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For the lofty and brilliant moment
“Look, that’s our product!” “This is also ours!” “Mighty! Spectacular!”... In the grand military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as formations solemnly marching across the Tiananmen Square in order and being reviewed by the Party and state were broadcast live, the cadres and workers of CASIC sitting around the TV and watching the military parade found it hard to hold back their excitement.
This lofty and brilliant moment is the result of painstaking efforts made by and the devotion to national defense construction of the support personnel at all levels of CASIC.
Fulfill the mission
After receiving the task of protecting the products for the military parade, relevant leaders clearly specified on a themed meeting, “with a lofty mission and heavy responsibilities, we should bravely shoulder our responsibilities, fulfill our mission and again deliver a satisfactory result to the Party and state with actual actions ...”
All procedures including disassembling of product components, production of new components, replacement of key components, product assembling, spraying of protective coatings and general one-by-one inspection were strictly based on the general arrangement and requirements of the superiors. After the tasks were detailed and broken down reasonably, they are implemented layer by layer and item by item based on back scheduling. Staff at the frontline volunteered to work overtime both day and night to keep up the pace; the support personnel closely followed all procedures and efficiently solved all problems such as those regarding product quality and production progress; leaders worked on site and gave commands at the frontline; all functional departments assumed their own responsibilities and worked together efficiently; the work progress was reported once every day; evaluation was made by hour for important links. All this was for the glory at this historical moment.
Guard against all risks
“Pay attention to product details and strictly control product quality to guard against all risks.” This was the requirement for the products to be displayed in the military parade.
“Before the components are disassembled, all screws shall be marked one by one to ensure the assembling quality afterwards.” The team leader emphasized before product disassembling, “Shoot again from this angle to ensure the interior of the casting is flawless.” During the inspection of product accessories, the inspector never missed the slightest doubt, was meticulous about every detail and strictly controlled quality.
How to ensure product coating quality during coating outdoors when the temperature cannot meet the coating requirements? The extremely challenging work of product coating was finally finished by adjusting the coating viscosity, identifying the coating thickness each time, selecting the proper time period for operation every day and increasing the self-checking frequency.
During the work related to safeguarding of products for the military parade, everyone was extremely careful and prudent in the whole product manufacturing process, and self-inspection and special inspection were combined to strictly control the quality of each procedure, thus guarding the products against all risks.
Product first
All members participating in the support task reached a consensus on “product first”.
“Hurry, protect the products!” While calling his college, Mr. Luo grabbed the tarpaulins and ran to the products. On the product assembling site not sheltered, a heavy rain arrived unexpectedly. To protect the products from being damaged by the rain, the four workers responsible for assembling quickly covered the products with tarpaulins, leaving themselves wet like a drowned rat. “Luckily, the products are not ruined by the rain.” “We are doing this to follow the example of officers and soldiers drilling in the rain.” They said, joking.
The live coverage of the historical moment of products being reviewed while passing the Tiananmen Square will remain in the memory of many people and encourage them to overcome difficulties, forge ahead and write new chapters in the development and manufacturing of subsequent product models.
Pool all resources to fulfill the mission
“I undertake to resolutely accomplish the task assigned to me by the Party organization...”, solemnly vowed Mr. Zheng in charge of production dispatching when receiving the pennant from the Secretary for the commando of Party members. This marked the beginning of the work of CASIC to deliver high-quality equipment and accomplish the tasks for the military parade.
Build the “super brain”
Faced with a tight schedule, a heavy workload and limited manpower, the support team responded quickly through concerted efforts to fight the “hard battle”.
A leadership team was built for the military parade task to plan, coordinate and safeguard all resources, and elites were transferred to form specialized teams such as expert teams and technical quality teams so as to fully guarantee accomplishment of the production task. The production management departments took a lead in processing the tasks, breaking down the targets and back scheduling; carried out in-depth analysis on existing difficulties and risks; prepared a careful, feasible and detailed production plan.
Looking back on that special period when we were required to be on call at any time, Mr. Tong, Deputy Director of the Production Division said firmly, “The key to the final victory was the confidence to secure a victory and the implementation of solid and rapid actions.”
Excite the “peripheral nerve” of production
If the production process is considered as a huge system, the general assembling and testing are the utmost end link of the process and the “backwall” for on-time delivery of the products.
To ensure the production tasks to proceed, the leaders led at the frontline and all departments cooperated with each other to fight the “battle for node protection”. The leaders on the production line detailed and assigned the tasks to each person on each post by hour every day, and took turns to work on shift with workers every night; the dispatching system closely tracked the production site to identify, coordinate and solve in real time key factors affecting the progress so as to ensure a continued pace of production; the technicians reasonably optimized the production process, paralleling and simplifying all procedures to the greatest extent; designers provided technical support on site, conducted timely research and analysis and put forward solutions...
