Chapter 53: The U-Shaped Plate

After the deal was closed, Shanpao called out to his men to help load the goods, while he himself sat down with Ma Jian and Wang Cheng for tea and idle conversation. As for Zhao Guoyang, this so-called section chief, he was intentionally or unintentionally ignored. The reason was simple: he looked far too young, most likely just an errand-runner. Even though Wang Cheng had introduced him as a section chief at the beginning, Shanpao paid him no mind.

Ma Jian took the cigarette Shanpao offered, lit it, and shook his head as he spoke, “Boss Wang, your steel quality should be guaranteed, right? This batch is for a major project. If the materials aren’t up to standard and the product quality suffers, don’t blame us for coming after you for compensation!”

“Director Ma, you can rest assured, I guarantee every piece meets the mark. Our steel comes from major factories like Magang—absolutely nothing to worry about,” Shanpao replied, bowing and nodding obsequiously.

“Hehe, it’s not enough for you to say so; our Section Chief Zhao has to approve it!” Ma Jian, ever shrewd, had already noticed that Boss Wang was slighting Zhao Guoyang. He pointed at Zhao Guoyang seated beside him and continued, “Our Section Chief Zhao is a graduate of Jinling University of Technology. As the technical chief here, he has the final say on product quality issues.”

“Ah!” Boss Wang, known by the nickname “Shanpao,” was taken aback, but quickly replaced his expression with a fawning smile, turning to Zhao Guoyang and saying, “So you’re the technical chief, Section Chief Zhao? My apologies! I’ll be counting on your guidance in the future.”

Having been in business for so many years, Shanpao was no fool. Ma Jian’s intention to elevate Zhao Guoyang was all too obvious. Clearly, the factory director valued this young man highly—how could he dare be negligent now? His attitude shifted at once, and he began to flatter Zhao Guoyang with enthusiasm.

Though Zhao Guoyang didn’t particularly care for Boss Wang’s abrupt change from arrogance to humility, there’s an old saying: you don’t strike a smiling face. Since the man was being so accommodating, Zhao Guoyang responded with polite small talk.

Before long, the goods were loaded. Boss Wang initially wanted to invite the three men to a meal, but Ma Jian declined on their behalf. As they were leaving, Boss Wang shook hands with Ma Jian and Wang Cheng in turn, and also exchanged pleasantries with Zhao Guoyang, warmly inviting him to visit whenever he had time.

For businessmen as shrewd as Boss Wang, Zhao Guoyang felt neither particular like nor dislike—mostly, he understood. In this era, if you wanted to make money, sometimes this was just how things had to be done.

That Boss Wang had managed to expand his business so rapidly spoke to his abilities. At the very least, in terms of product knowledge, he had clearly put in the effort. Dealing with such a person could save a client a great deal of time on inquiries.

By the time they returned to the factory, it was already past two in the afternoon.

After seeing Ma Jian back to his office, Wang Cheng turned to Zhao Guoyang and said, “Young Section Chief Zhao, you go ahead with your work. I’ll handle having the goods brought into the warehouse later.”

“Bringing into the warehouse” referred to the process by which newly purchased raw materials or components provided by supporting factories were counted and entered by the warehouse manager. As the head of procurement, Wang Cheng was in charge of the warehouse, and so this task naturally fell under his purview.

There were sometimes loopholes in the warehousing process, a fact Zhao Guoyang was well aware of. That Wang Cheng was so eager to send him off probably meant he had some little secrets of his own.

But such matters were not for Zhao Guoyang to interfere in. He glanced at Wang Cheng and nodded, “Then I’ll trouble you, Section Chief Wang. I still need to work on some drawings, so I’ll take my leave.”

After Zhao Guoyang left, Wang Cheng’s face grew suspicious. Though Zhao Guoyang had been smiling, his eyes had betrayed a knowing look that he hadn’t bothered to hide.

“Could it be that the kid knows the tricks of the warehousing process? Better not try anything with this batch today, just in case…” Wang Cheng thought to himself.

Zhao Guoyang, however, paid no mind to Wang Cheng’s concerns. Upon returning, he began explaining a few drawing issues to Hua Guosheng and Xu Dongfeng.

“Guoyang, Dongfeng and I have basically finished all the parts drawings this morning. These last few are a bit more complex. After your last explanation, I tried drawing the tooling myself—take a look and see if it’s correct,” Hua Guosheng said.

The complex drawings Hua Guosheng referred to included the lower engine support tube of the frame, the gearbox support plate, and other irregular, unique parts. Because the C100 model used a cradle-type frame structure, many components differed greatly from the frame of the straddle-type motorcycles Hua Guosheng had worked on before.

Most notably, there was the engine and gearbox connection.

Taking Hua Guosheng’s drawings, Zhao Guoyang examined them carefully and nodded inwardly. It was clear that, despite his limited education, Hua Guosheng had a solid grasp of the basics; once Zhao Guoyang explained his ideas, he could basically render them as requested.

However, Hua Guosheng’s shortcomings were just as obvious: he was methodical and by-the-book, but lacked innovation. For example, in regard to the engine connection, Zhao Guoyang had told him to be extra cautious and to consider several approaches. Yet Hua Guosheng still used the old method from straddle-type frames, connecting with round tubes.

After pondering a moment, Zhao Guoyang smiled as he pointed to the drawing, “Master Hua, the biggest difference between the C100’s cradle frame and the straddle-type is the engine’s position and mounting method.”

As he spoke, Zhao Guoyang took out the general frame diagram and pointed to the engine mounting area. “Look here: if you use a round tube, you have to bend it twice to get around the front support tube. That not only wastes material but is also difficult to fabricate. So why not try a different approach?”

With that, Zhao Guoyang picked up the tooling drawing and began sketching. Soon, a bent ‘U-shaped plate’ appeared on the paper.

Pointing to the ‘U-shaped plate,’ Zhao Guoyang said, “Since it’s hard to make a round tube work in this space, why not replace it with this ‘U-shaped plate?’”

“First, it saves space; second, in terms of welding strength, it’s nearly as good. What do you think, Master Hua?”

After Zhao Guoyang finished, Hua Guosheng was full of admiration. Indeed, anyone in mechanics would know that a ‘U-shaped plate’ has better welding performance than a square tube, second only to a round tube.

Hua Guosheng had originally wanted to improve this engine connection and had thought about using a square tube instead of a round one. But given the high strength requirements, he hesitated, fearing the square tube wouldn’t suffice.

Now Zhao Guoyang had immediately identified the issue and opted for a ‘U-shaped plate’ instead of a double-bent round tube. In terms of strength, there was no problem at all; in terms of space, it was much more direct, saving a significant amount of material—a true improvement on multiple fronts.