Craftsmen of Great Powers: Rope-making Technicians after 1980s set four firsts in China rope industry.

  Qingdao, China Broadcasting Network, July 19 (Reporter Jing Wong) "I stayed in the workshop for two days and one night when I was developing a new type of rope, and sometimes I fell asleep directly holding the rope when I was tired". At noon on July 19th, the weather in Qingdao was unbearable. Xu Lianlong, a post-80s rope-making technician of Hailiya Group, led the reporter straight to the rope-making workshop. The noise in the workshop was as high as 80 decibels, and it was laborious and even harsh to hear what others said, but it was the research and development "position" that Xu Lianlong had been sticking to for the past 8 years.

  If not introduced by others, ordinary people wouldn’t have thought that this gentle and shy guy, even some "silly" post-80s boys, has participated in the research and development of ropes in the field of special ropes, which has set four firsts in the rope and cable industry in China, and the developed marine special ropes have been successfully applied to major national scientific research tasks such as Jiaolong, Science and Snow Dragon.

  Eight years ago, Xu Lianlong, who graduated from the Textile Engineering College of Qingdao University, gave up his position as a civil servant in Qingdao Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, which was envied by outsiders, and resolutely went to the production line, drilling and developing ropes with old workers as an apprentice, and dealing with all kinds of boring machinery and ropes every day. In Xu Lianlong’s words, it is normal not to go home for half a month, and sometimes he directly eats and lives in the workshop, which is more than eight years.

  Eight years later, with his passion for research, Xu Lianlong, who is only 32 years old, has filled many gaps in the field of rope making in China and participated in the world’s largest submarine cable project — Among the major national scientific research tasks of "Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Project of China Academy of Sciences-Marine Special Instruments and Equipment Project". In addition, the marine special rope developed by it was also recognized as a "specialized, refined, special and new" product in Qingdao, and was listed in the National Science and Technology Innovation Fund project, and won the second prize of China Marine Engineering Science and Technology.

  Although Xu Lianlong has been promoted to deputy director of the Technology Center, he is still engaged in research and development. He hopes that the key technology of special ropes in China will no longer be restricted by foreign countries in the future, and at least let the world know that the ropes in China are no worse than any other country.

  Giving up civil servants to learn a trade has become attached to the rope.

  In 2008, Xu Lianlong, a textile major, graduated from Qingdao University and was admitted to the civil service position of Qingdao Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau with 700 people competing. "At that time, civil servants were a temptation to me, and in the year of college entrance examination, I was transferred to a strange textile major because I wanted to take a normal college entrance examination. At that time, like all graduates, I would have a mentality of seeking stability, but in fact, my position was not very consistent with my major." Xu Lianlong told the reporter of Yangguang.

  One year before graduation, Xu Lianlong worked as an intern with the master rope maker in the workshop of Hailiya Group for a period of time. At first, he just thought it was related to his major. After in-depth practice and "groping" with the master rope maker in the workshop, Xu Lianlong was somewhat "tempted" to study rope.

  "Although I was admitted to the civil service for inspection and quarantine, I didn’t know much about my major, so after repeated consideration, I gave up my stable civil service job and resolutely chose to go to Qingdao Hailiya Group to deal with all kinds of strange ropes in the workshop. At that time, I thought that since I chose, I wouldn’t regret it." Xu Lianlong’s idea at that time was very firm.

  After Xu Lianlong joined Qingdao Hailiya Group, he began to fully contact the rope industry. However, he found that the research and development of rope in China is still a very unpopular field, and there was a serious technical gap between China and advanced countries in rope production. Even ordinary coarse cloth clothing ropes have to rely on imports for a long time. At that time, Xu Lianlong made up his mind to make a modest effort to change the "embarrassing" situation of rope in the world.

  Less than a year after being promoted to the R&D department, the company handed over the research and development task of a new rope to Xu Lianlong to complete independently. The customer demanded that the rope must meet the American standard. If the rope produced cannot enter the American market, the enterprise will face claims, which is a big test and challenge for Xu Lianlong, who has just entered the business.

