"Blade Warrior" in the millimeter

Li Zheng is debugging precision equipment. All-media reporter Wang Yan/photo

How long does it take to go from an apprentice to a pioneer in the research and development of domestic precision tool equipment? Li Zheng, manager of the R&D department of Guangdong Dingtai Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dingtai Robot"), gave the answer that it has been 24 years.

With more than 20 years of experience, he has successfully developed more than 50 types of precision equipment and obtained 67 national patents, including 7 invention patents, especially the research and development of the "multi-station PCB micro drilling machine", which makes the core technology independent and controllable, and reduces the production cost by 40% for private enterprises in the industry.

"Scientific and technological breakthroughs are a grinding effort, from project initiation to commissioning, there are many failures and reversals." Li Zheng said that although the process was painful, he was very proud that this equipment could solve the industry's "stuck neck" technology and fill the gap in the domestic industry.

Knock the "little drill"

Challenge the ultimate precision of micro drilling

Li Zheng was born in a rural family in Tanghe County, Henan Province, and has had a strong interest in machinery since he was a child, majoring in mechanical manufacturing. Dealing with "little drills" originated in 2002. At that time, he was working for a large Japanese company, where he was in charge of equipment research and development. There, he saw the gap between the domestic automation equipment manufacturing and R&D and foreign countries at that time.

"For example, when drawing drawings of mechanical parts, Japan has long been drawing them with computers, while we are still drawing them by hand." Seeing the gap, Li Zheng put down his "familiar" attitude, started as a technician, studied and practiced hard, and through 8 years of hard work, he became a senior engineer and developed a lot of equipment. At this time, Li Zheng, who had achieved a little success, decided to make a contribution to the research and development of domestic automation equipment manufacturing. In 2011, Li Zhengwan refused the high salary of Japanese companies and resolutely entered the private enterprise Dingtai Robot, which was not large at that time.

Dingtai Robot is a national high-tech enterprise focusing on the development and production of high-end micro and precision cutting tools, the company's leading products are cemented carbide PCB (printed circuit board) special precision tools, which play an important role in PCB precision machining. According to reports, PCB provides assembly support and electrical connection of components for various electronic systems, and enjoys the name of "the mother of electronic products".

"Tungsten carbide precision tools for PCB require extremely high precision." Li Zheng showed reporters a micro drill needle developed by him, "You see this micro drill needle, the blade is made of cemented carbide, thinner than a human hair, the thinnest can reach 0.03 mm." ”

The manufacturing industry fundamentally determines the comprehensive strength and international competitiveness of a country, and the fineness of the tools reflects the level of the basic technology of a country's manufacturing industry. Taking PCB micro drilling processing equipment as an example, if you want to grind the shape of a twist drill on a cemented carbide bar with a hair diameter, it is indispensable from position accuracy, dimensional accuracy, shape accuracy, to the motion trajectory, speed and depth of the equipment that needs to be accurately ground and processed, as well as the stability of the equipment.

"PCB micro drilling processing is mass manufacturing, and the output of one machine is about 6,000 pieces per day, and the accuracy is controlled at 0.002 mm. Equipment needs to operate stably for a long time, so the reliability and longevity of the equipment are important considerations in the development process. In order to complete these difficult equipment, Li Zheng has been "stumbling" with these "small drill" processing equipment for more than 20 years. He led the R&D team to control the raw materials of spare parts, process precision parts independently, ensure the accuracy of parts, train high-skilled talents for assembly and debugging, and ensure that every detail is controlled in place from processing to assembly, so as to ensure that equipment with excellent performance is made.

Dedicated to research and development

A series of products fill the domestic technology gap

Li Zheng is known as the "backbone of enterprise research and development" by his colleagues, and has successfully developed more than 50 types of precision equipment, and has made a number of major scientific and technological innovation achievements. Among them, the four-station PCB micro drilling machine was awarded the first set of equipment in Dongguan City, Dongguan Science and Technology Progress Award and other honorary titles. In addition, he participated in the research and development of "Key Technology and Industrial Application of Precision Micro Drill Pin for 5G Communication Substrate Processing", which won the second prize of Henan Science and Technology Progress Award.

