I was on a business trip all day today and didn’t get home until 8:00 p.m. Although I’m a little tired, I’m in good spirits.
From 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., I spent nearly 8 hours in the client’s hot forging shop, overseeing the mass production of their 8433 die steel.
After a full day there, I have to admit that the hot forging shop was really hot—so hot that you felt like you were about to get heatstroke.
But there were a few positive developments worth noting:
1) The heat resistance and thermal fatigue resistance of 8433 heat-resistant steel are better than those of H13—this was stated by the shop foreman himself;
2) The mass production of 8433 die steel was a success, even though the hot forging involved 316L—the most difficult grade of stainless steel to work with—and the process involved hot forging heavily deformed dumbbell-shaped round bars into sheet metal, which puts significant strain on the dies.
3) This was another case of hot forging on a hydraulic press with a very long forming cycle—the holding time alone lasted as long as 2 seconds. The parts also had to be heated to 1,100 degrees, meaning the die was in prolonged contact with high-temperature components. This can easily cause the die’s hardness to be annealed away, leading to die collapse. The current H13 dies cannot be used for mass production precisely because they collapse too quickly, but the 8433 held up.
4) This on-site service visit was the first of its kind in history. It not only demonstrates our commitment to the project but also highlights my technical expertise—setting me apart from competitors, particularly a certain company.
5) During this visit, I provided extensive recommendations regarding die structure and optimization strategies, all of which were endorsed by their CEO, technical director, and shop floor supervisor.
6) On-site service tests not only your attitude but also your technical expertise. They’ve already invested over 100 million in this project, and now that the mold can’t support mass production, their 300 CNC machines have no material to process. The CEO is extremely anxious—if you don’t present a practical solution and help him resolve the issue, they won’t take you seriously.
After returning to the office, I called the CEO—the second-in-command—to report on the day’s production status and proposed solutions. I could tell he was satisfied. He said, “We’ve taken a lot of detours; we should have reached out to you sooner.”
“We should have reached out to you sooner”—that was the most gratifying thing I heard today. It meant my hard work hadn’t been in vain.
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Wu Dejian’s tool steel, the chief of staff of the user, bought everything he had used.