyone, Han Dingguo continued with a smile, "You've done a great job. The research institute in the Northeast has already replied. The alloy steel produced this time can be used for various purposes, such as fighter jets and ships."

This greatly improved the level of our country's heavy industry. By the way, I heard that this was proposed by a technician from Dafeng Machinery Factory? Is he here?

Upon hearing Director Han's words, Zhao Guangzheng and Liu Fuhua immediately straightened their backs and stepped forward with a sense of pride, saying, "Leader, Zhou Zhiqiang is a technician in our factory's technical department and a top student who graduated from the Industrial University."

Secretary Kang Yongqiang chimed in, "Leader, Comrade Zhou isn't here. It's cold outside, so I've asked them to wait for us in the conference room."

"Oh, it seems that the development of our country truly depends on the youth; the leader is right, young people are the sun of our nation."

Director Han said with a smile, "Let's go to the conference room. I came here to tell you some good news, and I also have some tasks to assign you."

Secretary Kang, Director Chen, your factory has a very heavy task ahead.

Now that the performance tests of the new alloy steel have passed without any problems, the next step is to expand production.

The demand for new alloy steel is huge for projects such as fighter jets and ships.

(End of this chapter)