A Sidelight on the Research and Development of Five Key R&D Teams of Southwest Aluminum

There is a force called innovation, which pushes Southwest Aluminum forward.

In 2015, Southwest Aluminum (Group) Co., Ltd. established five key R&D teams with technology centers as R&D platforms, aluminum-lithium alloys, casting automation and tooling, basic characteristics of aerospace materials, automotive panels, lightweight rail vehicles, etc. The field has conducted in-depth research.

This is a bold attempt of Southwest Aluminum's management innovation, which signifies that Southwest China has promoted technological innovation and improved the quality of development to an unprecedented level.

“The team should clearly define the orientation and direction of the work, aim at the urgent needs of production and operation, and the cutting-edge technologies in the world, and provide strong technical support for the company to control losses, increase profits, and transform and develop.” Zhang Jilong, general manager of Southwest Aluminum, raised ardent hopes for the team.

Over the past year, the majority of technical personnel have shouldered their responsibilities for innovation, condensed into the power of innovation, conquered the city, and overcome difficulties. They have conducted bold explorations and practices in various fields.

Clear responsibilities condense innovative wisdom

As the specific person in charge of the five key R&D teams, Lin Lin has many titles: Chief Engineer of Chinalco, Chongqing Liangjiang Scholar, Southwestern Aluminum Deputy Chief Engineer, and Technical Center Director. With so many titles, he was so busy with the day. When the author saw him, he just finished a special technical meeting.

For a short time, the author interviewed Lin Lin. Lin Lin said: “Southwest Aluminium has established five key R&D teams that are major management innovations that reflect the strong determination and confidence of innovation-driven development.” When this work is handed over to the technical center, everyone feels that The burden on the heavy.

As a unit specializing in scientific research, the Technology Center is the frontier window for Southwestern Aluminum's technological innovation and is responsible for many functions of scientific research and development. After the establishment of the five project teams, how can we boldly innovate in management and consolidate the strength of researchers? Lin Lin has been thinking.

“Before trying first, start the work first, and then solve any problems in the process.” Combining the actuality of scientific research and the expertise of existing technicians, Lin Lin quickly identified the heads of five key R&D teams and member.

On April 29, 2015, in the conference room on the third floor of the office building, Li Yong, chief engineer of Southwest Aluminum, and the project leader of five key R&D team signed a target responsibility statement. Five key R&D teams have formulated team building plans and management assessment methods. This marks the official launch of the R&D team work.

At the beginning of the work, Lin Lin put forward "five kinds of consciousness" to the R&D team: responsibility awareness, responsibility, special consciousness, quality consciousness, and innovation consciousness. Emphasis on doing things with responsibility, proactively doing things, doing things consistently, and doing pioneering work creatively.

Du Rong is the Director of the R&D Department of the Technology Center and serves as the executive director of the aluminum-lithium alloy development team. He told the author: “After the establishment of the five key R&D teams, each person has a strong sense of mission. Everyone understands that the responsibility for fulfilling the team’s goals is more actively invested in R&D.”

Responsible for the light of innovation and creativity

In the path of innovation, even if it is full of thorns and bumpy, it can not stop the enthusiasm and strength of team innovation.

The aluminum-lithium alloy development team has concentrated on a large number of technical talents, not only the old comrades who have fought on the front lines of the research field for a long time, but also the new army of science and technology that graduated after 2000. Several generations of people have fought for more than 30 years on this research front. "Specialty" and "inheritance" are the most valuable qualities of this team. Yao Yong, who graduated from Zhongnan University's Material Physics Department in 2007, has been working here for nine years and has successfully completed the development task of an alloy 2xxx. He was also hired as a competent engineer. The accumulation of more than 30 years has enabled Southwest Aluminum to possess the production capacity of the major aluminum-lithium alloy materials in the world and become the only aluminum-lithium alloy production base in China.

