Today, while maintaining a high degree of self-discipline, Zhou Kun also tries to be as tolerant as possible to understand "the extreme importance that the next generation attaches to work experience".
Li Penghui, a core member of his team, said that Zhou Kun has worked for more than ten years without drinking, and always takes the initiative to share his suggestions and even feelings with young people.
The technical center of Dongfeng Motor Company, where Zhou Kun works, is one of the earliest enterprise technology centers established in mainland China.
In the last century, in this technology-intensive industry, Meng Shaonong put forward the product research and development policy of "improving the generation, developing the generation, and pre-researching the generation", and today, the younger generation like Zhou Kun continues the light of the concept and contributes to the excellent works represented by E70.
For the forerunner of Dongfeng Construction, Zhou Kun is the successor; For team members who have just entered the field of independent research and development of new energy, Zhou Kun is a pioneer.
Although everyone saw Zhou Kun's enthusiasm for work, he still lamented in front of everyone that his first five years in Dongfeng were not fulfilling. When he first joined the company, Zhou Kun didn't have many opportunities to participate in the development of new models, and most of the time he drew drawings according to the master's requirements.
"It's a great opportunity for young people to develop these days, there's a lot of new models to be developed, there's a lot of opportunities to get into new areas of the project, and there's plenty of room for everyone to grow, so why not?" What he hopes his new colleagues can do is actually make up for their own shortcomings.
An email
At the end of the "first five years" of work, Zhou Kun participated in the development of Zhengzhou Nissan's own brand Dongfeng Odin SUV project, focusing on the development of Dongfeng brand diesel SUV models based on Paladin. In the end, the project failed. Zhou Kun recalled that he was "hit hard" at the time. Analyzing the reasons for the failure of the Odin SUV, he believes that it was the lack of core assembly engines at that time, and the third-party engines on the market were mainly Shenyang Mitsubishi's 4G64 gasoline engine, which had a disadvantage of high fuel consumption.
When we developed the Dongfeng Ruich diesel pickup, Great Wall developed the Fengjun pickup; When we developed the Dongfeng Odin SUV, Great Wall developed the Haval H5 SUV (equipped with a diesel engine independently developed by Great Wall); When we analyzed whether there was a need to develop an economical urban SUV, Great Wall developed the H6 SUV. We missed the golden age of SUV development in China.
Zhou Kun, deputy chief engineer of Dongfeng Motor Company's technology center project, has carried out independent research and development in the field of new energy since the establishment of Dongfeng, and he inherited Dongfeng's pioneering spirit, and is a pioneer who dares to put forward advanced ideas and set off immediately. With great enthusiasm and a high degree of self-discipline, he wrote the ideals of this generation of Dongfeng young technical backbones into his resume.
As the project leader, Zhou Kun is fully responsible for the FQCD development of Dongfeng Fengshen E70, which has now become the main model of Dongfeng's own brand pure electric vehicles, and has successfully won the "2017 Best Mileage New Energy Vehicle Award" at the Guangzhou Auto Show, the first "green license plate" for new energy vehicles in Hubei Province, the first batch of national automotive green product certification, and China's energy-saving product certification.
pursue
Everyone in the technical center of Dongfeng Motor Company knows that Zhou Kun, deputy chief engineer of the project, is very busy.
In addition to getting off work at 11 o'clock every night, going to a café on weekends to make plans, and coming home at 8 o'clock one night and being asked by his son "why did you come back so early", the most amazing thing about Zhou Kun is that he led the team to complete the development work in accordance with the FQCD requirements of the Dongfeng Fengshen E70 project within 14 months, while the normal development cycle is 25 months.
In 2015, the predecessor of this project, A60EV, entered the pre-research stage, after feasibility demonstration and development, put into small batches of products for demonstration operation, after a period of baptism, the product truly achieved iterative optimization, that is, the current E70 model. After going through this process, Zhou Kun saw the difficulties and opportunities in China's new energy vehicle market.
"Our traditional models started late, but the development momentum of new energy models is strong. Core technology is the most difficult problem faced by many car companies, once the breakthrough and real independent research and development are realized, there is a great opportunity to make achievements. When Zhou Kun talked about "what he has been pursuing", he was very sure that it was "to truly achieve independent research and development".
During his childhood, Zhou Kun lived in an environment where material things were not scarce. To this day, he still believes that this is the fundamental reason why he didn't care about salary when he first started working. A few days ago, Zhou Kun looked at his salary slip in his early years, which showed a monthly salary of 1,200 yuan. "After deducting the rent, there is only 800 yuan left, and I don't think about whether it is enough."
