Chapter 241 - A Game of Ever-Increasing Expenses
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the grand staff mobilization meeting in the morning, faced with the brightly colored national flag, the blood-thirstiness and fighting spirit of the tens of thousands of staff from Shangfei Corporation were awakened. Everyone held their breaths and silently vowed to produce the large-scale domestic passenger aircraft!
However, after their passions had cooled down, they found that they still faced a cruel reality. Swearing an oath collectively and shouting some slogans merely served to stabilize the heart of the army and unite their minds. But, there were always plenty of ways to approach a problem.
In the call to the second-in-command, the elderly president of Shang Fei Corporation, He Jin Long, proposed his alternative solution. “We will buy the PS90 engine made by the Russian Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Group. This engine model made by the Russians is pretty good. It uses less fuel too, and its standard is similar to that of the CFM56-5. It has a lifespan of 10,000 hours and above. The time between major repairs are longer and the purchase price is a third cheaper. It is expected that the engines from the PS90 series will be used in the long haul widebody passenger plane C929 that is jointly developed by us and UAC Corporation of Russia.” Although the Russians’ PS90 engine was good, their price was still much cheaper. However, the fuel consumption was 16% higher than the Leap X engine. Moreover, the working lifespan was about half of the Leap X engine too. As for the rate of breakdowns... The engines made by the Russians always gave one a somewhat unreliable impression. Purchasing the Russian PS90 engine was the only way to alleviate the problem before the 100% domestic replacement engine was successfully developed... but this would significantly reduce the market competitiveness of the C919.
Hence, one could see that there were some similarities between the field of civil aviation engine manufacturing and chip manufacturing. The winners would have a veritable feast, while the losers would be hard-pressed to get even a little bit of leftover business on the fringes.
Even so, He Jin Long made a strong guarantee. “We will hurry and continue to optimize our airplane! Even though our engine consumes more fuel, the body of our passenger aircraft C919 is about 15% lighter than similar aircrafts from Boeing and Airbus. We can achieve a weight that is 18% lighter than them if we get rid of some redundant weight. When the aircraft is lighter, its speed will increase and it’ll use less fuel. In addition, our production costs are about 20% lower, so we can set a relatively affordable selling price. We would have a definite edge after its launch in the market.”
The reason for the lighter weight of the C919 and its lower production costs was because the Z country manufacturers had mastered an amazing technology; the 3D printing technology for large-scale structural components. This level of technology had not yet been achieved overseas. Foreign manufacturers did not have the ability to print large structural parts with diameters of a few meters, much less parts with diameters of more than 10 meters. But the 3D printers from Z country could do it.
The 3D printer could print the main beam of the aircraft wing, the fuselage skeleton, and other key components by employing this type of technology. The strength of the components was up to standard and the material utilization rate was more than 90%.
The components used in the aircrafts of Boeing and Airbus, such as the main beam of the wing, were still processed by traditional industrial lathes. The scrap rate was high and the material utilization rate was low. They were put at a great disadvantage in terms of production costs and efficiency.
It was due to the blessings in the form of the 3D printing technology that Shang Fei’s C919 was able to achieve a great competitive advantage in the market. It could even be said that it became the champion of value for money in the passenger jet market of the 200 seaters doing long haul flights of 5,000 kilometers. It had completely dominated the civil aviation market.
The Boeing company and even the European Airbus company were motivated to hinder the progress of the C919, as they had a great fear of the C919 dominating their own markets. They did not want a competitor like the C919 to appear in the market before they had mastered 3D printing technology. The advantages brought about by 3D printing technology would be immediately offset by using the Russian PS90 engine in the C919. It would instantly become a mediocre aircraft with an average value for money.
Moreover, based on the character of the Russians, they would not hesitate in asking for a steep price even if their product performance was mediocre. It may be cheap to buy their engines for now, but it would not always be the case.
From the other end of the phone, the second elder in command lamented, “It’s still best to have our own advanced engine. We have to fight for our dignity!”
He Jinling sank into silence.
At that moment, his secretary walked into the office. “President He, the Deputy Chief Designer of the landing gear project team, Chen Gang, wants to see you. He said that he has to report an important matter to you. ”
Chen Gang? Chen Gang, who was missing from the mass mobilization gathering in the morning. He was somewhat annoyed when someone had reported this incident to him. But he did not hold it against him. Anyway, there was nothing he could do since Chen Gang had a powerful son. But a grand gathering to motivate and mobilize the staff was a very serious activity. It was a critical time that called for a united front and battle spirit. How could he be missing? What did that mean?
