Fusion System: Rebirth in a Courtyard - Bird Fighting Chronicles

Chapter 167 Raw Material Crisis, Alloy Breakthrough

The afterglow of the performance commendation meeting had barely faded when an unprecedented roar echoed through the workshops of Chenqing Hardware Factory. The improved molds had boosted forging efficiency by a full 20%, and the workers, keeping pace with the performance system, were working in two shifts, non-stop. Even the canteen extended its service hours, and late at night, one could often see workers rushing to the workshop with hot steamed buns in their hands. Lin Chen arrived at the factory before dawn every day to check the equipment's operation, while Su Qing stayed between the finance office and the warehouse, calculating daily performance data and keeping a close eye on raw material inventory to ensure the production chain ran smoothly.

This hectic production pace continued for five days, and the export orders were already 60% complete. Lin Chen was planning to give the workers two days off after delivering the goods ahead of schedule when a loud "bang" suddenly came from the workshop, followed by the ear-piercing sound of the furnace going out. His heart tightened, and he rushed to the forging area. He saw Uncle Wang squatting by the furnace mouth, holding a dark red forging in his hand, his face even more pale than the red-hot iron.

"Director Lin, look!" Uncle Wang handed over the forging. The iron block, which should have been evenly reddish, was covered with honeycomb-like pores, and the edges had strange brittle cracks. "This batch of material broke halfway through forging! I thought there was something wrong with the mold, so I tried three batches with a new mold, and they all turned out like this!" The surrounding workers all gathered around. Xiao Li held the half-finished product he had just taken out of the furnace, his voice trembling with anxiety: "Mine too! It almost hit my eye just now! What happened?"

Lin Chen took the forging. It was noticeably colder than a normal forging. He scratched at the surface pores with his fingernail, and powdery iron filings fell off. "It's not a problem with the mold, it's a problem with the steel quality," he said in a low voice. He turned and strode quickly towards the raw material warehouse. Su Qing, who had already heard the commotion, followed him with her ledger, her face full of anxiety: "I just checked the inventory. This batch of steel came from the Zhangcheng supply station last week, a total of fifty tons, and more than twenty tons have already been used."

Inside the warehouse, neatly stacked steel piled up like a small mountain. Lin Chen casually pulled out a piece of angle iron and tapped it with his small hammer. The sound was dull and hoarse, completely lacking the crisp resonance that high-quality steel should have. He squatted down to examine the raw material certificate of conformity. The manufacturer's seal was blurred, and the production date had been altered with ink. "This batch is substandard steel, with excessive impurities. It simply cannot withstand high-temperature forging." Lin Chen's brows furrowed deeply. "How could the supply depot give us this kind of goods?"

"I'll contact the supply station!" Su Qing turned to make the call, but Lin Chen stopped her. "It's no use. Once this substandard steel leaves the warehouse, they definitely won't acknowledge it." Lin Chen recalled his experience in the steel rolling mill in his previous life. Substandard steel from the state-owned supply station often flowed to small factories through connections, making it incredibly difficult to seek redress. "Besides, arguing about responsibility is useless now. The key is whether the remaining thirty tons of steel are usable. If not, where are we going to find alternative raw materials?"

This problem weighed heavily on everyone's minds. The delivery deadline for the export order was only fifteen days away, and at the current production rate, at least forty tons of qualified steel were still needed. Zhangcheng Materials Station was the largest steel supplier in the area, and the last batch of steel they received had already depleted the factory's working capital. Even if they could find other suppliers, the round trip would take at least three days, and the price would certainly be much higher than at the materials station. Even worse, they didn't have the extra time to wait for new raw materials. If delivery was delayed, they would not only have to pay hefty penalties, but they would also lose Boss Chen, an important export client.

"How about we pick through the substandard steel and use what's usable?" Old Chen suggested hesitantly. "I used to work with substandard steel in a state-owned factory. Maybe forging it a few times will force out the impurities." Uncle Wang immediately shook his head and objected: "No way! The quality requirements for export orders are ten times higher than for domestic orders. Even if this kind of porous steel is forged, its wear resistance won't meet the standards. It'll break as soon as it gets to Southeast Asia, and our factory's reputation will be completely ruined!"

Silence fell over the workshop, broken only by the occasional crackling of the still-burning furnace. Lin Chen walked to the scrap heap, looking at the mountain of scrap steel fragments, and suddenly remembered the "alloy fusion" function the system had previously suggested. Since his rebirth, he had been using the system to improve tools and molds, and had never tried large-scale fusion of raw materials. This might be an opportunity. He quietly opened the system panel, and the pale blue screen displayed the raw material analysis results: the substandard steel had too high a carbon content and excessive sulfur and phosphorus impurities, requiring the addition of chromium and manganese to neutralize it, followed by high-temperature remelting to remove porosity.

"I've got a plan." Lin Chen turned around abruptly and said firmly, "Uncle Wang, take a few technicians and sort through all the remaining steel, separating the ones with fewer impurities from those with more impurities; Su Qing, go contact the scrap yard on the outskirts of the city. I remember Old Wang has a lot of old agricultural machinery parts. Tell him to keep all the alloy scraps containing chromium and manganese, no matter the price; Xiao Li, come with me to modify the furnace. We're going to do an alloy remelting."