“The most unforgettable part is testing. To save time and resources to the greatest extent, we made adjustment and carried out the test by paralleling several vehicles and prepared a plan for test by stage and period so as to fight continuously, raising the efficiency by above 4 times. To save time, the test support personnel munches on bread when they became hungry and drank bottled mineral water when they became thirsty. They never felt tired.” As recalled by the Deputy Director in charge of production line holes, “there was no such thing as daytime and night, or holidays during that period.” In the daytime, the perpetual noise of pneumatic drills and riveters working was heard in the plant building; at night, the power building was brightly lit with buzzing and ticking sound penetrating the whole plant area.
Establish an “immune system” for production
Walking into the production lines running at high speeds, the most striking was the product record book hung in front of each launch vehicle. On the record book, specific details about the production and commissioning links of each vehicle were recorded and each procedure and test finished were confirmed by the operator by signing. This not only guaranteed the traceability of the production process, but also improved the responsibility system, specified the responsible person for each type of work and prevented the occurrence of quality problems.
“Quality is the life of products and must be assured no matter how tight the schedule is.” This was a consensus reached by every one. In terms of quality management, operators and inspectors tracked and checked quality in the whole production process. It was required that the personnel for the previous procedure should be responsible for the following one and the personnel for the following procedure should control quality of the previous one; precautions should be taken before a problem occurred; once a problem occurred, an alarm should be given immediately; all procedures should be checked one by one and never let go of any potential quality hazards; no quality problems should be left unsolved over night; all procedures should be closely linked to strictly control the quality.
Rows of vehicles moved slowly out of the power building toward the station as they rumble along the way to give the best wishes to the motherland on the stage of military parade. “Pool all resources to fulfill the mission” was the solemn promise made to the Party and state.
Put the country above all else in pursuit of excellence in space cause
“You must make every effort to cooperate with the users in safeguarding the equipment and ensuring the equipment for the military parade safely and smoothly passes through the Tiananmen Square.” After receiving the task for supporting the military parade, relevant leaders of CASIC immediately made arrangement. In a moment, a battle for safeguarding equipment for the military parade was waged.
On a night in the beginning of autumn, Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhang walked out of the camp and prepared to go back to their units. As the Technical Director and Administrative Dispatcher for the equipment for the military parade, Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhang had long got used to working in both daytime and at night. All those painstaking efforts were made just for a dazzling appearance of CASIC’s equipment during the military parade on the National Day.
Pursue premium quality of equipment
The unit with which Mr. Yang works had already launched the work for checking and confirming the quality and status of relevant equipment. No mistakes were allowed to make during the military parade and all measures should be taken to ensure everything goes smoothly. “It’s like you designed a multi-functional SUV that could not only climb mountains but also wade into water. But right now, the customer only wants it to run safely and stably on the road for several kilometers. For the safe and stable running required, we are not allowed to be careless for a single moment.” Mr. Yang described.
As a result, Mr. Yang and his team members prepared a detailed support plan from three aspects according to the special requirements for military parade on the National Day.
The team prepared a new thousand-page manual for quality re-inspection and guidance of troubleshooting to facilitate timely repair by operators on site, and a mechanism for quick inspection of quality by “observing, smelling, asking and checking”: “Observing” means to mainly check the visual appearance of equipment; “smelling” means to smell after equipment operation to see if there is any unusual odor; “asking” means to ask the operators about how they feel during operation; “checking” means to directly check core and vulnerable components. A plan for preparation of spares and accessories for use during drilling and display was also made for the equipment participating in the military parade. According to the experience and lessons gained for delivery of equipment in the past, Mr. Yang and his team members prepared the best support plan for spares and accessories which was unanimously agreed upon by the team.
Rigorousness manifests the true character of a team
The support team members hurried across the country to select equipment for centralized testing. The test aimed to further check the reliability of equipment under rigorous conditions. The team members started their journey when it was still dark in the morning with stars in the sky, and usually went back with the stars lighting their way.
Once Mr. Zhang brought testing instruments for the support team and followed the support team to check the equipment. “Why don’t you wear the gloves allocated?”, asked Mr. Zhang anxiously when he found that a team member responsible for repairing had frostbites all over his hands. “Did you lose it? I’ll give you another pair.” The repairman said, “It’s all right. It was indeed warm wearing the gloves, but I have got used to working with bare hands, which gives me better hand feel.”
As an old dispatcher who had participated in the task for supporting the military parade and carrying out tests several times, Mr. Yang’s eyes still moistened after hearing what he said.
Race against time to guard against all risks
It was nearly 40 °C outside and hot and suffocating inside the carriages. The support team members and soldiers usually had to spend a whole afternoon in the carriages once they went in. To clearly explain the working principles of a component to the soldiers usually involves climbing back and forth on the top of the vehicle. “The whole body was covered with dirt and the face black”. That was how everyone normally looked.
The equipment needed to be re-pained before training. Due to a tight schedule and a heavy workload, Mr. Zhang immediately recommended that corresponding protective measures be added after field survey to cut the drying time of paint and improve the painting efficiency to the greatest extent. However, new problems occurred right after the painting problem was solved.
