Workers seek tech innovations

Front-line technicians are encouraging workers to seek out technological innovations they think can greatly benefit the country, society and public.

"To gain new technologies, we should pay a lot of attention to our work and to study constantly," said Wang Jun, an advanced technician at China Baowu Steel Group's hot rolling plant in Shanghai. He said only in this way can workers advance in companies.

He made the remark at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on Friday.

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said ahead of International Workers' Day that working hard is the most honorable, noble, great and beautiful virtue. That remark was made in a letter to national model workers studying at China University of Labor Relations.

In his letter, Xi also spoke highly of the contributions that the model workers have made to the nation's development.

Wang started working in 1985.

"I often found many problems that couldn't be solved even under the guidance of foreign experts," he said. "So, I worked during the day and studied at Tongji University's evening college at night for eight entire years. As time went by, I could gradually understand the secrets of product design and deal with various problems."

Since 2005, he has concentrated on developing a new technique to reduce the time required for adopting leading foreign technologies. Thanks to the technique, he won second place in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards in 2016.

Hu Ping, 22, a textile and costume design student at Beijing Industry and Trade Technicians College, won China's first gold medal at the 44th World Skills Competition's fashionable dress skill program in 2017.

"The program included tests of design, draping and fabrication, and the competition's experts and coaches demanded strict work specifications," she said, adding that she had trained for more than 16 hours a day.

Those outstanding technicians also focused on technological innovation. "Technological innovation is our company's lifeblood, which can raise our profits and improve people's living standards," Wang said.

Wang thought there had been a 20-year gap between China and developed countries in steel production in the last century, but through their innovation the country's largest steel company no longer mostly relies on foreign production designs and modes of operation.

"Even a small innovation can bring great profits or save costs," he said. "When our hot rolling mill went into operation in 1989, we developed a small production technique in a production line that can save 1 yuan (16 cents) when producing 1 metric ton of steel.

In 2012, the production line put out 100 million tons of steel, which means the technique can save 100 million yuan, he said. "That's what we created for our own better life by our hands."