"In my opinion, the four-station PCB micro drilling machine is the most representative, which integrates multiple processes of micro drilling processing in one machine and completes the processing at one time, which improves the competitiveness of our company in the industry." Li Zheng recalled that 12 years ago, the PCB circuit board industry was in a period of rapid growth, the demand for micro drill needles grew rapidly, and the market was seriously in short supply. At that time, the high-end micro drill tool processing equipment, due to the key technology was monopolized by foreign countries, could only rely on imports for a long time, the price was expensive, and the maintenance cost was high, which seriously restricted the development of the mainland micro drill needle processing industry. In order to break through the shortcomings, Li Zheng plunged into the research and development of micro drill bit processing equipment, and led the team to work overtime, from structural design to parts processing, from assembly and debugging to software development, every link was done to the extreme. After six years of painstaking research, a new generation of multi-station micro drilling machine has finally been successfully developed.

"At the earliest, in 2011, we had semi-automated three-axis equipment, which could only produce 900 drill needles a day in one process and one machine. Now, we can make 6,500 drill needles a day with one machine, which is nearly six or seven times more efficient. In terms of yield (pass rate), the yield rate may be 93%-95% before, but now our yield rate can be 99.7%. Li Zheng said with emotion.

Wang Junfeng, general manager of Dingtai Robot, told reporters: "At present, the 4 station machines developed by Li Zheng have also reached the international advanced level of the same type, which has greatly improved our overall competitiveness. ”

"Passing on the Band"

More than 230 professional and skilled personnel have been trained

Senior Engineer, Chief Technician, Guanyi Craftsman, Deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, National May Day Labor Medal Winner...... Li Zheng said bluntly: "This path of identity 'upgrading' is a milestone in my career, and every honor and identity has been achieved with my sweat, hard work and team support. ”

As the chief technician of the enterprise, Li Zheng gave full play to the spirit of passing on the help and mentoring and mentoring the apprentice, and successively led the establishment of the technician workstation, the skill master studio, the Li Zheng model worker and the craftsman talent innovation studio in the company, and guided the industrial workers to realize the promotion from "worker" to "craftsman" through "helping and passing on the belt", and continued to build a team of high-quality industrial workers who are motivated, skilled and innovative, so as to empower new quality productivity and provide solid talent support for the high-quality development of the enterprise. As of 2023, a total of 600 people have been trained, and more than 230 related professional and technical talents have been trained, of which 14 have completed the professional title evaluation, 4 have obtained the title of senior engineer, 1 have obtained the title of senior technician, and 2 have obtained the title of technician, making important contributions to promoting the construction of professional and skilled talents.

Chen Lunlong, a mechanical engineer and CNC technician in the R&D team of "Li Zheng Model Worker and Craftsman Talent Innovation Studio", said: "Li Zheng's love for technology and dedication to innovation have deeply influenced our team. ”

It is understood that the "Li Zheng Model Worker and Craftsman Talent Innovation Studio" was established in October 2020, led by 8 core personnel including myself, and a total of 113 team members have been trained to complete major technological innovation and development projects such as "multi-station PCB micro drilling processing machine", "micro drilling automatic grinding machine" and "new coating coating equipment".

"In the next three years, we are ready to train 5-10 senior engineers, and then 5-10 technicians and senior technicians through internal training and external introduction, so as to cultivate more talents for enterprises and industries, serve enterprises and serve the society." Li Zheng told reporters that in the manufacturing industry, the rapid application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and big data has realized the automation, informatization and intelligence of the production process, improving production efficiency and reducing costs for enterprises. In the future, he will pay attention to the cutting-edge technology of the industry, strengthen technological innovation and achievement transformation, and enhance the ability of independent innovation and form core competitiveness through introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation.

○A glimpse of life

Playing basketball is one of his few hobbies

Li Zheng is very busy with work, as soon as he arrives at the company in the morning, he organizes a morning meeting to arrange the day's R&D tasks, and also finds time to participate in the project review meeting. Playing basketball is one of his few hobbies, and it is also a sports hobby that he has always adhered to.

"The reason why I love basketball is because Dongguan has a very deep basketball heritage, and there are many people who like to play basketball; Another aspect is playing basketball with friends and colleagues after work, which not only exercises my body, but also cultivates my team spirit and perseverance. "For so many years, one R&D project after another has squeezed out most of Li Zheng's rest time. When he's with his colleagues, he likes to talk about technical issues. Due to his frequent overtime, his usual interpersonal interactions are simple, and his weekend life is even more monotonous.

"Living in a simple place, working hard, and being clumsy in expression, this is the label that everyone gives to a technical man, but my colleagues think I'm good, and I'm a flexible technical man, haha!" Nowadays, Li Zhenghui deliberately slows down his life, relaxes his mind after being busy, and finds romance in life.

Editor-in-charge: Jiang Lingqian

Second trial: Pan Chao