Original title:
Guo Congxi: From Apprentice to Craftsman
Ningxia Daily reporter Chen Yu
On May 30, at the 2024 May Day Labor Award Ceremony of the Autonomous Region, the scenario drama "Willing to Lift the East Wind for the Sky" brought the story of Guo Congxi, a famous craftsman, to the stage. The moving plot moved the audience. Who is Guo Congxi? What are the hidden stories behind the honor of "cramming craftsman"?
Guo Congxi is operating a CNC lathe.
"Stealing teacher" learns skills and practices unique skills
"I'm really happy that my work has been recognized after so many years of masked research!" On May 30, when talking about the honor of "being a craftsman", Guo Congxi couldn't hide his joy.
Guo Congxi, senior technician of NFC (Ningxia) Oriental Group Co., Ltd., leader of national skill master studio, autonomous region labor model innovation studio, Shizuishan City lathe worker skill studio, technical expert of central enterprises under the State Council, winner of China Nonferrous Metal Technology Award, chief technician of autonomous region, At present, he is the on-site technical guidance of the special group for processing the finished products of various types of rocket nozzles for aviation automatic control engines.
For more than 30 years, he has overcome many difficulties in machining tantalum and niobium materials, developed a set of tools suitable for tantalum and niobium machining, and filled the blank of uncertain tool geometry angle in domestic machining of tantalum and niobium materials.
"No one has the skills that he was born with? No one started from scratch!" In July 1989, Guo Congxi, who graduated from the turning technology major of Ningxia Mechanical Technology School, was assigned to Workshop 5 of China Color Oriental Group. As soon as he entered the workshop, the young man was dumbfounded: there was only one apprentice in the workshop, led by 14 masters. But for three months, he did one thing - doing chores.
"It's hard and tiring to clean the lathe and push the scraps every day." It was midsummer, and the workshop was hot and stuffy. The iron scraps processed by the masters piled up into hills and were transported back and forth with a small trolley, sweating like mud.
The tedious and repetitive work also inspired Guo Congxi's tenacity to refuse to admit defeat. He insisted again and again, "I don't believe I can push iron filings all my life!" He began to pay attention to the process operations of the masters, and practiced repeatedly in private, finally ushered in a turn.
Three months later, one day, the customer needed to process a part of the equipment. It happened that the master in charge was not there, so Guo Congxi took the job. The next day, the master was afraid of what the apprentice would do, so he went to the customer and the repairman to inquire about it. He was praised for the "high quality" of the parts, which surprised him.
Since then, Guo Congxi has completed the test of the masters. From behind the scenes to in front of the stage, dramatic changes have taken place in the workshop: the little apprentice is hot next to the lathe to "car" parts, and the masters have played a "start" for him.
Speaking of these past events, Guo Congxi sighed: "That experience was a breakthrough in my career, and it was also a process that every new employee must experience. After that, there was a feeling of dawn."
Guo Congxi keeps improving his products.
Milled and Sharpened Finalizer
In 1998, Guo Congxi, the apprentice at that time, had already become a technical master in the workshop. But the road of craftsmen can't be smooth!
At that time, the company's analysis and testing center was in urgent need of tungsten wire heating cage, which naturally fell on Guo Congxi. The tungsten wire heating cage is formed by connecting more than 100 tungsten wires between the upper and lower electrode discs. It relies on tungsten wires to transmit torque, which is easily twisted.
Although he was careful, Guo Congxi broke two tungsten wires when he was "driving". For this reason, he wrote the only examination in his life.
The construction period did not wait, and other lathe workers could not do it, so Guo Congxi went out again. He combed all the process parameters again, pondered over and over again, summarized the experience, finally made the product, and successfully passed the acceptance of the analysis and testing center.
"This makes me never give up easily when I encounter difficulties in the future." Since then, Guo Congxi did not waste a product, and he tried to solve all the problems one by one. He has worked hard and excelled at improving tools and making jigs and fixtures. He has overcome a number of "choke" problems in machining tantalum, niobium and their alloy materials, making outstanding contributions to the development of the enterprise.
Yan Yong, the director of the Tantalum and Niobium Products Branch of NFC Oriental Group, praised Guo Congxi: "He is the 'sea calming needle' of the Tantalum and Niobium Products Branch!"
Breaking monopoly and raising eyebrows
In the Tantalum and Niobium Products Branch, Guo Congxi's busy figure can be seen at the scene of urgent and difficult work. "Master Guo is really a master of skills rooted in the production line," said Su Kangning, the deputy director of the product branch factory.
In 2008, in the research and development of the topic of "R&D and industrialization of sputtering tantalum targets for large-scale integrated circuits", Guo Congxi actively invested in research and development and worked around the clock. By improving the cutting angle of turning tools and making reasonable fixtures, he solved the problem of processing large-scale tantalum targets and successfully passed the national acceptance of the project.
In 2010, he participated in the international cooperation project "Research and Development of Magnetron Sputtered Tantalum Rings", which mainly solved the problems of machining long thin-walled tubes of tantalum niobium materials, machining thin-walled rings with large diameters, tooling and fixtures for knurling the inner and outer surfaces of rings and end knurling, and broke the technology and market monopoly of the United States and Japan, The project won the second prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association in 2010.
