Chapter 146 The right to speak

Xu Qiang now lives a very fulfilling life every day.

He works on product development during the day, and after get off work, he goes to the peat field to direct the work. At the same time, he also has to make flavors and extract new dyes. After returning home at night, he needs to review his high school homework, so he only sleeps five or six hours a day.

Fortunately, he can take an hour nap at noon at the company, otherwise Xu Qiang would not be able to withstand such long-term and high-intensity study and life.

But hard work always pays off. In a blink of an eye, a week later, Xu Qiang received good news one after another.

First, the manufacturer in Shanghai finally delivered the customized acid bottles. There were only thirty in a batch. With these ampoules, Xu Qiang could finally make cannon battery samples.

In addition, through the hard work of the past few days, Xu Qiang also used the principle of perchloric acid batteries to make a brand new reserve battery. This battery has a special structure. Normally, the electrodes and acid are isolated in the battery. Only when they are needed, a small mechanism will be used to mix the solution and electrodes. Although the power is not as good as that of ordinary lead-acid batteries and it is a disposable battery, the storage time of this battery can be very long, usually more than ten years, and its adaptability to extreme temperatures is also much higher than that of ordinary batteries.

No one in the factory had expected that Xu Qiang had quietly developed a new type of military reserve battery.

"The acid bottles you requested have arrived. When can this project be completed?" Li Cunzhu asked Xu Qiang in the chief engineer's office.

"After making this sample, I still need to test it, which probably will take some time," said Xu Qiang.

"I want to remind you that when the project was launched, you promised a two-month deadline. Now more than half a month has passed, and I haven't seen the samples yet. The subsequent testing work will be very cumbersome. Can you still complete the task?"

Li Cunzhu has extensive experience in military product research and development. In his opinion, making samples is only the first step. The samples will need to be repeatedly tested and improved, which is the most time-consuming process.

For example, if it takes one month to make a sample of a new product, then the time for testing and improvement is often three to five times the time spent on making the sample. That is to say, it will take at least three to five months until the sample improvement is completed and all tests are fully completed!
Therefore, the most critical part of product development is not the production of samples, but the subsequent improvement work, which is the most difficult and time-consuming. Even at the end, if the product still cannot meet the parameters set at the beginning of the design, then the entire project will either fail or become an "unfinished" project.

What Li Cunzhu didn't know was that Xu Qiang already had mature military battery technology and formula, and had completed the testing of the battery part. He only needed to load it into the artillery shell, and the sample would be basically successful.

"I can only do my best to make the sample tested successfully as soon as possible," said Xu Qiang.

When facing Li Cunzhu, Xu Qiang had to be reserved in his words. As the saying goes, colleagues are enemies. In his previous life, Xu Qiang had seen many people like him. So even if the project progress has reached the final stage, Xu Qiang cannot be too aggressive.

Moreover, Xu Qiang understood that the main purpose of Li Cunzhu calling him to the office today was to inform him that after the acid bottle arrived, the rest would be Xu Qiang's business, so as to avoid Xu Qiang putting the blame on him for the failure to complete the sample on time due to the late arrival of the acid bottle. Xu Qiang could naturally see this.

"Then keep working hard. In short, you must complete the research and development of your project within the specified time limit."

"If there is not enough time, I will just send the samples directly to the province." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"I advise you not to do this!" Li Cunzhu's face suddenly became serious when he heard this, and he said to Xu Qiang: "In terms of technology research and development, you are just a newcomer, there are some things you don't understand! We are a formal military-industrial enterprise, and we need to take responsibility for any product that leaves the factory! It is very irresponsible to report new products directly to the province without undergoing strict testing and evaluation in the factory, and if the province fails the test, they will be held accountable!"

What Li Cunzhu said was indeed true.

Generally speaking, successful development of new military products requires testing in the factory. Only when the factory has successfully tested the products can they be reported to the provincial superior authorities. This is subject to very strict regulations.

If any problems are found in the re-testing of samples sent to the province, the superiors will hold the relevant responsible persons of the factory accountable. This is definitely not a trivial matter. It involves a series of problems such as deceiving superiors and dereliction of duty. Not only will they be dealt with internally by the factory, but they will also be punished by superiors, including demotion, cancellation of various honors and awards, and their future prospects will be bleak.

Therefore, over the years, the internal product testing of Shengli Machinery Factory has always been very strict. The testing cycle of some samples is even as long as one to two years, just to avoid the occurrence of these situations.

