"Looking through the welding mask, the white light is a red dot, the welding wire turns into a molten pool, and the 'pool water' is colored with ripples." It may be difficult for outsiders to connect the poetic description with "welding", but for the post-90s generation For Luo Xian, this kind of work has been integrated into his life.
How to achieve the unique skill of "flawless"
In the berth workshop of a secondary unit of Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wuchuan"), you can always see a dark blue figure squatting and kneeling with a welding gun, the welding sound is "sizzling", and white welding smoke is Rising up, the connection between the welding wire and the plate emits a dazzling light.
This is the daily construction routine of Luo Xian, a special electric welding technician.
"As long as I pick up the welding gun, I can accurately find the welding spots and ensure that every welding rod is within the required range." Luo Xian's movements have formed muscle memory. The gap between the two steel plates is only 4 mm. If the welding gun hits Otherwise, the entire steel plate would be useless, but he had already mastered the unique skill of "flawless".
Just over 30 years old, Luo Xian is already the youngest shipbuilding "technical expert" and "expert enjoying special government allowances from the State Council" of China State Shipbuilding Corporation. In the second half of last year, he was selected as a "Wuhan Model" and has become a role model for the city's youth. .
In junior high school, Luo Xian studied in the "Rocket Class". His grades were enough to be admitted to a top-ranked high school in Wuhan.
However, in the first column of the high school entrance examination application, he filled in a technical secondary school.
He has participated in pottery and painting competitions since he was a child. He prefers handicrafts and dreams of becoming a skilled talent one day.
Luo Xian still clearly remembers that after the 2007 high school entrance examination report card was released, he went to school to register and was greeted by strange looks from the teachers.
According to the 2007 National Statistical Bulletin on Education Development by the Ministry of Education, 2.9729 million students were enrolled in general secondary vocational schools across the country.
This huge group was once labeled as “the leftovers from the high school entrance examination”.
Standing at the crossroads of further studies, Luo Xian made the choice to follow his heart.
When he entered school, the Wuhan Transportation School he chose cooperated with Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd. to train shipbuilding skilled talents and opened a "Wuchang Shipbuilding Orientation Class".
This class mainly recruits students in the three majors of ship pipe fitting, ship outfitting, and welding technology application. After graduation, students will enter the armed forces shipbuilding industry after passing the assessment.
Luo Xian, who comes from an ordinary family, was attracted by the "graduation package distribution".
After an interview, he entered the welding professional orientation class.
At that time, practical training conditions were limited. There were only 6 practical training stations available for more than 30 students, and there were not many opportunities to touch real welding guns.
As soon as there was space, Luo Xian rushed to practice and refused to leave until he had completed five or six welding rods.
"Diligent students are not uncommon, but Luo Xian is more perseverant and has the determination to polish his skills." said Zhang Zuqun, a training teacher at Wuhan Transportation School.
He remembered that the first time Luo Xian, who was not good at speaking, asked the teacher for help, he "allowed himself to use his lunch break to practice more."
In order to ensure the safety of the students, Zhang Zuqun practices with them every afternoon.
There is no air conditioning in the training room, and fans cannot be turned on during operation.
In the hot summer, the master and the apprentice also had to wear heavy work clothes. When they took them off, they were covered in sweat.
Challenges are often also opportunities
In 2009, Luo Xian joined Wuchang as he wished, and no longer had to worry about limited work stations or insufficient welding guns.
However, not long after starting work, more than half of the classmates who were assigned together left.
Some people feel that the work is hard and tiring, with "not much future", so they choose to change careers; some feel that there is no hope of improving their salary and remuneration, so they simply start their own businesses.
Luo Xian was also shaken.
After paying the rent with the salary at that time, I still had to rely on subsidies from my parents.
Being in a small operating room and working on a high-temperature steel plate, Luo Xian felt that he couldn't survive.
One day, Luo Xian saw the picture of our country's naval fleet chopping through the waves on the news, which made his heart skip a beat.
The WCS he works for is an important national marine engineering export ship and official ship construction base, and is also the backbone of the national marine defense equipment research and production.
The welding technology he practiced involves key processes, large joints and other important parts of supporting equipment for ships and offshore engineering.
If you can polish your technology to a higher level, you can always find your own world.
Luo Xian set a goal for himself to improve the level of welding as soon as possible: get it right the first time, do it right the first time, and do it well the first time.
At first, his hands were covered with scars from the welding. As he became more skilled in the operation, the number of burns became less and less.
Colleagues often compete with each other: whoever has the fewest scars has the highest welding skills.
In 2014, Luo Xian joined the company's welding training team to prepare for various levels of vocational skills competitions.