In 2008, he wrote down his thoughts and analysis of the project in an email and sent it to the then president of Dongfeng Motor Product Research and Development Institute. ”
This is Zhou Kun's biggest regret, even if he looks back on it ten years later, he still can't help but sigh.
Throughout the interview, he often said "this is my understanding, it may not be correct", "this is what I want to share with everyone, it may not be accurate". He always maintains a certain reservation in the presentation of facts, avoiding any imprecise expressions. But he affirms that it should be a particularly good opportunity.
Today, when the subsidy policy is no longer supported by the profits of China's new energy vehicle companies, self-revolution may be the only means to seek upward mobility. On this only upward path, Zhou Kun has adapted to such a rhythm, working overtime until late at night every day. The development cycle of a model used to be 18 months, but now it has been compressed to 14 months or even 12 months, which is the market's requirements for new energy products, a huge test, and an objective factor that makes Zhou Kun have to work overtime and become what people call a "workaholic".
"In the field of independent research and development of new energy, it is not that you will be able to make progress if you make progress, you must go faster than competitors to have real progress, otherwise you will be eliminated at any time."
This is the cruelty of the entire industry, the development trend of China's new energy vehicle market has spread to almost every corner of the industry, whether it is traditional car companies or new car manufacturers, or parts suppliers led by CATL, they are facing the market in the anxiety of development.
Talking about CATL, Zhou Kun recalled that when the battery manufacturer was "not very famous", he and his colleagues had made a special trip to visit it and cooperate with it to try to develop a ternary lithium-ion battery pack with high energy density, and now it seems that this decision is still ahead of its time.
After conducting customer research on existing competing models in the market, Zhou Kun and his colleagues changed the previous range of 300 km to 350-400 km. On October 12, 2017, it was reported that Zhou Kun was responsible for the launch of Dongfeng Fengshen's first pure electric mid-size sedan E70. The model is equipped with a new self-developed electric drive module with a range of 351 kilometers.
"Because range is the most concerned issue for consumers, if the battery level can be 50 kilometers ahead of the industry, it is equivalent to a generation ahead of the industry."
Deliver on promises
19 years ago, Zhou Kun got off the train at Shiyan Railway Station and burst into tears when he saw the wall at the exit.
This is the city where he applied for the university, when he was in high school, he read car magazines in class, and he did not hesitate to choose Hubei Institute of Automotive Industry for the college entrance examination, and he was determined to enter this industry.
Today, Zhou Kun has realized his dream since he was a teenager, either in the conference room, or at the production site, and another place is the café. When the E70 was about to go on sale, he, Liu Yanbo, Zhou Dan and Zhu Kaiqing would gather there every afternoon to discuss the plan, and at this time, his home was less than a kilometer away.
He was asked why he worked so hard, but he didn't think it was called "dedication". "It's just that because the leader gave me such an important task, I have to do it if I agree, and I must do it on time and with quality." Zhou Kun said, "It's just to fulfill the promise." ”
Whenever he didn't fulfill his promises, or the products he made couldn't meet the market demand, Zhou Kun would be very depressed. "To make a commercial product, time and quality are very important. We are now on a project basis, and if I fail to do both as a leader, our project fails, we don't contribute to the company, and the team I work with doesn't feel fulfilled. How can I not be sad? It's a shame that in this way, my work will be in vain. ”
Nowadays, under the guidance of the concept of "three generations", Dongfeng science and technology continues to make progress and innovate products. Zhou Kun also participated in the compilation of more than 10 new energy vehicle related design and development standards in Dongfeng Company's technology center, as well as the "New Energy Vehicle Development Process". These standards and processes will lay the foundation for the subsequent development of other new models at Dongfeng's technical center.
Because new energy technology is developing rapidly, especially battery technology, which is iterated once a year, product research and development must keep up with this progress, otherwise it will be eliminated. The entire industry iterates on average for one and a half years, and there is not much time left for Zhou Kun to breathe and stay at this time node. "We have to keep up with the pace and speed of the changes and demands of this era."
In the past two years, the prosperity of the new energy vehicle industry is inseparable from the support of national policies, especially the high subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, which has allowed many car companies to swim in the blue ocean of the market. Until the subsidy declines, the new energy vehicle market has entered a severe year, Zhou Kun, like all peers, has to adapt to the situation, "the new energy field is a new market, we do research and development, the principle of adaptation is market demand." ”
The sharp decline in subsidies has accelerated the elimination of many incapable car companies, and it is also a deep test of the ability of new energy car companies to stay. Zhu Kaiqing said that although the overall environment is so harsh, Zhou Kun is very calm, at least in the eyes of the team members, "If there is something that can't be done, go to him, there will be no problem." ”