  However, Xu Lianlong worked overtime day and night to clarify the entry threshold of American cable and enterprise requirements, accurately "translated" American standards into enterprise production standards, and finally shortened the original research and development time from at least three months to one month.

  Since then, Xu Lianlong has become more obsessed with the development of ropes. He often "stayed out all night" at the critical stage of developing new ropes in the workshop, and later simply lived in the staff dormitory. "I am often 3-4 hours late for a date with my wife. Later, we directly agreed that if the meal lasts more than an hour, it will be cancelled automatically." This seemingly cute post-80 s guy also has a little embarrassment for his wife.

  Because 90% of the time is usually spent on the study and development of ropes, and he has less spare time and is not very sociable, Xu Lianlong and his lover met in Qingdao Hailiya Group, and they often worked together and became attached to each other for a long time. "My wife was also interested in my concentration, practicality and obsession with the rope industry." Xu Lianlong is a little shy.

  The "rookie" in the industry has become an "eagle" after studying for 8 years.

  "The floating rescue rope on the water surface used in the flood fighting and rescue period in the south a while ago must have been developed by our workshop. This rope has its own fluorescent effect. When the officers and men of the armed police rescue at night, the rescued person can judge the safe position according to the light of the rope and be rescued." Today, Xu Lianlong has become one of the authoritative experts in the field of ropes in China. When introducing all kinds of ropes developed by himself to reporters, it is like introducing his own "baby".

  In Xu Lianlong’s view, R&D work has never been accomplished overnight, and it needs enough patience and long-term accumulation.

  In 2009, Xu Lianlong, who went deep into the R&D department, received a task to develop a rope for scientific research vessels. The rope studied by Xu Lianlong is called geophysical prospecting cable, which is used to survey Haiyang natural gas and other resources. A vessel needs to tow 6 to 12 geophysical prospecting cables, each of which is at least 6 kilometers long, forming a fan-shaped operation surface on the sea surface. In the deep-sea application process, many exploration equipment needs to be hung. In order to ensure that the signal lines on the exploration equipment are not broken in the complex deep-sea environment, In addition, in order to ensure the stability of ship data transmission, the geophysical cable must be stabilized at the bottom of the sea.

  "Because our detection time is long and the seawater is corrosive, if we use metal materials, it will increase the load of the scientific research ship, and it will corrode from March to May. I can only re-select raw materials from all over the world. At that time, we selected materials from more than 40 raw materials from 200 manufacturers, and each of them had to undergo rigorous experimental testing." Xu Lianlong introduced.

  Three months after developing the marine cable, Xu Lianlong lived directly in the laboratory, tested and checked the performance of more than 40 kinds of raw materials, and finally found a suitable experimental material.  

  Then, Xu Lianlong carried out in-depth research and development from the aspects of weaving technology and treatment technology. After twisting the inner core, braiding the inner core, braiding the sheath, hot drawing and cold drawing, a qualified rope is finished. However, behind the complicated process, there are still countless technical indicators that need to be overcome, such as how many turns each rope core needs to twist, what level of twisting strength, and how much density and diameter the braided rope core needs to reach … … Every process has to be repeated hundreds of times. After more than a year’s hard work day and night, Xu Lianlong and his team finally succeeded in developing an extensible geophysical rope that can replace steel cables, breaking the situation of foreign imports.

  "It was a bit boring at first, but I thought that this type of rope has not yet been successfully developed by a domestic manufacturer, so I can slowly calm down." Xu Lianlong recalled that the research and development stage at that time was quite emotional.

  In 2011, the marine geophysical cable developed by Xu Lianlong went to the Pacific Ocean for scientific investigation with the Jiaolong, but no one would have thought that the research and development of the geophysical cable came from the hands of Qingdao post-80 s boys.