In order to develop skills such as single-sided welding and double-sided forming and thin plate welding, he welds an average of 10 steel plates every day.
In day-to-day training and front-line production operations, he gradually mastered various welding methods such as electrode arc welding, tungsten arc welding, carbon dioxide gas shielded welding, and submerged arc automatic welding.
During this period, the domestic industrial structure was upgraded, technology was changed, and the original production concepts and processes were impacted.
When the company was developing a certain product, due to differences in welding base metal, welding materials and welding strength, the corresponding welding process changed from electrode arc welding to mixed gas shielded welding.
Many master craftsmen in the workshop have never received systematic training and do not know how to start when faced with complex welded components.
Challenges are often also opportunities.
Luo Xian took the initiative to apply to become the first batch of specialized skills training personnel, devoted himself to high-intensity training, and obtained the welding qualification certificate in this field.
In 2018, Luo Xian won the first place in the ship welder competition in the second "Ship Cup" China Shipbuilding Industry Vocational Skills Competition of the China Skills Competition, and was awarded the honorary title of "National Technical Expert" by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
In fact, every time he encounters a problem on the production line but cannot quickly apply theoretical knowledge to solve it, Luo Xian will re-examine the choice he made when he was 15 years old: he went against most of his classmates in the class.
Seeing his classmates enter college and embark on a smooth and broad road, the reason he encouraged himself to "suffer through" was "I have no way out."
"You still have to endure the hardships of cultural courses!" In the past 7 years, Luo Xian obtained a college diploma from Wuhan Vocational and Technical College of Shipbuilding and a bachelor's degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
From 2019 to 2021, this former technical secondary school student published three important papers on the technology of "single-sided welding and double-sided forming".
Although we are frontline workers, this is just the starting point
In Wuchuan, many young people are willing to communicate with Luo Xian because he "can weld, teach, and innovate" and "teaches everything he has to offer without hiding anything for himself."
Today, nearly 200 frontline workers are learning theoretical knowledge under Luo Xian's guidance and participating in "difficult and complicated diseases" in various projects.
Apprentice Wan Zhuang said that Luo Xian also took the lead in tackling the difficult problems of the new project, and at one time "worked in two shifts for more than a week."
Luo Xian also realized that no matter what track he chooses, he must establish the concept of lifelong learning.
Over the years, he has kept in touch with Zhang Zuqun, the training teacher who "took him step by step". This mentoring relationship has continued from the campus training room to the present. "He can always make a call to discuss problems in welding operations."
Zhang Zuqun feels that Luo Xian is very lucky. Not long after joining the factory, he caught up with the provincial skills competition and was valued for his excellent competition results. With the support of the platform and personal efforts, his growth was rapid.
Before being hired as a training teacher by Wuhan Transportation School, the factory where Zhang Zuqun had worked for 31 years closed down. He held the title of senior technician and was at a loss as to what to do.
After taking up the teaching position, among the students he taught, Luo Xian was not the only one who had both talent and diligence.
However, in comparison, the employment situation of some students is somewhat disappointing - some are assigned to positions that are not highly consistent with their majors, and some have practiced their skills for many years and are still outsourced contract workers.
In Zhang Zuqun's view, this is a group that needs more attention.
In their predicament, there are many personal problems, such as overvaluing current treatment and short-term interests; but as they move towards becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, the country must also consider giving them more opportunities.
In the 2023 admissions brochure of Luo Xian’s alma mater, Wuhan Jiaotong School, the total number of awards won by students in previous national vocational college skills competitions is placed in the “Main Honors” column.
During competition selection training, students here often practice from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
If you are willing to work hard and study hard, you will be able to obtain certification of your skill level, at least this will not change.
When returning to school to communicate with fellow students preparing for the vocational skills competition, Luo Xian encouraged them: "Most secondary vocational school students will become front-line workers after graduation, but this is only the starting point."
In recent years, Luo Xian's career blueprint has been continuously refreshed.
When developing a special steel welding process for the company's key products, he performed experiments in the workshop during the day and spent the night reading in the data room to systematically learn theoretical knowledge.
By changing materials and using different process methods more than 1,800 times, he led the team to conquer the dissimilar steel welding process of the latest domestic key equipment, filling the industry gap in this project for my country's ships.
He is no longer satisfied with the polishing of manual welding technology, but hopes to improve construction efficiency through the combination of machines and manual work.
In the past two years, an automatic welding device was developed, making efficient automatic welding a reality and "step by step making the production line of enterprises automated and intelligent."
Yang Xinman China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Lei Yu Source: China Youth Daily