This sudden plan stunned everyone. Uncle Wang hesitated and asked, "Director Lin, you mean to fuse scrap metal from the junkyard with substandard steel? Is that even possible? I've lived most of my life and never heard of steelmaking like this." Lin Chen picked up a piece of scrap steel and a piece of alloy fragment, handing them to Uncle Wang. "Uncle Wang, look at these two materials. Substandard steel is too soft, and the alloy is too brittle. If we fuse them in the right proportions, we can take the best from each and make an alloy steel that is both hard and wear-resistant. The mold you improved last time increased the yield rate; this time, if we improve the raw materials, it will definitely work!"

Seeing Lin Chen's confident demeanor, Uncle Wang, recalling countless previous technological breakthroughs, finally nodded: "Alright! I'll trust you this once!" Su Qing also immediately sprang into action. Knowing Lin Chen never spoke without certainty, she turned to call the scrap yard, reminding the warehouse manager before leaving: "Keep all the scrap materials; don't throw any away. You never know when they might come in handy!"

For the next two days, Chenqing Hardware Factory transformed into a bustling "refining factory." Lin Chen, along with Xiao Li and Liu Guangtian, modified the furnace, adding three layers of refractory bricks to the furnace walls. They also used a system to fuse scrap steel and copper sheets, creating a precise temperature controller to ensure the furnace temperature remained stable at 1500 degrees Celsius—a temperature that allowed the steel to fully melt while also allowing impurities to evaporate. Uncle Wang led the workers in sorting the steel, using magnets to attract it and tapping to distinguish the sound, dividing the thirty tons of substandard steel into three grades. The lowest grade was directly sent to the scrap heap, while the medium and high-quality grades were separated and prepared for fusion in different proportions.

Su Qing's purchasing process didn't go smoothly. Old Wang at the scrap yard did have a lot of alloy scraps, but most of them had already been pre-ordered by small factories in the neighboring town. When Su Qing found Old Wang, he was preparing to load the goods onto a truck. She was so anxious that she sat directly on the loading cart: "Boss Wang, we really need this batch of materials urgently. If you sell it to us, we'll entrust all our scrap recycling to you from now on, and the price will be 20% higher than others!" Looking at Su Qing's red eyes, and remembering that Lin Chen had previously helped him repair the crane at the scrap yard, Old Wang finally relented: "Okay, for the sake of Director Lin, I'll talk to the factory owners in the neighboring town and give you half first. The rest will be delivered to you first thing tomorrow morning."

The first batch of alloy scrap arrived at the factory late that night. Lin Chen had been waiting by the furnace, and upon seeing the truck enter the factory area, he immediately went to greet it. He personally directed the workers to add the alloy scrap and substandard steel into the furnace in a 3:7 ratio, then watched the numbers on the temperature controller, adding a small amount of limestone to the furnace every 100 degrees Celsius increase—this was the system-suggested impurity remover, which would cause impurities to clump together and float on the surface as slag. Su Qing stood to the side, holding a notebook, meticulously recording the time and temperature of each step for later review.

"Open the furnace!" Lin Chen shouted when the temperature controller showed 1500 degrees Celsius. Uncle Wang personally operated the furnace's taphole, and the red-hot molten steel flowed out slowly. Unlike before, this time the molten steel was clear and transparent, without a trace of impurity, and shimmered evenly in the moonlight. The workers all gathered around, exclaiming in amazement. Little Li jumped up excitedly, "It's done! Director Lin, it's really done!"

After the first batch of alloy steel cooled, Lin Chen immediately conducted a quality inspection. He used a system-improved hardness tester, and the results showed that the hardness was 20% higher than the previous high-quality steel, and the wear resistance was improved by 30%. Uncle Wang held the test report, his hands trembling: "Director Lin, this is simply amazing! Plowshares made from this steel won't break even after ten years on the hard soil of Southeast Asia!" Lin Chen didn't relax: "This is only the first batch. We need to test a few more batches, adjust the proportions, and ensure that each batch is stable."

However, their good fortune didn't last. The next morning, when they were melting the second batch of steel in the same proportions, an explosion suddenly occurred inside the furnace. Hot slag splattered onto the furnace walls, emitting plumes of white smoke. Everyone was terrified and quickly retreated. Lin Chen immediately shut down the furnace and, upon inspection, discovered that a piece of zinc alloy had been mixed into the alloy scrap delivered from the scrap yard. Zinc has a very low melting point, and it instantly vaporized at the high temperature, causing the explosion.

"It's all my fault, I didn't check the raw materials carefully!" Su Qing said, her eyes red. She was too tired yesterday and only checked the quantity when receiving the materials, without checking the material of each scrap. Lin Chen patted her shoulder and said gently, "It's not your fault, it was my oversight. The raw materials at the scrap yard are inherently mixed, we need to add a screening process." He immediately had someone find several strong magnets and a simple spectrometer—this was something he had previously integrated with the system, capable of detecting the elemental composition of metals. "From now on, all raw materials must be attracted with magnets before entering the furnace, and then tested with a spectrometer to ensure there are no impurities."