"At that time, the relevant equipment and technology were monopolized and were under the control of others everywhere, which made people feel extremely aggrieved," Guo Congxi said. At that time, the drawings of accessories in relevant fields were not in Chinese, which also caused economic losses to customers in one production, resulting in complaints to the company. Guo Congxi did not believe in evil. He burned plaster and carried out research, making China the third supplier country that can process magnetron sputtering tantalum rings after the United States and Japan.
In addition, the "Technical Transformation Project of Finished Tantalum Target and Tantalum Ring Production Line" solved the problem of cutting tools for target machining on CNC lathes, and proposed a scheme for tool manufacturers. After the adoption of the scheme, the machining problems of the Ta cone cylinder of China's nuclear industry and the superconducting Nb cone flange of the China Institute of High Energy Physics were overcome, and the domestic gap in the field of machining Ta Nb and its alloy metal materials was filled.
Niobium tungsten alloy nozzle is the power carrier of aircraft automatic control engine. The thin-walled parts have six contour curves inside and outside, which is difficult to process and requires high precision. After many times of program optimization debugging and trial processing, Guo Congxi independently designed and processed the internal expansion jacket tightening modular fixture. The first product was tested in three coordinates, and the dimensional tolerance and geometric tolerance fully met the technical requirements. Guo Congxi applied for the national invention patent as the first inventor and realized mass production.
"Very high precision requirements! After the nozzle is coated, the welding steps should be corrected and processed. During the process, it is not allowed to scratch the surface coating. This coating is like a thin-walled can, and the dimensional tolerance is only one third of the diameter of a hair." To this end, he designed and processed a set of special material and structure fixtures, and all data meet the technical requirements, The first pass rate of products has increased from 85% to 99%.
A small turning tool is very knowledgeable. In Guo Congxi's eyes, these knives are like beating notes. Through his ingenuity, every product has been given life, and together they play beautiful songs.
Successors Break the Wall
The development of science and technology is changing with each passing day. If you want to avoid being abandoned by the times, you must keep pace with the times, be quick and eager to learn.
"Master Guo is very eager to learn and has a strong learning ability!" said Li Zhaobo, deputy director of Tantalum and Niobium Products Branch. In 2014, the branch introduced a batch of CNC lathes. Facing new lathes that he had never met before, Guo Congxi, 45, learned from scratch, mastered the programming of CNC lathes and learned software drawing in a short time.
In his work, Guo Congxi set an example, and the energy of "desperate Sanlang" infected everyone around him.
In this regard, apprentice Li Gang had a deep feeling: "If the master didn't finish his work that day, he would be unable to sleep and eat when he returned home." In 2018, the branch factory took a task to make a bottom hole for the 3.8 meter long rotating tantalum target material. In the daytime, five members of Guo Congxi's team worked all night from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
"I remember one year, he was hit by a farm car. At that time, there was an urgent job in the factory. He had to carry it for two days before he went to the hospital for examination and treatment." Li Zhaobo recalled. When it comes to Master Guo's devotion to his work, everyone in the factory gives a thumbs up.
Technical expert in 2001; Excellent producer in 2004; Model worker in 2007; In 2010, Labor Star; In 2010, it won the first place in the "Strong Enterprise Cup"; In 2011, the silver medal worker... in the development process of NFC Oriental Group, Guo Congxi's personal award can support a small exhibition.
The second prize of scientific and technological achievements of Shizuishan City, the achievement prize of highly skilled talents of Shizuishan City, the chief technician of Ningxia, high-level talents of Ningxia, the first "craftsmen on the frontier" of Ningxia, the second prize of science and technology of China's nonferrous metal industry, the fifth technological expert of nonferrous metal industry, and the technological expert of central enterprises... all kinds of honors have been won.
In January 2024, Guo Congxi was shortlisted for the National 50 Celebrities in the 2023 "The Year of Great Power Craftsmen" event jointly organized by the All China Federation of Trade Unions and China Central Radio and Television.
In recent years, Guo Congxi has devoted much energy to teaching skills. In those years, 14 masters led him through the three-month test. Now, he wants to pass on this responsibility. Under his words and deeds, he has cultivated 4 technicians and 8 senior workers. These young people have now grown into the main force of the branch factory.
When apprentice Li Xingyu first came here, he was often impressed by the master's superb skills. "What the master made is not like industrial products, it is just a handicraft!" As soon as he received the task, Li Xingyu was nervous and ran to the master for help, afraid of smashing the factory's sign. Guo Congxi guided and taught students in accordance with their aptitude. Slowly, Li Xingyu gained confidence and his skills grew rapidly.
In 2018, Li Xingyu made outstanding achievements in the Ningxia Trials of the 6th National Workers' Vocational Skills Competition, representing the autonomous region in the national finals; In 2019, Li Xingyu won the first place in the first technical contest for highly skilled talents in Yinchuan metropolitan area; In 2022, Li Xingyu won the third place in the first skill contest of the autonomous region, and was awarded the professional qualification certificate of technician.
"The only criterion for testing work is whether you are doing well, whether you are dutiful, whether you are desperate and go all out." Guo Congxi often said this to his disciples, for many years.
Now, this sentence has been written into the testimonial of Chinese model workers and craftsmen in 2023. Together with his deeds, it has inspired thousands of workers who are struggling in the front line workshop.
（ The pictures are provided by the respondents ）
