Lian Zhenjun, born in 1976, is a senior technician of automobile maintenance at Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co. [Photo/WEDZ’s official WeChat account]
Laid off after only a year
In August 1996, after graduating from a technical secondary school, Lian Zhenjun was assigned a job of worker at an electric bulbs factory in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province. Six months later, Lian got a promotion to be the leader of the device debugging group.
But the quiet life didn’t last for long. All of a sudden, his dream was dashed. Wuhan electric bulbs factory went bankrupt in July 1997, and Lian Zhenjun was laid off after less than a year’s work.
After that, Lian was hired as an assembler at Wuhan Wantong Automobile Company. Specialized in lighting engineering, at first he knew almost nothing about vehicles. “My original concept of a car was four wheels plus an iron shell,” Lian said with a smile.
Not content with tightening screws on an assembly line, Lian made full use of every minute to study basic structural construction and technical principles. He considered the experienced workers at the same workshop as his teachers and soon had a pile of various books on basic vehicle knowledge.
In one year, Lian learned all the assembly techniques and methods of the whole assembly line. He was chosen as the model employee of the year.
Working out the minimal risks
In 2003, Lian joined Dongfeng Honda, working as an online quality analyst.
From then on, his technical worker dream turned out to be a car dream, Lian said. In his new position he was not only required to repair cars but also to analyze the reasons for poor quality. Lian needed to sort out a solution to ameliorate vehicle quality issues, and prevent any flaws.
When he encountered thorny problems, Lian consulted Japanese experts, writing down solutions to constantly improve his skills. From 2004 to 2005, he was sent to Guangzhou Honda Huangpu factory and Japan Honda Suzuka factory for training.
Lian said that even though the CR-V had been on the market for ten years, while the Greiz is new, they are both the result of sweat. From the first announcement of its launch to trial and then mass production, a new vehicle model has to go through repeated tests, checks and demonstrations. During this process, the problems and pressures that workers face are beyond imagination.
In 2012, some detailed problems about packaging appeared in the trial production of a new car. Although these problems could be completely ignored according to testing standards, Lian determined not to tolerate any mistakes; even the smallest risk should be resolved. He led his colleagues in analyzing the cars one after another, testing again and again, and finally found the hidden detail causing the problems.
Awarded Technical Master in Hubei province
According to Dongfeng Honda, Lian created a fast analysis process through which 1678 quality flaws have been detected. In this way, Lian has helped the company make high-quality cars.
Lian has grown into a business backbone and a head person who is responsible for vehicles’ quality on the factory floor.
Lian and his colleagues built a car analysis workshop that increased analysis efficiency by 30%. From 2012 to 2013, the workshop resolved 67 knotty problems and saved more than 196,000 US dollars for the company.
Hard work gets paid. Lian received a series of honors, such as Excellent Worker of Dongfeng Hongda and Technical Master of Wuhan. In 2014, he was chosen as a highly skilled talent and was given a special allowance by the Wuhan city government. Finally, in 2015, he was honored as a Technical Master of Hubei province.