Having learned from their mistakes, the subsequent fusion process went much more smoothly. Lin Chen and Uncle Wang adjusted the ratio together and discovered that when the ratio of alloy scrap to substandard steel was 4:6, the overall performance of the steel was the best, with both hardness and wear resistance meeting export standards. They also summarized a complete operating procedure: material selection, testing, batching, melting and casting, impurity removal, and forging. Each step had clear standards and records to ensure stable quality.

With the raw material issue resolved, the factory's production returned to normal. Moreover, the plowshare parts produced using alloy steel achieved a 99% pass rate, even higher than when using high-quality steel. The workers' enthusiasm soared, as alloy steel is easier to forge, leading to a significant increase in output. Many workers' daily performance bonuses exceeded their base wages. Xiao Li even set a record of producing sixty qualified parts in a single day. Upon receiving his bonus, he excitedly bowed to Lin Chen, saying, "Director Lin, if it weren't for you, we would have definitely failed this time! This bonus is enough to pay my sister's tuition!"

Just as production was nearing completion, Liu, the station chief of Zhangcheng Materials Station, suddenly arrived at the factory with two men. As soon as he entered the workshop, he looked around and, seeing the mountains of finished parts, his face darkened: "Director Lin, we heard you used our steel and there were quality problems? Why didn't you tell us?" Lin Chen knew that Liu had heard rumors and was looking for trouble, either to force them to continue buying substandard steel or to demand "compensation."

"Station Chief Liu is joking. Your steel is of very good quality. We're almost finished with production." Lin Chen calmly handed him a cup of tea, then picked up a finished part and handed it to him. "Look, this is made with your steel. The quality fully meets export standards." Fatty Liu took the part, tapped it with his fingers, and weighed it in his hand. His face grew even uglier—he could tell at a glance that this couldn't have been made with inferior steel. The hardness and texture were even better than the best steel in their supply depot.

"Impossible! Our steel is clearly..." Fatty Liu stopped mid-sentence, realizing he had almost given himself away, and quickly corrected himself, "I meant, if you have any further needs, we can give you an even better discount." Su Qing picked up the conversation, smiling, "Thank you for your concern, Station Master Liu. We have enough raw materials this time. By the way, we also bought some alloy scraps from the scrap yard. After fusing them with your steel, the quality improved considerably. We can share our experience with you next time we have the chance."

These words completely dispelled Fatty Liu's idea. He knew that Chenqing Hardware Factory had already found an alternative, and continuing to argue would be pointless and might even expose his sale of substandard steel. He gave an awkward smile, took a sip of tea, and hurriedly left. Watching his retreating figure, Uncle Wang couldn't help but curse, "This kind of person should be exposed! Luckily, we have Director Lin, otherwise we would have been really screwed over by him this time!"

After the crisis subsided, the factory's production accelerated rapidly. Three days before the delivery deadline, the final batch of parts was successfully produced. After rigorous quality testing, the pass rate reached 99.5%, far exceeding the requirements of the export order. Lin Chen and Su Qing, along with the workers, packed the parts, attaching detailed labels to each box indicating the production batch and testing data. The inspector sent by Boss Chen, after seeing the inspection report and the finished products, gave a thumbs up: "Factory Manager Lin, Accountant Su, the quality of your products is even better than I expected. We'll be cooperating with you long-term for our Southeast Asian orders!"

On the day of loading, all the factory workers came to see them off. The truck slowly drove out of the factory area, carrying not only three thousand sets of parts, but also the future of Chenqing Hardware Factory. Lin Chen stood at the factory gate, watching the truck disappear into the distance. Su Qing walked to his side and handed him a financial statement: "This is the accounting report for this order. After deducting the cost of raw materials and workers' wages, we made a net profit of 30,000 yuan! Moreover, Boss Chen has also prepaid a deposit of 5,000 yuan for the next order!"

The workers cheered upon hearing the news. Uncle Wang, holding his bonus, excitedly said, "Director Lin, Accountant Su, now that we have money, can we build a new workshop and add some new equipment?" Lin Chen smiled and nodded, "Of course! After everyone rests for a couple of days, we'll go inspect the equipment, recruit a new batch of workers, and expand production!"

As the sun sets, golden sunlight spills onto the signboard of Chenqing Hardware Factory, reflecting a dazzling light. Inside the workshop, workers are cleaning and wiping down equipment; in the office, Su Qing is organizing order documents and planning the next steps in the financial budget; Lin Chen stands on the factory's open space, gazing at the distant mountains, his heart filled with anticipation. He knows that this raw material crisis has not only failed to defeat them, but has instead allowed them to master the core technology of alloy forging and accumulate experience in dealing with crises. In the spring breeze of reform and opening up, Chenqing Hardware Factory is like a ship setting sail, steadily moving towards a wider ocean.