The conference room was filled with smoke, making it almost impossible to breathe. Almost all the factory's renowned technical authorities—the gray-haired senior engineers, the most experienced master craftsmen from each workshop, and the backbone of the machine repair and electrical teams—were present, crowding around the long conference table. The malfunctioning gantry planer in Workshop No. 3 weighed heavily on everyone's hearts like a boulder.
The deputy director of production chaired the meeting. He got straight to the point, his tone somber: "As you all know, the B215K is out of service, and the urgent military parts are stuck halfway. The deadline is fast approaching! I've invited you all here today to brainstorm and come up with a feasible repair plan as soon as possible! Time is of the essence, so please feel free to share your thoughts!"
The moment he finished speaking, an argument erupted.
Led by the most senior engineer, Senior Engineer Li, one faction adopted a cautious and conservative approach: "This B215K has a complex structure, especially the main drive and gearbox, which are original Soviet designs with high precision and wide-ranging implications! My opinion is that we cannot act rashly! We should immediately report to the ministry and request that the original manufacturer or a ministry-affiliated professional repair team be sent! If we disassemble it ourselves and fail to reassemble it or restore the precision, the losses will be irreparable!"
“I agree with Engineer Li!” another engineer wearing glasses chimed in. “The slide is stuck for unknown reasons. Forcing it could damage the guide rail or even the lead screw, which would cost a fortune in repairs and take a lot of time! Waiting for outside help is the safest approach!”
"Take it easy? By the time the foreign aid arrives, it'll be too late!" Zhao Dahai, the director of the machining workshop, stood up abruptly, his voice booming. "This is a military aid mission. If we delay the project, who will take responsibility? Don't we have any capable people in our factory? Master Wang," he looked at Wang Jianguo, who had been silently smoking, "you've handled more equipment than any of us have ever seen. Tell me, can we handle it ourselves?"
Wang Jianguo exhaled a puff of smoke and slowly said, "Machines are inanimate, but people are alive. Just because you haven't disassembled it before doesn't mean you can't." His words were few, but extremely weighty, representing the sentiments of many veteran workers.
"That's right! Our mechanic team isn't just sitting around doing nothing!" The mechanic team leader slammed his fist on the table. "As long as we have the blueprints and an experienced mechanic to help us, we can take it apart and figure it out! Waiting for outside help? It would take at least half a month for them to come and go. We can afford to wait, but we can't wait for a national mission!"
"Nonsense! This is precision equipment, not those outdated lathes in your workshop!" Senior Engineer Li's face turned red with anger. "Without special tools and assembly data, blindly disassembling it is tantamount to destruction! Can you bear the responsibility for that?"
“If we just wait step by step and delay production, will you, Engineer Li, be able to take responsibility?” Zhao Dahai retorted without backing down.
The meeting room erupted into chaos. The "conservatives" and the "autonomists" each held their ground, refusing to yield. The conservatives cited numerous examples, emphasizing the complexity and risks of the equipment; the autonomouss, on the other hand, focused on practicality, stressing the urgency of the task and the plant's technological potential. The argument raged, their voices rising higher and higher, yet neither side could convince the other. The heavy smell of tobacco, mixed with their agitated emotions, almost made the air burn.
The factory manager and chief engineer sat in the main seats, their brows furrowed, listening to the argument below, their expressions growing increasingly grim. Time ticked by, but the plan made no progress.
Liu Li sat in the audience section against the wall, next to Fu Jingchen and several other young technicians. Listening to the heated debate and seeing the teachers' faces flushed with excitement, she felt equally anxious. She knew that Senior Engineer Li and the others' concerns were not unfounded; precision overhauls did indeed carry risks. But Director Zhao and Master Wang's insistence was for the factory's honor and the nation's mission.
Her mind raced, combining her previous observations with the analytical approach to modern equipment systems, filtering and eliminating possible fault points one by one in her mind. A broken main drive shaft? The sound and condition didn't seem right; a broken gear in the gearbox? A jam would be more severe; a malfunction in the lifting mechanism? The connection to the slide lock-up wasn't so direct… That small, unusual oil stain, and the possible related electro-mechanical interlock, became increasingly likely in her mind.
However, in this seniority-based setting, would anyone listen to her, a young technician with little influence, who proposed this almost "outlandish" conjecture? Would she be immediately and thoroughly refuted by the senior experts, or even accused of "disrupting the consultation"?
She subconsciously clenched her hands on her knees, her nails digging into her palms. Her gaze involuntarily fell on Master Wang Jianguo, who was sitting in the front row to the side. Master Wang seemed to sense her gaze, and turned his head slightly. Under the dim light, his eyes remained calm and expressionless, yet they seemed to carry an invisible power.
She glanced at Fu Jingchen beside her again. Fu Jingchen quietly wrote a few words in his notebook and gently pushed it in front of her. It read: "Oil stains? Control circuit?"
He noticed that detail too, and thought of a similar direction! A warm feeling and courage instantly welled up in Liu Li's heart.
Just then, the deputy factory manager in charge of production, who was chairing the meeting, banged on the table forcefully, trying to quell the argument: "Quiet! Quiet down! Will arguing like this solve anything? What we need now is a clear direction! Should we wait, or should we start repairing? If we do repair, where should we begin? We must reach a consensus as soon as possible!"
The meeting room fell silent for a moment, but a sense of stalemate and helplessness permeated the air.
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