As the executive person in charge of the aerospace material fundamentals research team, Wen Qinghong can always make tedious and complicated work nuanced. Aiming at the quality problem of a certain type of skin plate that was reflected by the user for many times, she worked hard to finally determine the key influencing factors of the roughness of the milling and successfully solved the quality problem of a key product by using the 7050 alloy square ingot ultrasonic flaw detection technology. She and her colleagues completed more than 180 researches on failure analysis and prevention techniques throughout the year. While looking for the reasons for quality objections, they also put forward many measures to stabilize product quality. "The overall situation of service, hard work, hard work, and willingness to take a stone." Lin Lin's overall assessment of this team.

With the implementation of a lightweight vehicle strategy, there is a huge opportunity for the development of aluminum alloy materials. The automotive board development team has developed a series of perfect working standards and developed automotive materials such as hoods and bumpers. Many models of products sent to the major domestic automobile manufacturers have received user approval. With the maturity of product development and market cultivation, Southwest China is also accelerating the construction of automotive material production lines. Recently, it has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chongqing Zhongli New Energy Automobile.

The casting technology research team is represented by Shuguang. In the past year, this team not only stabilized the casting process of 7050 alloy materials, but also successively mastered the 7xxx series of high-strength alloy casting technologies of various types, and achieved a major breakthrough in the manufacturing technology of a 7Axx alloy slab ingot. The successful development of 7050 casting technology has met the urgent needs of key national projects. Now, Southwest Aluminum is the leading domestic manufacturer of aviation 7050 alloys.

After the lightweight team of rail vehicles successfully developed the coal vehicle materials, it successfully developed alloys with a strength of more than 700 MPa according to the needs of users. The multiple types of alloy materials provided by SWA are used on new rail heavy trucks. In the case of changes in the market situation, the team also took full advantage of technology, the focus of the work turned to the development of mobile phone materials, and successfully produced a sample, sending customers to test the effect is obvious, to lay a solid foundation for the next batch production.

In 2015, the five teams submitted a total of 2 new project proposals, applied for 14 patents and published 14 papers, and achieved many major breakthroughs in the research of aluminum-lithium alloys and high-performance alloys.

Responsibility of interpretation stimulates passion for innovation

In the era of "mass innovation, innovation and entrepreneurship," only lasting innovation can make an invincible position in the market. Southwest China will occupy a leading position and lead the development of the industry. Continuous innovation is the determining factor.

Southwest China will establish a technology center as a world-class aluminum processing research center and become a main unit for the research and development of new products and new technologies in China. It will continue to carry out research on cutting-edge technologies and new product development.

“Strengthen the cooperation, coordination and communication between the teams, establish an open team, take the initiative to solve the problems arising in production and management, and commit to becoming the main force in the company's structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading.” This is the chairman and party secretary of the Southwest Aluminum Group Zhang Jilong. New demands on the team.

Lin Lin who is good at technological innovation also has many ideas in management. He told the author: "The next step, the technology center is preparing to set up an innovation studio. It is necessary to put some golden ideas that are proposed by technicians to improve production. First, conduct a small test at the technology center, and then transfer it to production after it is feasible. ."

Lin Lin said that there is a comprehensive set of procedures for the development of technology, and some of the front-line technicians are very good at improving measures, but they do not meet the requirements for the establishment of scientific research projects. The technical center has hardware such as process experiments, physical and chemical inspections, and a professional research team that can fully support their ideas and give them a space to show their intelligence.

Lin Lin said that in the past, the development of the new product of Southwest Aluminum was put on the production line. Due to the work arrangement and other reasons, the team's professionalism was not strong, and the continuous research capacity was weak, resulting in extremely high development costs and low efficiency. After a small-scale test and a mid-scale test at the technical center and then scaled up to the production line for mass production, this problem can be well resolved.

Li Yong, general manager of Southwest Aluminum and deputy secretary of the Party Committee, emphasized: “The technology center must take the initiative to participate in the production of the production plant and solve the actual quality problems at the site.” This is the requirement of Southwest Aluminum and is also the direction of research and development personnel of the technology center.

"Technology Center will continue to carry out mechanism innovation, inspire the enthusiasm of innovation of the majority of technical personnel, make innovation an inexhaustible motive force for the development of Southwest Aluminum, let innovation drive the development quality of Southwest Aluminum, and let innovation accelerate Southwest Aluminum to become a world-class aluminum processing company. Lin Lin said.