Awestruck by electricity

Technician's love for the job and knack for problem solving sparked a lifelong interest in innovation, Yang Feiyue reports.

After more than three decades of dealing with electricity, a flippant young mind has become a versatile and innovative leader in the field.

Pan Jianqiao is down-to-earth and laid-back with his occasional bursts of simple and honest laughter as he recounts his career as an electrical technician.

"I have gone from 'little fresh meat' to 'greasy old man'," he says half-jokingly.

A native of Pinghu city in Zhejiang province, the slightly plump 58-year-old has short black curly hair, and is dressed in a business casual outfit with a pair of silver framed glasses that hardly cover the dark circles around his eyes.

Yet, they can hide neither the glint of persistency nor unswerving determination in his eyes when he starts talking business.

Behind Pan's plain look is a curious mind and a great number of achievements.

In November, Pan was named a national model worker by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in Beijing.

"It was my good luck and an honor to be there to receive the award," says Pan, who sounds just as excited about the moment as if it were yesterday.

Chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, the quinquennial gathering to award model workers last year honored a total of 1,689 people as national role model workers and 804 as exemplary individuals.

Pan says it feels like a dream, especially when recalling the moment.

Immediately after graduating from high school, he started working at the Pinghu power station in October 1984.

"It was definitely a far cry from what I had in mind," Pan says.

The substation where he was assigned to was in the middle of nowhere and close to an old graveyard.

The only sounds that he could hear were the buzzing from passing high-tension currents and the occasional cries of wildcats from a distance.

"I had basically nothing else to do after checking the electricity meters and all the equipment every hour," he says. The two senior workers who were working with him at the station had gotten used to the working environment and had developed reserved temperaments.

"I felt stifled, nearly out of my mind."

Just as the novelty and enthusiasm toward the new job were wearing off, a tornado helped put things into perspective for him in April 1985.

The tornado wreaked havoc in Pinghu and the substation was right in its path.

"All the telegraph poles were snapped into half, sirens and horns were blaring, and all switches tripped," Pan recalls.

When he was at a loss on what to do during the emergency, his two colleagues impressed him with their skillful and methodical handling of the accident.

"They were completely different from how I'd known them, checking the tripped switches, determining the scope of the power outage, putting forward possible solutions to the dispatchers, while making preparations for the overhaul of faulty equipment," he says.

The power supply departments worked their magic and had everything back on track in just one day. This also left a huge impression on Pan.

"When peace resumed in the substation and the whirring of the transformers became distinct, it stopped being a nuisance to me but a pleasant sound that was a bit rhythmic," Pan says.

From that moment on, he started to see the beauty of his job and decided to dig deeper.

His rekindled work enthusiasm made him find every opportunity to learn from professionals, read up on specialized books and practice his skills.

It did not take long for Pan to become an expert, and he soon made his way to be head of a new local substation that local authorities started to build in 1994.

As he was setting the standards for operating procedures, Pan immediately found a challenge posed by a truck-operated switch that was first used in the Pinghu power system. It was impossible to test electricity through the switch because of its design.

Though three flash lamps on the display panel of the enclosed switch would light up indicating that electricity was passing through, Pan found the lamp indication unreliable and that they could easily malfunction during installation and trial runs.

After consulting experienced technicians about his concerns, Pan got down to designing a self-inspection loop for the display panel.

Through trial and error, they managed to come up with a self-checking system that could examine the state of flash lamps, wires and sensors on the display panel for the truck switch.

The invention won the third prize for Zhejiang provincial quality control in 1997 and was later installed in many power stations nationwide.

The invention success sparked Pan's interest in innovation.