"Leader, I want to explain that I sent the samples to the province not because I didn't want to test them, but for other reasons." Xu Qiang remained calm as he said, "First of all, my battery products can withstand all kinds of extreme temperatures, but does our factory have such low-temperature and high-temperature testing equipment? If not, how can you let me test them?"

"This..." Li Cunzhu didn't expect Xu Qiang to ask this question, and was suddenly speechless. Although Shengli Machinery Factory has its own shooting range and some instruments for testing the performance of military products, it does not have the instruments needed to test batteries. After all, Shengli Machinery Factory has been using the battery production technology and production lines assisted by the state since its establishment, and they have not independently developed military batteries.

"Also, does our factory have any chemical experts? If not, who will do the evaluation? The battery industry is a chemical industry. The production and testing of new batteries require a very high level of expertise. And now in this factory, I am the only one who knows the most about chemical engineering, so can my evaluation represent the factory?" Xu Qiang asked again.

"That won't work. You didn't graduate from chemical engineering, and your diploma is too low..." Li Cunzhu said with a frown.

"Since you don't trust me, the samples can only be sent to the province for testing. But I still want to ask, since you don't believe in my technical strength and don't recognize my testing ability, why did you approve this project?" Xu Qiang was a little aggressive at this time, but he still seemed very calm facing Li Cunzhu.

Even when facing the factory director Liu Biao, Xu Qiang still dared to speak frankly, not to mention Li Cunzhu. Besides, Xu Qiang had no choice but to do so.

Since Xu Qiang has already signed a military order and become the person in charge of this project, he must have enough say. Only in this way can his project be successfully submitted and completed without interference.

In addition, there are indeed no chemical experts in the factory at the moment, so Xu Qiang must take this opportunity to firmly grasp the right to speak on the factory's chemical industry in his own hands. Doing so will also prevent the credit from falling into the hands of others after the project is successful in the future.

Regarding this aspect, Xu Qiang had rich experience and knowledge in his previous life. In his opinion, some things must be fought for with all one's strength, even if it will offend the leaders!

"If you really want to do this..." Li Cunzhu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then you need to prepare a statement of responsibility first, stating that it was your personal initiative to send the samples to the provincial government for testing. In addition, you need to explain the specific situation of our factory, including the lack of specialized battery testing equipment and professional chemical talents. You need to explain all these to your superiors in writing..."

"I understand." Xu Qiang nodded.

Xu Qiang knew that Li Cunzhu wanted him to write a disclaimer for the factory. To put it bluntly, he didn't want to take any responsibility for Xu Qiang's affairs.

Especially their technical department. After all, the factory's technical department is responsible for the research and development of new products. Li Cunzhu has been cautious over the years, fearing that he would make mistakes. After all, these years are a critical period in his career. It is precisely because of this that in recent years, he has basically stopped engaging in the research and development of new products, and his mind has not been focused on it.

The less you do, the fewer mistakes you make. This is the perception of many current state-owned enterprise leaders. It is also because of this that there are so many inactive leaders in later generations.

"That's it. Once you have written this statement of responsibility, you can send the samples to the province for testing," said Li Cunzhu.

Li Cunzhu did not expect that today's events would end up like this.

Originally, he just wanted to remind Xu Qiang that his customized acid bottle had arrived, and that he had done what he was supposed to do, and that he had no responsibility for the subsequent project.

But unexpectedly, Xu Qiang insisted on sending the samples directly to the province for testing, and his reasons were so convincing that Li Cunzhu was unable to refute them.

"Okay, I will write the responsibility letter today and give it to you before leaving get off work." Xu Qiang said.

"Yeah." Li Cunzhu nodded, indicating that Xu Qiang could leave.

Then, Xu Qiang stood up and walked out of Li Cunzhu's office.

After leaving the office building, Xu Qiang first came to the battery workshop.

The battery workshop has a special ampoule filling line. After Xu Qiang handed the electrolyte formula to the workshop director Zhang Qiang, the rest of the work was completed by the workers.

The ampoules customized this time are not much different from the bottles used in the workshop before, except that Xu Qiang designed a slightly larger capacity, but it is completely within the space limitations of the shells. In addition, the body of this batch of ampoules is also about 0.2 mm thicker, mainly to prevent damage during transportation, and the increase in thickness will not affect the breakage effect of the battery after launch.

(End of this chapter)