Profile: Ruan Lingfei, a junior-college Mechanics (Numeric Control) student, fall of 2012, is the chief technician of Zhejiang Province, a provincial labour model, National May Day Award winner, May 4th Youth Award winner (Zhejiang Province), director of the Quality Control Department of Zhejiang Xinshunfa Sewing Machines, and a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress.
Over her past 30 years in the sewing machine industry, she has overcome more than 390 difficulties, her team has been awarded 17 national patents, and she has been hired to the National Technical Committee for the Standardisation of Sewing Machinery.
Ruan Lingfei (middle) discussing technical issues with colleagues.
When I interviewed her, she was discussing improvements in product quality with her colleagues on the innovation project.
Innovation is a process of attempts and revisions, and half a year of research on a new product has still left its design short of expectations.
"It's hard, but we have to keep trying". These are her words, and she proves them in action. In nearly 30 years of hard work, she has moved from assembly-line worker to industry standard-setter. Although she has been awarded a National May Day Labour Medal, and been listed in the Top 10 Outstanding Migrant Youths in Zhejiang Province, her greatest pride lies in having realised her dream of learning a skill.
Her professionalism and dedication are admired by her colleagues. The project she is engaged in requires breakthroughs in processing technology, materials selection, and product design. Its difficulty has made her colleagues back out, but faces the challenge, and her leadership gives others confidence.
Ruan Lingfei and a colleague discussing technical development.
To understand the production process, she spent nearly ten years studying different types of production lines. She could tell if a sewing machine was up to standard just by listening to it running. Having at first no understanding of the machinery, she started to learn, and now can read drawings and do measurements, carry out inspections, and even design the machines.
It was her courage and daring spirit that allowed her to succeed in her first research project.
More than a decade ago, she set out to research high-speed zigzag sewing machines for children's clothing and underwear. This technology was fast and precise, and sewn flat, exquisite patterns, but was then monopolised by foreign countries. "Compared with foreign products, the first sample looks good, but as the production speed increases the accuracy of the swing-needle drop falls."
With no ready-made solutions, she had to find one herself, asking her colleagues in the R&D centre and other experts for advice.
After more than a year of research and development, the high-speed zigzag sewing machine was put into trial production. However, after six months, deviations in the needle drop point at the sewing position and skipped stitches occurred. After a difficult month of re-selection, re-development, and re-manufacturing, she and her team found a suitable replacement material, and improved the machine.
Ruan Lingfei working.
This experience convinced her that, as difficult as R&D may be, perseverance and daring are more so. Through continuous work on new products and technologies, she became a celebrity in the industry with 17 national patents in hand, and was appointed a member of the National Technical Committee for the Standardisation of Sewing Machinery as well as the Second Science and Technology Committee of the China Sewing Association. She has presided over the formulation of two industry standards.
This year, she has a new identity: as a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress. She was surprised by this, and felt a heavy responsibility. She says she wants to uphold the spirit of model workers and craftsmen, and polish the “name card” of industrial workers in the “new era”.
By OUC News Network