Since the team members in charge of painting were dispatched from different organizations in case of an emergency, they differed in terms of painting skills, which might result in different visual effects of painting.
How to ensure that the equipment was evenly painted in the same color? Just when everyone was at their wit’s end, an idea occurred to Mr. Zhang: Let relevant team members be responsible for painting of the same area of the equipment. In this way, it could be ensured that the general visual effects of the equipment are the same. Everyone quickly jumped into work and successfully finished their tasks within the specified time limit.
One late night, on his way back from the Military Parade Village, Mr. Zhang pulled out his cellphone on which there were countless new messages and missed calls. As his finger slided across the screen, his eyes fixated on a text message. A careful college read the message out from the blurred writing, “Mother is seriously ill. Come back home and see her whenever you can.” These words were mixed in the pages of work schedule. Time waits for no man. Mr. Zhang made his choice to assume the responsibilities with his shoulders and bury his concern deep in his heart.
As the day broke gradually, the buses returning ran in the urban districts and the red sun rose slowly above the horizon, glowing against the sky. Many aerospace technicians like Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhang are making selfless contributions to the forging of a reliable and sharp national sword with their real actions.
Heroes in camouflage building shields for national defense
At the garrison station, after finishing the task of painting models for the military parade, the camouflage coating team members of CASIC were packing tools and baggage under the command of the Deputy Director Miao and ready to leave and go back.
Most team members were already familiar with the support work for the military parade. However, such objective factors as a tight schedule and changeable weather make this task stand out from others. Therefore, the team prepared a work plan that is accurate to the hour. According to the plan, the team members successfully accomplished the task after working overtime and overcoming many difficulties. The professionalism of the team and the strict discipline were highly recognized by the leaders of the troops.
Race against the weather
At the beginning of entering the field, the workplace was not sheltered and the team could only grind in the open air. The changeable weather seriously affected the construction progress. “Wait for the rain to stop” became the most helpless thing that the team members could do. Once the rainwater on the vehicle surface became dried, everyone would rush out to set the air pump, connect power supply, install the grinding head...The buzzing sound from grinding could be heard in the whole field. No one was speaking. The troops and their leaders were shocked by the tense and orderly working atmosphere. “You worked so fast!” The formation assistant couldn’t help acclaiming.
The extremely cut work schedule for the task was like a heavy stone on the heart of the team members. “The demand is to accomplish the task whatever happens and never ruin the gold-lettered signboard of CASIC by our own hand.” That was the belief that supported everyone to work nonstop in the strong sun.
After dinner, although the team members couldn’t stop shaking from a day of grinding work when holding the chopsticks, they were still concerned about whether the workplace could be ready in time so that they could roll up the sleeves and dig in.
Make the troops rest assured with strength
The tight schedule undoubtedly made the chief of the troops worried about the progress. “Please rest assured. As long as conditions permit, we will definitely accomplish the task on time.” Miao, the Team Leader and Deputy Director, made a “military pledge”. On different posts, setting out and protection procedures were carried out at the same time, and camouflage paint and varnish were applied, mixed and transferred. The equipment on all posts were running at full capacity. All procedures were carried out tensely and orderly. With the roaring of air pumps and the rising of army green paint mists from the posts, this race against time entered a white-hot stage.
“Assemble 10 minutes before meals, have meals for 10 minutes and set off 10 minutes after meals.” These three “10-minutes” rules vividly depicted the work-rest schedule of the team members. To accomplish the task on time, no one wanted to waste even one minute. At 10:40 in the evening, the painting work for the first few equipment was completely finished.
On the last day of the work schedule, with the last piece of protective materials being removed, the team finished all painting work 6 hours before the delivery time. The chief of the troops standing by the roadside raised his hand and gave a big thumb-up to the team members as a praise for what they had done.
“Support forces” in disguise
Lining up is an unwritten rule in the team. In the camp area, whether it was to have meals in the canteen or to set off for work, the team members all in camouflage clothing would always spontaneously line up in two files and march on at the same pace, looking like a troop making a rapid march from the distance.
“Comrade, why don’t you wear your collar badge as specified? Which unit are you in? What is your military rank?” A technician of the team was once stopped and interrogated by a picketer of the troops. After repeated explanation and confirmation, the picketer was finally convinced that he was a technician of the industrial department. The picketer apologized while reporting to the superior that “he is really not a soldier.”
Although the members of the painting team are not soldiers, they have earned much praise in the military camp. From small items such as adhesive tapes to large items such as air pumps, all items were placed neatly in order. Even the warehouse borrowed for temporary use was thoroughly cleaned.
The painting team with good skills, reliable quality and strict discipline left a good impression of aerospace technicians on the green military camp. (Written by Li Qinghua, Gao Zhiling, You Hongke, Zhang Zhiyuan and Liu Liang)
