Hunan Daily: Screw on the assembly line

Zhu Zhi (front), a reporter from this newspaper, learned assembly with Master Zhou Fengli in the Sany Heavy Industry workshop. Photo by reporter Tang Aiping
 

Without the work of Sany, it is impossible to truly understand the rapid development of Sany in just 20 years and create many myths of construction machinery. After a few days of contact, I was allowed to go to Trinity as an apprentice on the 13th.
The dripping autumn rain sent me all the way to the west gate of Sany Xingsha headquarters, and the time was displayed on my mobile phone at 7:50. The flow of people wearing Trinity work cards is gathering here from various intersections to inspect and enter the factory. During the rush hour, the factory area is full of people but extremely quiet. The spotless pavement and the newly manicured green belt orderly separate the large, low-level modern factories on both sides of the road.
My place of work is arranged in the No. 18 factory, which is a fully transparent modern assembly workshop put into operation in July this year, and it is also a modern assembly plant in Asia * 5655, with an area of 90,000 square meters, consisting of 7 large blocks of exhibition hall, assembly area, landscape area, three-dimensional warehouse, high-precision machining area, structural parts area and component coating area, with no baffle in the section, no separation wall, and 1,800 design workers. There are pump trucks,On-board pumps, trailer pump and mixing equipment 4 assembly lines, 15 assembly lines. My apprenticeship position is in the assembly group of the pumping system of the pump truck assembly line in the assembly area, and the specific job is to screw the screws.
My master Zhou Fengli is the team leader, called the station leader here, 31 years old this year, from Liuyang. I have been working at Sany for nearly 4 years, and I worked in a machinery processing factory in Changsha for 7 years. "Tighten the screws for the linkage lock, I can do this job!" "Don't worry!" Master Zhou put the small screws prepared in advance into the 6 nail holes in order, first using a straight wrench, and then using a corner wrench to tighten the two diagonal screws. "I'll come later!" Taking the wrench from Master Zhou's hand, I screwed a screw in two or three clicks. "It's so easy!" I said as I reached for the wrench to the screw next to me. "Wrong, the one who twists the diagonal!" My hand was retracted like an electric shock, and it quickly pointed to the diagonal screw. After screwing 4 screws, my hands started to get sore. Master Zhou told me to stop and re-tighten it myself.
Pump truck is Sany's flagship product, and 70% of Sany's sales revenue comes from pump truck. The online lock is the intelligent safety system of the pump truck hopper, "screwing the screw is the most simple work, but it is also an important part of the pump truck assembly, and it is not allowed to be sloppy", Master Zhou told me that only by tightening the screws in diagonal order can we ensure that the screws and firmware will not fall off during the operation, and at the same time, the firmware will be evenly stressed and not damaged. The key to tightening the screw is whether the elastic washer on the screw is flattened, if it is not flattened, the joint surface will not be sealed, the vibrating surface will be loose, the inspection will be unqualified, and it is easy to fail in use.
The firmware under the hopper needs to be fixed with a large gold-painted screw, Master Zhou took a pistol-style wrench, neatly pressed the "nozzle" against the screw cap, pulled the trigger, "poof"! The screws are in place in response. "This wrench is good, I'll come!" Like twisting a mechanical wrench, I violently pressed the "nozzle" against the nut, and then pulled the trigger, "poof"! The screw "stood still", the "muzzle" slipped to the side, and three attempts were made in a row, and the result was the same. Master Zhou told me that this is a kind of smart wrench, the scientific name is "torque wrench", from 35 twists to 80 twists, which can set the torque according to the process requirements, automatically adjust, and put it in place at one time. Don't use too much force when operating, and the key is to have a flat hand and alignment.
At nearly 11 o'clock, Master Zhou called me off the workbench to take a rest, and stepped into the landscape area in a small step. From the middle of the factory through the north and south of the landscape area, is a wide landscape belt, planted with palm trees on both sides, in the middle is a pool and a fountain, on both sides of the pool is a workers' rest area, there are a number of square tables sitting around four stools, between the square tables at intervals of tens of meters, inlaid with a number of green spaces, planted with small rhododendrons close to the ground, placed red plantain and other bonsai.
In 2008, Sany started the lean manufacturing reform. From workers to presidents, everyone has read two books, "Lean Thinking" and "Illustrating Toyota's Production Method", and passed the written exam. By absorbing the experience of Toyota, Carter and other world benchmark enterprises into the production line, Sany has formulated 8 major process standard systems such as blanking, molding, welding, machining, etc., and built its own high-quality line No. 18 factory. The workers here not only have operation standards for each job, but also process cards, which are requirements, and process cards tell workers how to do them. Now, Plant 18 assembles a complete vehicle every 20 minutes.
Master Zhou said that the workers who entered the factory have undergone strict screening and training, 16 days of training in the company, 3 days of pre-job training, new workers have to take the post master for technical counseling, master and apprentice signed an agreement, and the counseling period should be made every day to make counseling records, and the record book has counseling content, general evaluation, deficiencies and improvement plans and other matters.
At 2 p.m., the rain cleared. I waved goodbye to Master Zhou, and looked back to see a huge signboard at the entrance of the factory, which read: "Create a first-class enterprise, create first-class talents, and make first-class contributions".