Second-class pressure vessel

  As the two Liberation-brand large trucks loaded with honey tangerines slowly entered the Hua Factory, Lin Zhenhua became an overnight sensation and the subject of heated discussion among all the men, women, old and young in the factory. The people who had the best impression of Lin Zhenhua were the children in the factory, each of whom held a ping-pong ball-sized honey tangerine from Fengnan in their hands, savoring every bite while idolizing that Little Hua who used to only know how to fight but was now able to exchange a drawing for eight tons of tangerines for the whole factory.

  "Xiao Hua has made a name for himself, this is Old Lin and his wife taking care of him from above." This was the comment from those old workers who were friends with Lin Zhenhua's parents back in the day.

  "Look at Xiaohua, he's really made something of himself. What about you? All you know how to do is play cards every day." This is a common phrase often heard in families with young people who are not working.

  "Study hard and even if you can't get into college, it's okay to make inventions like Xiaohua." This is the advice from parents whose children are still in elementary or middle school.

  "Xiao Hua seems to still be single, our family's Xiao Hua..." This is the imagination of those people who dream of becoming Lin Zhenhua's parents-in-law.

  "Xiao Hua has changed a lot after serving in the army for several years. I even borrowed his eraser when we sat at the same desk back then..." This is what the lovely young girls are thinking.

  "Comrade Lin Zhenhua has a very comprehensive technical skillset. According to Director Luo of the Machining Department, he is extremely familiar with both machining and milling, at least equivalent to a level 3 worker or above. Moreover, his drawings have been reviewed by colleagues in the Technical Department, who believe they meet professional drafting standards. Therefore, I think it's a waste of talent to keep Lin Zhenhua as a porter, and he should be transferred to a different position." This was the speech given by Zhu Tiejun, the deputy factory director in charge of production, at a meeting held in the conference room of the factory department, attended by all the factory leaders.

  "Lao Liang, what's your opinion?" Factory Director Chen Weiguo pointed at Liang Guangping and said.

  Liang Guangping is in charge of personnel work, and the problem of job assignment is within his scope of work. When Zhu Tiejun was speaking, he had been admiring a glass travel cup in his hand, which was also wrapped with a nylon mesh sleeve, so it could prevent slipping and scalding. This kind of cup is very popular nowadays, Liang Guangping has several at home, all given to him by workers from the factory under different pretexts.

  When Chen Weiguo called out his name, Liang Guangping put down his cup, cleared his throat and said: "The situation Old Zhu mentioned, I don't understand very well, it's a bit bureaucratic. Comrade Lin Zhenhua, maybe Old Zhu doesn't know him too well, but the other factory leaders should be more familiar with him. He was originally a young man from the factory, just back from serving in the army. Before he enlisted, he was quite mischievous, almost like the juvenile delinquents you read about in the newspapers. His junior high school graduation certificate was even obtained through private connections by Old Su of the security department, which shows that his cultural level is very low. Given this situation, I arranged for him to work as a porter in the metalworking workshop at the time, hoping that he could learn some cultural knowledge during his time as a porter, and if it was effective, we could adjust his job assignment later. I made this clear to him at the time, and he agreed."

  "Old Liang, that's all in the past." Zhu Tiejun said, he could naturally guess that Liang Guangping arranged for Lin Zhenhua to be a porter because Lin Zhenhua didn't give him gifts. Whoever didn't give Liang Guangping gifts almost never got good jobs, this was an open secret in the factory. However, Zhu Tiejun didn't want to conflict with Liang Guangping over this issue, he only wanted to protect Lin Zhenhua: "Old Liang, now it seems that Comrade Lin has made great progress after serving in the army for two years, not only is his technique very comprehensive, but he also does things very appropriately. This time when the factory sent him to Fengnan Machinery Factory to guide and arrange the gear grinder, the other party's evaluation of him was extremely good."

  "Chairman Mao said that the army is a university. A mischievous kid like Xiaohua, after staying in the troops for two years, has also become sensible." Secretary Zhou Shicheng said, "A prodigal son who returns is worth more than gold, since Xiaohua has changed for the better, we should give him an opportunity, shouldn't we?"

  Liang Guangping would not conflict with his colleagues for a small Lin Zhenhua, the words he said earlier were just to prove that he was not wrong. Hearing that the factory director and secretary were inclined to promote Lin Zhenhua, he naturally went along with it: "This is no problem, his job can be changed, specifically what job to change to, let's ask Old Luo to arrange it later, after all, he is the head of the gold processing workshop. However, even if Lin Zhenhua changes to a technical job, he can only start from apprentice level, this ranking has regulations, not enough work experience, cannot be promoted."

  "This rule is too rigid." Zhu Tiejun said with a hum, he knew he was powerless to challenge the rules. Promoting workers means raising wages, and the state controls this aspect very strictly. You have skills but it's not possible if you don't meet the age limit.

  "Alright, let's just leave it at that." Chen Weiguo said, "Old Zhu, you mentioned the second-class pressure vessel last time. What were your thoughts on it? Take this opportunity to share with everyone as well."

