Siheyuan: Taking over the steel mill

The workers were so focused on their work that they didn't notice the factory manager walking by. Su Chen didn't intend to disturb the workers, but continued to walk inside.

Witnessing the thriving scene of the steel mill today, Su Chen was very satisfied. These workers were working diligently and were willing to work overtime even after work just to earn more money.

Outside the factory, there are a large number of unemployed workers who are unable to find jobs, and naturally they also have the problem of having no income to support their livelihoods.

The Red Star Steel Rolling Mill is filled with a flourishing atmosphere, and everyone is working with all their might.

For the workers who work here, it seems as if they live in a different world from those outside. As long as they don’t have to endure hunger, the days of “957” are enough to make them feel satisfied.

In the steel mill, they also have the opportunity to get rich, which makes everyone's enthusiasm for work unprecedentedly high.

Not long ago, technicians claimed that they could develop aircraft independently, and Su Chen supported it at the time. Not knowing the current progress, Su Chen planned to find out.

As soon as Su Chen walked to the door of the workshop, he saw the technicians working hard with their heads down.

Every time I come here, I can see them working very hard, which shows that this group of people have an extraordinary sense of professionalism.

This really surprised Su Chen. After all, people of this era were indeed extremely simple and unpretentious, and they would not slack off even at work.

Those technical experts were full of enthusiasm and vowed to develop their own aircraft. Once they could successfully manufacture an aircraft, the bonus would be unimaginably generous.

Whenever the technical staff think about the bonus, they become even more motivated.

The technicians have been working here for a long time, with almost no time to rest. It can be said that they stay in the factory around the clock.

In order to accomplish the task of building their own aircraft, they worked almost day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep.

Of course, Su Chen didn't want to see them working so hard. If so many outstanding technical talents affected their health due to overwork, where could they find suitable replacements?

So he always asked Assistant Zhang to inform these technicians to rest on time. If they hadn't received Su Chen's order, they would probably still choose to work continuously.

Su Chen was both pleased and a little worried about this: if something went wrong one day because the technicians worked too hard, he would be responsible for the follow-up.

At this moment, they are analyzing the drawn engineering drawings.

Manufacturing an aircraft is often a long process and is not something that can be easily achieved in a short period of time.

The technicians carefully examined the aircraft design drawings and continued to optimize the design.

In order to avoid being disturbed, Su Chen planned to leave quietly. But at the moment of leaving, a small airplane model flew slowly in front of him.

The appearance of this small aircraft is close to that of a fighter jet, and it is like a smaller version of the MiG-23bis.

I don't know which extremely clever worker turned the giant plane into such a small model. When Su Chen saw the plane flying slowly in front of him, he immediately felt a strong sense of curiosity.

His eyes followed it as it rose and then slowly descended.

When Su Chen saw the model spinning in the air like a fighter jet, his eyes lit up and he turned back immediately. A technician was holding a remote control device and operating the model aircraft to make it fly.

The small airplane model almost perfectly replicates the appearance of the real airplane. Except for the difference in size, it is quite close to the real thing in other aspects.

The technical director was controlling the movements of the model aircraft skillfully, while several other technicians were recording relevant data.

They check the data from time to time to ensure accuracy.

“The propellers also need to be improved, otherwise if it is the size of the real aircraft, it will not be able to take off.”

"The power part also needs to be considered, because our current model is relatively small so it can fly; if we use the engine developed in the past, it will definitely not work."

"The data collected so far is roughly in line with our expectations. There are still some areas that need fine-tuning, but there is definitely room for improvement."

Several core technicians are discussing the improvement of this small model aircraft.

They talked quietly, trying not to disturb their colleague who was concentrating on drawing the plan on the other side. Su Chen saw this scene and couldn't help but get excited.

Is this an early mini drone? Something like DJI's future product?

Although Su Chen understood that this speculation was too bold; modern technology was not yet mature enough to enable the practical use of drones; even if they were very similar in form, at this stage they could only be regarded as the results of the prototype stage at best.

But this still cannot reduce Su Chen's inner interest and expectations for this project: If he can solve the design and manufacturing problems of drones at the moment, then he will undoubtedly be more fully prepared and have the opportunity to control future development trends.

With some excitement, Su Chen asked the operator: "What exactly is this thing?"

