Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

Yellow River Factory, staff quarters.

Zhao Shuren rushed back home with his apprentice Pan San. He pushed open the door and immediately called out, "Xiumei, what happened at home?"

"Nothing happened at home, but something happened at the factory!"

"If something happens in the factory, it's the leaders who have it to do with us ordinary workers."

Zhao Shuren had initially thought that something had happened to one of the elderly people in his family, but he was relieved to find out that it was an accident at the factory.

"I don't understand either, anyway, when the boss talks to you, he talks about chickens."

"Steering gear?"

"It seems to be this. They also said there was a major accident..."

Zhao Shuren's expression changed immediately. He turned around, left his house, and rode his 28-inch bicycle towards the factory.

"Master, I have something to do at home, I'll head back now!"

Pan Sanyan realized the seriousness of the accident and immediately decided to stay out of it.

When the country initially introduced Steyr technology, it was a complete set, but it was distributed to different domestic companies. Weifang Diesel Engine Factory manufactured engines, Shaanxi Gear Factory manufactured gearboxes, and three factories, including Huanghe Factory, were responsible for final assembly. Some parts were supplied by relevant domestic units.

However, at the same time, there are some parts that cannot be produced domestically and need to be purchased.

For example, the steering gear.

The driver can steer the front wheels by turning the steering wheel; this is thanks to the steering gear.

The larger the wheels and the heavier the car, the more advanced the steering mechanism is required.

Previously, the heavy trucks produced all used imported ZF steering gears. The Yellow River Plant did not want to see this part of the profits eaten up by foreigners, so it wanted to solve the problem itself.

They gathered a group of experienced workers and made a steering gear suitable for heavy trucks. They installed it on experimental vehicles and tested it repeatedly without finding any faults. So they assembled a batch of vehicles and sold them to a transportation company in the provincial capital.

But who could have imagined that something bad would happen just three months later!

If the steering gear malfunctions, the car will be unable to turn, which is a major malfunction second only to brake failure and can easily lead to a fatal accident!

When Zhao Shuren arrived at the workshop, he saw the Steyr truck that had been involved in the accident.

The Steyr was tall and imposing, with a angular cab, high axles, thick tires, and a powerful engine, making it one of the largest vehicles on the road today.

However, the cab of the vehicle in front of us was twisted and deformed, obviously having been in multiple collisions. The glass was shattered long ago, and blackened, congealed blood could still be seen on it.

The front axle fell off, and the car looked like it had suddenly tumbled and hit its chin. The rear was still intact, but...

The driver is probably gone by now.

A group of experienced workers from the Yellow River Factory were dismantling a vehicle.

When Zhao Shuren arrived, Yuan Limin, the head of the technical department, immediately called out, "Old Zhao, you've finally arrived! What have you been up to?"

"Going back to my hometown... what happened to the car?"

"The car was driving on a mountain road at the time. We originally intended to turn right, but the driver suddenly couldn't turn the steering wheel. The apprentice in the car jumped out. According to the apprentice, the steering gear was stuck."

"How is that possible? How could the steering gear get stuck!"

Zhao Shuren said, "We've tested it tens of thousands of times, and the steering gear is still working perfectly."

"It's open! It's open!"

Just then, veteran mechanic Luo Minggang shouted as he opened the steering gear housing.

Wow!

A large pile of metal shavings fell down, which an experienced craftsman could recognize at a glance.

"The worm gear teeth broke?"

Heavy trucks use a worm gear crank type steering gear. When the steering wheel is turned, it drives the worm to rotate, and the pin that meshes with it will move along an arc around the crank shaft axis, driving the gear shank to rotate.

This will allow the front wheels to steer.

Now, the upper teeth are broken, and debris is everywhere, so the steering wheel definitely won't turn!

“This gear broke. Was there a problem with the heat treatment during manufacturing?” Yuan Limin asked.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Our heat treatment technology is the best in the country, there's definitely no problem!" Zhao Shuren shook his head repeatedly.

"This might just be an isolated case!"

"After this accident, the transportation company inspected the other vehicles they purchased, and all of them had cracks in the steering gear, some of which had broken off pieces, but none were as serious as this one."

Yuan Limin said, "They gave us the car and asked us to disassemble it ourselves, just so we could see it for ourselves."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. There's nothing wrong with our process: annealing, normalizing, quenching, tempering, heat treatment..."

Zhao Shuren said, "If there were any problems, why didn't we encounter any during our test drives?"

“When we were testing the vehicle, it was only loaded with 20 tons of cargo, but when they were transporting it, it was loaded with 80 tons.”

"What? Eighty tons? That's far beyond the vehicle's limits!"

Zhao Shuren instantly gained confidence, "This isn't our fault! It's their misuse!"

"However, under the same conditions, they had no problems using imported ZF steering gears."

Yuan Limin said, "Now they are demanding that we replace all the steering gears on their cars free of charge, and also compensate them with a new car."

Everyone was silent.

Yuan Limin sighed: "Now that we've taken it apart and checked, it is indeed our problem. Let's do as they say."

"Moreover, it's not just transportation companies; other customers who bought our vehicles also have to switch."

"If such an accident happens again, and it results in injury or death to the driver, we..."

There are no recall regulations in this era, so they can turn a blind eye. But if serious accidents keep happening, their reputation will be ruined!

There are three factories in the whole country that manufacture Steyr!

As we entered the 1990s, competition became increasingly fierce.

"No, we've sold over two thousand vehicles in total. If we replace all of them with ZF steering gears for free, it will be a huge expense for our factory..."

Imported goods are expensive. One set of steering gear costs more than 5,000 RMB, while manufacturing one ourselves wouldn't even cost 1,000! More than 2,000 sets means it will cost an extra 10 million!

Even for a large factory like the Yellow River Plant, this is a huge loss!

Putting everything else aside, they can forget about getting any bonuses for at least six months!

"What can we do if what we manufacture ourselves can't meet the needs of our customers?" Yuan Limin stared at the pool of blood that had turned black. "Are we just going to let these bloody lessons keep happening? That's a crime!"

"Yes, if only we had advanced heat treatment technology!" Luo Minggang exclaimed.

At that moment, Zhao Shuren suddenly thought of Qin Chuan, and of this amazing young man.

Laiyang Steel Plant wasn't well-known, and the young man was barely out of school, but he demonstrated advanced heat treatment technology.

Zhao Shuren was certain that there was no other master craftsman in the country with the same skills!

Why don't we invite him over and give it a try?

"Section Chief Yuan, I know a young man who has an exceptional skill in heat treatment. Why don't we invite him over to give it a try?"