on may 26th 2001, dongyue started the 3000-ton ptfe project in spite of the questioning from experts. the director of the project was zhang heng who was only in his early twenties then.
since more than one hundred million was invested in this project, the large scale and the limited time made general manager liu to move his office to the site immediately after the civil work. he sat in the newly built but damp and wet office building to guide the project. he learned about every little progress in receiving equipment, installation, equipment testing and others every day, and then came up with ideas to deal with the problems. and he spent most of his time in the frontline of the ptfe project, which made the staff of the project feel secure.
from the very first day of the project construction, zhang heng became the first man to get to work, and the last man to go off work. working around the clock was very common for him. in december 2001, the project was busily underway. in order to quickly solve the problems in equipment installation, processing adjustment and the test run, zhang heng overworked for a quite long time. and he could barely sleep because of the anxiety and stress. as a result, zhang heng had a toothache and a bad cold. but he went to work as usual. sometimes his throat hurt so much that he could not speak. when his sister zhang ling called him, she just heard the sound that he made by tapping the phone. after a long time, he uttered four characters ‘call your sister-in-law’ in a very deep and hoarse voice. shortly afterwards, he could not bite steamed buns because of the toothache, and he had to dip the bun into the soup first and then ate the soaked bun. finally, he was too hurt to eat the dipped buns, and he could only drink the milk and oatmeal porridge his wife brought to him every day. he lost so much weight and was only 49 kilograms then. general manager liu saw this and told to president zhang. president zhang bought some medicine, handed it to zhang heng and said to him, ‘do take care of yourself. and remember health is of vital importance to the ptfe project.’ he shyly smiled and replied, ‘don’t worry, president. i am young, and it doesn’t matter.’
the fighting spirit of zhang heng and his ptfe team gained the respect of the whole dongyue group. at several meetings, zhang jianhong praised that they represented the dongyue spirit in the new age. but when they were at work in private, ceo liu told zhang jianhong not to praise zhang heng any more, since zhang heng worked too hard which endangered his health.
liu chuanjun, tian zhaoliang and zhou hongjun are the special team responsible for supplying equipment. to ensure that the equipment arrived at factory on time, they were on duty by turns 24 hours a day. to collect an important ordered device, zhou hongjun watched it in huludao, liaoning province alone for three months. when he came back with a typical northeast cotton-padded jacket and a northeast leather cap, no one recognized him.
during the coldest period of the year, the project entered into the final sprint phase, and they worked overtime to install equipment in the monomer workshop and the polymerization workshop. in the 40-meter high frame, the northwest wind was freezingly cold, and the windproof sailcloth was ripped apart shortly after being set up. the electrician squad drilled holes for electric wires in the frame. the hydraulic drill used water, and it was frozen very quickly because of the low temperature. thus, they used hot water, and changed water every time they drilled another hole. they had to get hot water to the frame dozens of times every day. zhang xihe climbed 30-meter high frame to guide the installation of polymerization reaction kettle. the frame could only accommodate half of his body, and he squatted and shouted there for a whole day. finally, he lost his voice. on the day of spring festival eve, the company gave a three-day holiday, while zhang wencheng did not go home until 5 pm when he finished the equipment testing.
the installation of the whole electrical equipment, from transformer substation to the switch cabinets, to power distribution rooms, to power consumption equipment, was supposed to be done by a professional construction team, but zhang jianjun, the head of electric apparatus workshop, volunteered to do all the work. zhang jianjun led electricians to carry eight switchboards to the third floor. these switchboards weighed over 500 kilograms. at that time, the stairs and the floor were newly tiled. so they could not lay them down once lifting them. all their hands were frostbitten and abraded, and they changed into new pairs of gloves shortly before those gloves were covered with blood. the wedding day for zhang qi and his girlfriend was been delayed for several times because of the project construction, and it was finally postponed to december 29th in lunar calendar. two days before the wedding, his girlfriend could not bear it any more, and went to the construction site and said to zhang qi, ‘ i could not take wedding photos alone, and i could not do marriage registration alone neither.’ zhang jianjun pushed zhang qi outside the factory, and said, ‘ please take a day off. i beg you.’
entering the equipment testing phase, work became more stressful. they made room for a temporary lounge in the complex building. and those who reached the body limit could go there and have a rest. they laid paper carton shell and bags on the floor. several row chairs could be used as a bed, and the most luxurious bunk was the one built by wood laths. a couple named meng zhangfu and han shuli participated in the project construction together after they graduated. han shuli saw that her colleagues worked overtime and did not go home, and she decided not to go back her dormitory. when she got really exhausted, she just went to the temporary lounge to take a rest. suddenly a young lady entered the lounge, the men felt a little bit shy, and they prepared a bed specially for han shuli.
april 26th, 2002 is a day that dongyue would never forget and the ptfe team would not forget neither. they worked so hard for this day to come. the 3000-ton ptfe project succeeded at its first testing operation.
zhang heng had not slept for two days, and he cried with joy. he grabbed a handful of white powder, and rushed out the 708 polymer workshop. when he saw ceo liu who squatted at the staircase for a whole night, he said to ceo liu, ‘ mr. liu, it came out. look.’ zhang heng opened his palm. ceo liu nodded without saying anything. zhang heng shouted and rushed out the 708 building. president zhang jianhong and several other managers sat on the curb of the ptfe factory, and the powder passed from one’s hand to another’s. president zhang said to the on-site staff very slowly, ‘ we should remember this date. from now on, china’s ptfe structure is going to be changed. so is the structure of china fluorine industry.
the ptfe team made an industry miracle with their dauntless spirit and hardworking style, and only used a third of people, time and input to build the first 3000-ton ptfe device in china.