As soon as the notice for the project team to hold a progress report meeting came out, the group chat was in an uproar. This was a report to the project leader, as well as experts invited from the ministry and various collaborating units. Who would speak and how they would speak became a big deal.
Team leader Chen Siyuan called Liu Li to his office and got straight to the point: "In this report, you will be the main representative to focus on the research process and achievements of 'prestressed compensation technology'."
Upon hearing this, Liu Li's heart skipped a beat, and she almost thought she had misheard. "Team Leader Chen, I... I should speak? Isn't that inappropriate? Engineer Zhou, Engineer Sun, and the others..."
“The results were achieved by your team, but you were the one who first came up with the idea and led the implementation. You know best every detail and difficulty involved.” Chen Siyuan’s tone left no room for argument. “Don’t try to deny it. Just explain clearly how you discovered, analyzed, and solved the problem. The key is the approach and the implementation, not empty talk.”
That's what she said, but Liu Li was still quite nervous. As a technician who had worked her way up from the factory floor, she usually chatted casually with her coworkers, but she was genuinely intimidated by this kind of formal occasion in front of high-ranking leaders and experts.
For the next few days, she stared at the thick stack of experimental data and technical reports, so worried she couldn't eat or sleep. How should she write this presentation? Should she follow Zhou Wei's approach of theoretical derivation and model calculation? Or should she adopt Sun Mei's style, with its beautiful charts and detailed data?
Seeing her scratching her head in frustration, Fu Jingchen gave her a suggestion: "Don't try to imitate anyone. Just do it the way you're most comfortable with. Think about how you report to Master Wang? How you explain the principle of the fixture to Foreman Ma of the machine repair team? How you discuss problems with us? Just use that down-to-earth tone and tell the story of what you and your team have done over the past few months, like you're telling a story."
These words jolted Liu Li awake. Yes, isn't that exactly what she excels at?
Zhou Wei proactively asked for her scattered experimental records and data, helping her organize them into clear charts and highlighting key theoretical support points. "These data are convincing in themselves. I'll help you clarify them so you can explain them more smoothly."
Seeing her struggling with the report format, Sun Mei quietly helped her reformat it, making the key points stand out more. She even lent her her expensive drawing pen, which she usually didn't use, to draw diagrams. "The clearer the charts and graphs, the less tiring it will be for the experts to read."
Even Lao Zhang from the materials team came over to remind him: "When you're talking about it, don't mention my 'tractor tracks,' it's too corny!"
The kind jokes and help from everyone warmed Liu Li's heart and made her feel much more at ease.
On the day of the presentation, the conference room was packed. The first few rows were filled with experts with gray hair and distinguished bearing, creating a solemn atmosphere where no one dared to breathe. Liu Li sat in the audience, her palms sweaty, clutching her repeatedly revised presentation slides until they were damp.
It was their turn to be divided into groups. Group leader Chen Siyuan gave a brief introduction first, then nodded to Liu Li.
Liu Li took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to the podium. The lights were a bit dazzling, and the gazes of the audience were focused on her, making her feel dizzy. She subconsciously glanced at the direction where her group members were sitting. Zhou Wei clenched his fist at her, while Sun Mei gave her an encouraging look.
She composed herself, opened her speech notes, but did not read them aloud.
"Distinguished leaders and experts," her voice was a little tense at first, but still clear, "My name is Liu Li, and I come from Hongxing Machinery Factory. Today, on behalf of our precision machining group, I will mainly report on our preliminary practices and experiences in exploring 'prestress compensation technology' to address the problem of deformation in the machining of thin-walled parts."
Instead of throwing out a bunch of complex theories and jargon at the beginning, she started by talking about her experience in the Hongxing factory workshop, facing that thin-walled sleeve that "bullies the weak and fears the strong," about Master Wang's helplessness in having to pad the copper sheet, and about everyone's heartache when the scrap rate was high. She used the simplest language to describe the most real pain points in practice.
Then, she shifted the focus, bringing up the Russian idea she had found in the pile of documents, and her initial "out-of-the-box" discussion with Fu Jingchen. She talked about the failure of the first experiment, showing photos of the bulging defective part and the rudimentary fixture. Instead of avoiding the issue, she frankly analyzed the reasons for the failure and how the team found clues from the data.
When discussing the key optimization breakthroughs, she didn't claim all the credit. Instead, she mentioned Zhou Wei's theoretical support, Sun Mei's precise measurements, Lao Zhang's inspiration from the analogy of "tractor tracks," and the help from the mechanics instructors. As she spoke, she used clear charts that Zhou Wei had helped her organize and optimization diagrams from Sun Mei to clearly demonstrate how the team overcame challenges such as support point drift, thermal deformation compensation, and fixture rigidity step by step.
She didn't try to be sentimental; she simply recounted the story in a straightforward manner. But when she finally presented the actual aluminum alloy casing—complex in structure yet perfectly machined, with all dimensions conforming to specifications—and reported the consistently high yield rate, a murmur of amazement and approval rippled through the audience.
After the presentation, Liu Li, following Fu Jingchen's prior suggestion, added a concluding remark: "The initial progress of this technology is inseparable from the trust and guidance of Team Leader Chen, the wisdom and hard work of all my colleagues in the group, and the platform and resources provided by the project team. It is not yet perfect, especially in terms of standardization and applicability; much work remains to be done. However, we believe that this new approach based on proactive compensation provides a worthwhile direction for solving similar precision machining challenges. That concludes my presentation. Thank you all!"
She bowed, and enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. She saw several experts whispering and nodding, and she also saw the chief person in charge cast an approving glance at Team Leader Chen.
As she stepped down from the podium, her back was soaked with sweat, but she felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders, filled with an unprecedented sense of ease and profound satisfaction. With this first step, she hadn't let the group down, nor had she let herself and her team down after months of hard work.
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