"This is a prototype," the engineer explained. "We can't make a large-scale version of the aircraft right now, so we came up with an alternative - we built a miniature model in proportion and used the satellite telemetry information shared by the aviation department to test it."

The original intention was naturally to directly manufacture a larger model, but this could not be implemented due to many factors and resource limitations;

So the engineer came up with a new idea and made a small-scale version for testing.

Since there was limited performance difference between the two in terms of actual utility and data acquisition, they decided to start designing and producing the mini aircraft model without reporting to Su Chen.

When seeing Su Chen coming to inquire about the situation, this technical backbone did not show any nervousness at all. After all, Su Chen had given him enough independent decision-making power.

If every change in the research process needs to be reported step by step, it would be difficult to carry out anything. It is based on this consideration that he appears calm when facing consultation from the leadership.

As they explained, the aircraft currently seen is actually just an initial prototype and does not realize the advanced unmanned equipment that Su Chen imagined, and its control range is estimated to be only tens of meters.

But these are just hypothetical assessments.

As expected, the resulting mini-machine is not capable of true drone functionality.

He felt a little disappointed, but soon changed his mind and found a new possibility. Although this small aircraft model does not have the actual functions of a drone, it also provides a clear signal for the future development direction. Su Chen decided to take this opportunity to form a drone research and development team. After handing over the specific development work to his experienced technical personnel, he was confident that he would see substantial breakthroughs. Therefore, despite the technical difficulties, Su Chen did not lose confidence. He knew that overcoming the difficulties of the unmanned driving control system would not be achieved overnight.

Seeing Su Chen's attention, the technician in charge of research and development said excitedly: "We only need to control the flight information collected by this small device and apply it directly to full-size aircraft models. I believe that in a short time, the same method can help us build larger aircraft! Look, Director Su, are you more confident in us?"

After listening, Su Chen praised: "Good idea! Is this idea the result of your own innovation?" He was surprised to find such quick thinking inside the workshop.

He already had someone in mind to start this special laboratory. Once the leader was determined, the subsequent work would be much smoother.

The technician scratched his head and smiled: "There is really no better way. Making some scaled-down versions in experiments is also a learning process. At least it can verify the basic principles."

Su Chen patted him on the shoulder encouragingly: "Excellent work, keep up the momentum! Your spirit and creativity deserve a reward. I will withdraw 100,000 yuan from the Finance Department as a bonus for you."

The technician's eyes immediately sparkled with excitement: "Thank you!" Hearing Su Chen's praise and his communication, his colleagues looked at him with jealousy. You know, before this, they only heard Su Chen say that there would be rewards after making progress, but now they can earn such income just by a test model.

This opportunity is really exciting. However, at this moment, they can do nothing but envy, especially when the technicians operating the model learn about such generous rewards.

In fact, what he made was just a prototype, far from the pinnacle of technology. But he received such a big award, which filled him with joy and strengthened his motivation to move forward. If he could further contribute ideas and solutions, he believed that he would get more recognition and support, and such expectations drove him to immediately devote himself to new research and development.

Su Chen didn't pay much attention to the complicated mentality of the people around him, and announced to the rest of the people generously: "Each of you will receive a special subsidy of 10,000 yuan."

The other members also hurriedly expressed their gratitude to him: "Thank you very much for the reward, Director!" They also benefited unexpectedly from this experimental auxiliary task, and everyone was filled with joy.

Seeing the high morale, he said to everyone: "In the future, we will set up a project department dedicated to drone manufacturing, and it will be led by the friend who just came up with the idea."

When he announced the appointment of this technician, they all showed excitement on their faces. The reason why they were able to conceive of trying to start with the model was based on their usual love for this kind of toys.

Now they can complete their work tasks and satisfy their personal hobbies at the same time, which can be said to be the best of both worlds. The technical backbone of the team leader quickly stated: "We will definitely complete the task!"

Several other technical backbones who developed the aircraft model with him were also very excited.

In fact, they had long wanted to improve the model, but due to limited time and technical conditions, they had not been able to do so.

Now that Su Chen has released them, they can devote themselves to the development of small aircraft instead of those large aircraft.

In this way, these technical backbones not only have the time and opportunity to realize their wishes, but also get the motivation to complete the task. They were particularly excited after receiving Su Chen's task.