He Jin Long still did not feel too good about his absence. He did not really want to see him. However, he heard his secretary add, “President He, Designer Chen has brought his son along with him, Chen Jin, the founder of Xing Hai Technologies.”
“Yes, yes, yes, let them into my office.”
historical
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As they entered the office, He Jin Long extended his hand enthusiastically. “President Chen, welcome. The young are promising indeed!” He turned and shook hands with Chen Gang before patting his shoulders. “Old Chen, you have a pretty amazing son!”
However, He Jin Long was at a loss as to why father and son had come to see him. What was the purpose of their visit? Perhaps they thought that the mass production of the domestic large-scale passenger plane was a hopeless dream and they felt disheartened. So, they wanted to retire early from the project and were asking for his approval? He Jin Long gave a silent groan in his mind. He invited them to sit down and got the secretary to pour two cups of tea.
After exchanging some meaningless pleasantries, he asked, “May I ask what’s the purpose of your visit?”
Chen Gang said in a hurry, “Of course it’s because of the aircraft engine. We have a solu–”
“Ahem,” Chen Jin coughed heavily, “Our main purpose is to discuss the progress of the domestic aircraft engine. This topic is classified. I was wondering if the secretary can lock the door?” He looked at the male secretary.
He Jin Long picked up on the hidden request immediately and ordered the secretary to exit the room. “Little Lin, go out for a while and lock the door.” Only the three of them were left in the room.
Chen Gang could not control his impatience again and said in a hurry, “President He, my son’s company has a solution to the problem of the poor performance of the domestic engine!”
“Dad, why are you so anxious?” Chen Jin looked at him impatiently. He threw him a gaze that seemed to say, Stay out of it and keep quiet. Let me talk to President He.
He Jin Long gave him an astonished look. His expression was filled with doubt.
Chen Gang shut his mouth in embarrassment.
“President He, can you let me have some of your time so we can talk about the progress of the development of the domestic engine?”
He Jin Long nodded. “Yes, of course.”
They two began to discuss the matter. However, Chen Jin was the one doing most of the asking and He Jin Long was the one doing most of the answering.
“President He, tell me honestly. How big do you think the gap is between our engines and the most advanced engines from overseas?”
“Erm, there’s at least a thirty-year gap. Honestly, the gap could be as much as fifty years.”
“Why is the gap so big?”
“The aircraft engine is the product that can best reflect the standard of a country’s industrial foundations. Our foundation is still seriously lacking. The industrialization of the West took more than 300 years. We are not even 60 years into it. Many basic sectors are still too lacking. I’ll use a simple example. The Mericans went to the moon 52 years ago, but we still can’t do that.”
“But, I saw on many articles that you’ve conquered most of the material technologies needed to construct an advanced engine. Materials are no longer a problem. The main problem lies in engine design. We are still weaker than others in that area... Is that the reason?”
“Yes, you are right!” He Jin Long nodded. “We’ve fixed the flaws in the materials used. The main problem lies in the design. Our country is still lacking in design masters who can come up with a top quality engine.” Of course, the mediocrity of their current engines was not entirely due to the lack of good designers. The insufficient investment by the government in this field was another significant reason. A good engine was not entirely born from a good design, it was also born from loads of money! It went without mentioning that equipment like the specialized wind tunnels and test versions cost a lot. For every engine test bench, a few tons of aviation fuel would be consumed. Sometimes, more than ten tons... The money for fuel had to be spent day after day, year after year. For example, the test for a foreign matter caught in the engine included throwing a rock as large as a fist into the engine. And just like that, an engine that was worth tens of millions of dollars became nothing more than scrap.
It was difficult to carry out such expensive activities when the economy of Z country was doing poorly. But even now, when Z country had become richer and more powerful, an annual investment of tens of billions was still insufficient. In simple words, one could only successfully develop the advanced aviation engine by footing the exorbitant costs day after day and year after year. Past efforts would be wasted if the work was stopped halfway, Only countries who could afford those continuous expenses could become a powerful manufacturer of engines.
But... Chen Jin had a “cheat sheet” that would not only save them large amounts of on-going development costs, it could also drastically reduce the R&D period. He explained this special software to He Jin Long. This software would allow “tons of fuel to be saved daily,””coordinate the simultaneous testing of hundreds of engines,” and “reduce the R&D period by 90%.”
He Jin Long immediately jumped up from his seat. He yelled in shock, “How is this possible?!”