  "Xu Lianlong usually feels very practical, and what is valuable is that he really loves this industry, is practical and focused, and has no shelf." Colleagues who have worked with Xu Lianlong for many years commented on him.

  Not only that, in the process of researching and developing the cables needed in the aerospace field, Xu Lianlong is faced with hundreds of brand-new technical standards, and to reach each standard, numerous repeated experiments are required.

  At present, Xu Lianlong is not only the deputy director of the R&D center of the group, but also the deputy general manager of the subsidiaries of the group, but still insists on doing research. "In addition to ropes, our company is also involved in the emergency field, such as the fire apron that I am doing experimental research and development now." Xu Lianlong believes that once the research and development is successful, it will occupy some market share.

  On January 9, 2015, the self-cooling life-saving descent control device for high-rise buildings led by Xu Lianlong was selected as the national similar product in CCTV10 "Inventing DreamWorks" column. In the process of developing life-saving descent control device for high-rise buildings, Xu Lianlong visited ten construction sites and families, large and small, in order to understand the shortcomings of similar products and the real needs of users.

  In the eight years’ working experience so far, Xu Lianlong, who is only 32 years old, has invented hundreds of new ropes, and obtained seven invention patents and eight utility model patents. The special rope he participated in the research and development has set four firsts in the rope industry in China, namely the China depth, which can be applied to the depth of 8000 meters under the sea; China accuracy, the slip between the cable skin and the inner core is zero; China strength, the strength is 2-5 times that of the same diameter steel cable; China temperature, which does not decompose or melt in the environment of-196℃ to 560℃.

  Talking about craftsman spirit: it is indispensable to be willing to study hard and interested.

  Xu Lianlong, who is only 32 years old, won the company’s innovation award almost every year. On the 2015 commendation wall of Hailiya Group, Xu Lianlong wrote such a passage: Young people, it is more important to see tomorrow, seize today, forge ahead in peace, and you will create a miracle before the sunrise tomorrow.

  "At present, the young people I come into contact with are a little impetuous and complain a lot about their work, but if we want to know that the post-80s and post-90s will soon become the main force of national development, we should realize the gap between China and foreign countries in terms of ropes and cables, and we must be able to bear hardships, be willing to study and be interested in both." When it comes to this, Xu Lianlong is a little worried.

  According to data, the average life span of small and medium-sized enterprises in China is only 3.7 years, of which more than 80% are family businesses. But the average life expectancy of European and Japanese enterprises is 12.5 years. Xu Lianlong believes that the source of an enterprise’s success lies in product quality, and quality comes from our craftsman spirit, which needs to be able to endure hardships, be willing to study and keep loving.

  Xu Lianlong introduced that a manufacturer who visited a toilet in Japan a while ago made R&D products that were popular all over the world. However, the factory building is not a factory with modern facilities in common sense, even a little shabby, but Japanese craftsmen will treat R&D products as their own children and enterprises as their own careers. At present, Hailiya Group has less than 500 employees, so there are few private enterprises in China, but there are more than hundreds or even thousands in Japan, which is worthy of our consideration.

  For Xu Lianlong, the "artisan spirit" not only embodies the careful construction of rope and other products, but also constantly absorbs and learns the most advanced foreign technology, keeps learning, creates its own core technology, keeps pace with the times, builds a national brand, and at least lets the world know that China’s rope and rope are not bad. "

  Hailiya Group is a century-old enterprise. In recent ten years, it has suddenly transformed from an enterprise selling tie ropes into a leader in the high-end rope industry, and Xu Lianlong is one of the fastest growing people in the development of Hailiya Group. In Xu Lianlong’s view, enterprises are very important for the cultivation of young people, hoping that enterprises can give young people more opportunities, and he is one of the beneficiaries. During the conversation, Xu Lianlong kept repeating a sentence: Be grateful, the cultivation of an excellent craftsman must be related to the cultivation of enterprises and the policy support of the state.

  For Xu Lianlong, who will become a father in a few months, he hopes that his children will be responsible people in the future.