Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 743: The public is shouting, the invisible champion is crying

At the end of September 2012, China held a symposium on the steel and coal industries.

At the meeting, relevant departments and units made a profound reflection: China's steel market has overcapacity, but we still import a large amount of special steel.

There are three main categories of imported products.

First, the general types of steel imported due to market prices do not have high technical content. This is definitely not what everyone cares about.

The second is imports resulting from cooperation agreements between Chinese and foreign enterprises. For example, many joint venture automobile factories specify the use of foreign automobile panels. This part of the problem is not that big.

The third is the types of steel products that China relies on imports, which mainly include: high-end special steel, deep-drawn tinplate, tool steel, some high-end steel for rigging wire ropes, some steel for automobiles and home appliances, etc.

Obviously, the third part is the real problem.

The special steel used in ballpoint pen tips was brought up as a typical case at the symposium and explained to everyone as a negative case.

This was all right, and relevant cases immediately appeared on the Chinese Internet.

"In the past, things like aircraft carrier steel plates were not suitable for excessive publicity."

So it doesn’t mean that China cannot produce this kind of steel.

Especially under the leadership of some public intellectuals, the direction of public opinion is even more wrong.

“If we can’t even make ballpoint pen tips, how far is China from being a world manufacturing power?”

In their view, saying that China is not good is the greatest meaning of their existence.

……

"Beside the small steel ball, there are five grooves to guide the ink, and the processing accuracy must reach one thousandth of a millimeter."

"Mr. Cao, I think pen tip steel is a thing. It is a good opportunity to start a new Nanshan Special Steel."

Some public intellectuals seemed to have found a new propaganda hot spot and began to focus on this topic, saying how China's science and technology was so bad and how foreign countries were so good.

However, there are actually a group of people on the Internet who believe this statement.

Even as an expert in related fields, he even stood up and explained.

However, few ordinary netizens are willing to believe Xie Lingyun's statement.

It happened that during this period, Nanshan Special Steel acquired Shaogang and had its own crude steel production line.

"In short, the small steel ball on the ballpoint pen refill is a very powerful-looking thing, and the processing precision is very high."

This is Baosteel's attitude.

But this so-called technical barrier is not worth mentioning for large companies. It is not an impenetrable technical barrier that can be developed if you want to.

In order to prove that there is no problem with China's steel technology and to break the ignorant remarks of the public, Xie Lingyun felt that Nanshan Special Steel must produce pen tip steel.

“There are only two countries in the world that produce ballpoint pen balls, one is Switzerland and the other is Japan.”

When their founders first entered this field, the competitive pressure was very small. After half a century of development, they continued to use profits to gradually develop new technologies, thus establishing certain technical barriers that made it impossible for ordinary small businesses to enter. Come.

Then combined with Nanshan Special Steel's process technology and a few adjustments, pen tip steel can be produced.

Pen tip steel is a very small market, and only a few small companies around the world are engaged in it. They are the hidden champions in this field.

"And we really can't make such a thing. Domestic steel cannot make such balls."

"Although it looks like just a steel ball, the surface roughness requirement is 0.4 microns. At the top of the pen tip, the thickness is only 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters."

It’s just that just a dozen tons of this kind of steel can produce hundreds of millions of ballpoint pens. The sales channels are not good, the profit is low, and the quality is special. No steel factory is willing to produce it.

“If the accuracy is not good enough, then the gap between the ball and the nib will be either too big or too small.”

"But pen tip steel is different. It is a completely civilian product, and it is now highly hyped. It has even reached the point where it involves national honor."

"The opening thickness of the pen tip is less than 0.1 mm. Any small deviation will affect the smoothness and service life of the pen tip. The writing angle and pressure must also be taken into consideration."

Pen tip steel is a very small market, and only a few small companies around the world are engaged in it. They are the hidden champions in this field.

But for large companies, the market size of this small field is too small to be noticed, so there is no need to pay attention.

"China has always claimed that it is an industrial power, but it can't even make a ballpoint pen ball as small as possible."

They also advocate that this is their craftsmanship spirit and that they are the hidden champions of the industry.

China is fully capable of producing it.

This makes people feel as if only Swiss and Japanese manufacturers in the world can produce it.

Xie Lingyun has naturally seen all the buzzing news on the Internet.

But for large companies, the market size of this small field is too small to be noticed, so there is no need to pay attention.

This matter was originally not a big deal.

"If we announce to the outside world that we want to produce pen tip steel at this time, it will definitely have a very good publicity effect."

But this so-called technical barrier is not worth mentioning for large companies. It is not an impenetrable technical barrier that can be developed if you want to.

When their founders first entered this field, the competitive pressure was very small. After half a century of development, they continued to use profits to gradually develop new technologies, thus establishing certain technical barriers that made it impossible for ordinary small businesses to enter. Come.

“The performance of pen tip steel requires that when processing with such precision, it must be easy to cut and must not crack during processing.”

"If the gap is too small, the ink will not flow out smoothly; if the gap is too large, it will cause ink leakage."

Compared with large-scale steel, which is often described in units of millions of tons, Nanshan Special Steel, a "small business" in the steel field, has an advantage in producing this kind of pen tip steel.

They do not need to build a large-scale production line. It is enough to flexibly adjust the process parameters based on the existing pilot production line.

After all, a furnace of molten iron is easily dozens of tons, and China's annual demand for pen tip steel is equivalent to dozens of furnaces of molten iron.

If a large company like Baosteel were to do this, it would probably end up selling it at a loss to make it cheaper than imported pen tip steel.

Because you include various R&D costs and production line modification costs, the price is not cheap at all.

But for Nanshan Special Steel, the pressure in this area is much smaller.

Even in order to keep this pen tip steel production line in use, we can reduce the amount of molten iron that comes out of the furnace each time, and make the time for the molten iron to come out of the furnace appropriately longer.

Then, we will seize this market all over the world so that this experimental production line can continue to operate.

After thinking about these issues clearly, Xie Lingyun took the initiative to come to Cao Yang.

"If we want to develop pen nib steel, how long will it take us?"