  "This matter, I have considered it for a long time. Our factory's predecessor was a chemical equipment installation company, and later slowly formed the ability to manufacture equipment. But so far, we only have one type of pressure vessel production license, while Petrochemical Machinery already has three types of licenses. Now our container workshop is under-tasked, and many workers are idle with nothing to do. I heard that some people now sleep in the workshop during the day and go to work for private enterprises at night to make money. But Petrochemical Machinery is now overwhelmed with tasks and wants to assign some to us, but we can't handle it. So, I think we should find a way to get the license for the second-class pressure vessel."

  A pressure vessel is a closed device that holds gases or liquids and carries certain pressures, including storage tanks, reaction vessels, heat exchangers and separation vessels. According to the working pressure of the pressure vessel, the hazard of the medium and its role in production, the pressure vessel can be divided into three categories, with the third category being the highest requirement and the first category being the lowest requirement. Currently, Hanhua Machinery Factory can only meet the standards for producing first-class pressure vessels.

  As for the petrochemical machinery mentioned by Zhu Tiejun, it is a large enterprise in Jiangnan Province, with its full name being Jiangnan Petrochemical Machinery Factory. It has several thousand employees and its production capacity and technical level are far superior to those of Hanhua Machinery Factory. It holds a Class III pressure vessel manufacturing and design license, which is the only one of its kind in the entire province. When the factory director of Petrochemical Machinery goes to the Provincial Light Industry Bureau for meetings, he sits on an equal footing with the leaders of the bureau.

  Vice factory director Jiang Manqing, who is in charge of logistics work, sighed and said: "The situation that Old Zhu mentioned, I also understand. If we can get the permit for second-class containers, then our tasks will be at least twice as much as now. Moreover, there are fewer enterprises producing second-class containers, and the profit is much higher than that of first-class containers. The chemical machinery just sells a big tank for tens of millions of yuan in profit, which is equivalent to the annual profit of our production of three machines and one pump."

  The term "three machines and one pump" originally referred to the most commonly used diesel engines, tractors, electric motors, and water pumps in agriculture. Later, various industries extended their own "three machines and one pump". Jiang Manqing's "three machines and one pump" here refers to several main products of Hanhua Machinery Factory, namely air compressors, ice machines, centrifuges and centrifugal pumps, which are common equipment in the chemical industry.

  The leaders of the Hanhua factory, none of them are completely outsiders to industry. Chen Weiguo frowned and said: "Lao Zhu's idea, actually we discussed it in previous years, but to produce Class II pressure vessels, there are many requirements, I'm afraid we can't meet them for the time being."

  Zhu Tiejun said: "Regarding this issue, I have discussed with the technical department and colleagues in the container workshop many times. The state has some qualification requirements for the production and manufacture of Class II pressure vessels, and we have compared them one by one, most of which can be met. Now there is only one problem left, that is, automatic submerged arc welding. The automatic submerged arc welding machine of Petrochemical Machinery is imported from Japan. We used to report to the Light Industry Bureau and apply for importing one for us, but the Light Industry Bureau has not approved it, so this issue has been dragging on."

  Chen Weiguo said: "I know about this matter now, what method do you have to solve it?"

  Zhu Tiejun said, "I was inspired by Xiao Lin's design of the rolling gear machine. I thought that since the Light Industry Department did not agree to let us import submerged arc welding machines, could we develop one ourselves?"

  "Developed it ourselves?" Jiang Manqing's eyes widened, "How could we possibly develop such advanced equipment?"

  Zhu Tiejun smiled slightly: "I originally thought that buried arc welding was very complicated, but one day in the metalworking shop, I talked to Xiao Lin about it, and he said that the principle of this thing is actually very simple, so he can design it."

  "Isn't that a bit too much?" Liang Guangping put down his beloved travel mug and said disdainfully, "He did design a gear reducer, but didn't he himself say that it was just something he saw somewhere else and copied? Did he also see buried arc welding?"

  Zhu Tiejun nodded: "I don't know what's going on in this kid's head either, anyway, within two days, he handed me a set of drawings. I had Old Fan from the technical department take a look and he thought they seemed correct."

  Lao Fan is the head of the technical department, Fan Shibin, a university student in the 1950s, and can be considered a technical authority at Hanhua Machinery Factory. The things he recognizes should still make some sense.

  "This Xiao Lin, has he gone to be a soldier or attend university these two years?" Party Secretary Zou Shicheng muttered, "I heard that he even participated in the self-defense counterattack war, how did he have so much time to learn these perverse and evil skills?"

  Chen Weiguo chuckled and said, "Old Zou, what Xiao Lin has learned is not some kind of evil technique. No matter how he learned it, since Old Fan also thinks it's feasible, let's give it a try. So, Old Zhu will be in charge of this task, and the Container Workshop and Technical Department will send capable personnel to form a technical research team to tackle this buried arc welding issue. Xiao Lin will join this team. If his drawings are correct, that would be best. If not, we have other people too, and they're not just eating free meals."

  "Let's get Hu Yang from the sand-washing car department to join in as well." Jiang Manqing interjected, "I've heard that he has his own set of techniques too."