"champion of the 8th national workers' vocational skills competition" after years of hard work, he finally won "skill freedom"
2024-09-25
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the picture shows shi shuaishuai taking photos at the award ceremony. photo by xian kang
on september 13, shi shuaishuai, a welder in the general assembly workshop of xi'an aerospace engine co., ltd., the sixth academy of china aerospace science and technology corporation, stepped onto the podium of the final of the 8th national workers' vocational skills competition as the champion of the welding competition.
when shi shuaishuai received the heavy trophy, certificate and medal around his neck, he felt a little dizzy. but he quickly calmed down and looked at gao fenglin, the chief referee of the competition and the "no. 1 welder in china". "many years ago, i learned at school that master gao was the best welder in china, so i vowed to learn from him and become a senior technician before i turned 30," said shi shuaishuai. on this day, the 29-year-old shi shuaishuai not only realized his dream of becoming a senior technician, but also won the championship, ushering in the highlight of his life.
finals moment
on the morning of september 11, shi shuaishuai walked into the welding competition field at the high-tech campus of shaanxi railway institute and started the first practical competition with masters from all over the country.
previously, shaanxi province selected 25 players from the top three of the previous provincial first and second category competitions and concentrated them for high-intensity training. during the more than two months of training, they practiced during the day and studied theory at night, with intensive training for more than ten hours a day; every 10 days, five rounds of eliminations were held in strict accordance with the rules, and finally four people were left to represent shaanxi welders in the finals, and shi shuaishuai was one of them.
shi shuaishuai said: "i participated in the competition in 2012, and later won many awards in enterprise-level, industry-level and provincial-level competitions. but before the competition, i was still under a lot of pressure and couldn't eat or sleep well."
in the 4.5-hour practical competition, the contestants had to complete 7 standard competition items, namely 6 welding items in different situations and 1 x-ray interpretation. the 3rd and 6th items were very difficult and were the most likely to lose points for the contestants. shi shuaishuai recalled that item 3 was the obstacle welding of aluminum alloy pipe corners, which was to weld two aluminum alloy pipes into a 90-degree angle and then weld them upside down to an inclined flat plate. "the melting point of aluminum alloy is 660 degrees celsius, but a dense oxide film is naturally formed on the surface of the pipe, and its melting point is as high as 2050 degrees celsius. when we use inert gas tungsten inert gas argon arc welding to weld, we have to melt that film but not burn through the parent material. this depends on our skills."
the sharp corners of the pipes are a prominent challenge. on site, after getting the pipes, he was confident, put on the mask, picked up the welding gun and pipes, welded the front side clockwise, and welded the other side counterclockwise. he put down the gun and pushed up the mask, and saw that the entire weld was even and smooth, especially the familiar fish scale pattern welds at the sharp corners. shi shuaishuai couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile. all projects were completed, and there were 10 minutes left before the end of the competition.
on the afternoon of september 12, in the theoretical exam, shi shuaishuai won the highest score of 97.5 points.
wanted to give up
after winning the championship, shi shuaishuai sighed, "i wanted to give up a few years ago because it was tiring and hard. i had to weld with my eyes fixed on the ground, bend over and lower my head every day, which inevitably led to cervical spondylosis." but then he smiled with relief, "what kind of struggle doesn't involve hardship? without those years, there would be no today."
as he spoke, shi shuaishuai rolled up his sleeves, revealing burn marks on his hands and arms. the old marks were faint, but the new scars were obvious. the most obvious were the big joints of his index and middle fingers, which were red and black. "this is caused by the high temperatures all year round. this is nothing. the chest is covered with burns and burns."
"don't we have leather gloves and flame-retardant work clothes?" the reporter asked. shi shuaishuai smiled and said, "arc welding with welding rods produces a lot of spatter, not to mention work clothes and gloves, sometimes even the mask can be burned through. when welding overhead, the welding spatter falls all over my body."
on the last day of the training camp, during an overhead welding project, a beam of spatter burned through the mask and fell into the hair, burning the scalp, which has just scabbed over. "but in order to weld a complete shape, i had to endure the pain and keep the movements continuous and stable. this is usually the case for special operations," said shi shuaishuai.
in fact, the more tiring and difficult stage is the apprenticeship stage. "whether it is school or factory, the teacher's teaching method is the same, but the apprentices' learning varies greatly. progress depends on understanding and hard work."
in his first year after graduation, shi shuaishuai came to jiangnan shipyard. in order to obtain the certificate recognized by the classification society as soon as possible, he practiced hard every day, consuming 5 kilograms of welding rods a day, and his hands were sore from exhaustion. jiangnan is very hot in summer. the shipyard building is tall and has no air conditioning. electric fans cannot be used for welding. welders have to wear heavy flame-retardant work clothes. in addition to the high temperature of welding, shi shuaishuai is often soaked all over and almost fainted once.
however, through repeated tempering, shi shuaishuai gradually experienced the freedom of skills, which was an enjoyment of overcoming difficulties and a happiness of innovation and creation.
at xi'an aerospace engine co., ltd., the task of welding the engine pipelines of a key model fell on the shoulders of shi shuaishuai and four other people. this material is prone to react with air during welding to produce defects, what to do? "of course, use inert gas to isolate the air, but how to achieve it?" after repeated experiments, shi shuaishuai and his co-workers made a square argon flushing box, put the pipes in it, and inflated the two ends of the box with argon to ensure that the welding was carried out in an argon environment. when the welding began, four pairs of eyes stared at the welded pipe. when the welded pipe was taken out of the box, the silvery-white luster that represented success swept away their fatigue after working continuously for more than ten hours, and they cheered happily. "to this day, this box has been used as a tool."
in this competition, the most difficult sixth event, the "triangular wave manual pulse welding method" for welding 10mm small diameter aluminum alloy conduits, was first invented by shi shuaishuai. it greatly improves the welding efficiency and quality of small diameter conduits and has been widely used.
no limit to skills
after stepping down from the podium, shi shuaishuai first thought of his wife. after two and a half months of closed training, he did not go home once. he immediately called his wife who was waiting for the birth of her baby at home to tell her the good news. "i knew you could do it." his wife was very happy. the second call he made was to the chairman of the company's labor union. the chairman of the labor union said in surprise: "you have created the best results for the company in so many years." these two sentences made him feel that no matter how hard and tired he was, it was worth it.
life has reached a big step. while shi shuaishuai is relieved, he is very clear-headed: "i still have to work hard. there are special technicians and chief technicians above senior technicians."
he hopes to work hard in at least two directions: one is that there is no limit to skills, and he should continue to improve himself. "when i was at the jiangnan shipyard, i worked with a doctor and benefited a lot in theory. we also have craftsmen who specialize in craftsmanship in our workshop, and i will continue to learn from them."
the other is to pass on skills, pass on knowledge and skills, and give back to the team. "the atmosphere in our team is very good. when i go out for training, my work tasks are assigned to my teammates. they do a lot of work for me, so i have to share my skills."
in fact, it is not only shi shuaishuai who is thinking about the future. the company and workshop leaders are also planning how to build a stage for the champion to grow and shine. "we are considering dividing the workshop employees into different technical levels, giving full play to their role, setting up a project team, and letting them lead the team to tackle key problems," said zhou changjun, workshop director.
