The city of Perrault, southeastern Mexico, summer 1992.

It is a picturesque seaside city, where the Pacific breeze brings abundant rain, giving birth to wide grasslands and dense forests. The waves wash over the beach for many years, leaving behind large areas of natural baths as white as silver that attract tourists from all over the world.

To the north of the city, about a kilometre or two from the waterfront, there is a construction site under construction on a spectacular scale. Standing in the middle of the construction site, you can see all kinds of towers, tanks and other giant containers, as well as dense various pipelines, back and forth, revealing a strong industrial beauty. Outside the gate of the construction site, there is a huge sign with the name of the project:

Hauge Chemical Co., Ltd. Perot plant.

At this moment, the chemical plant site is silent, all the construction machinery has stopped, and the dazzling welding sparks of the past are nowhere to be found. Next to a large fractionation tower lying on the ground stood a group of people of all colors. Although it was sunny, there was no warmth and leisure on the faces of these people, and it was replaced by an oppressive solemnity.

"Mr. Uchida, could you please explain what is going on?"

Erskine, the representative of the owner, pointed to the collapsed fractionation tower in front of him, and asked coldly to the Japanese man in front of him who was dressed in a suit and leather shoes and had a humble face.

It is a fractionation column with a height of more than 20 meters and a weight of more than 100 tons. It was supposed to stand on a steel base, but a strong wind last night broke its base, toppling the tower and smashing a group of pipelines next to it, causing minor injuries to two night watchmen. In fact, everyone has to be glad that this accident happened at night, and there were no construction workers around, if such an accident happened during the day, the casualties may not be so slight.

The person questioned by Erskine was none other than Yu Uchida, the sales director of Iketani Manufacturing in Japan. This chemical plant was built by Iketani Manufacturing. Yu Uchida was attending a conference in the United States before, and when he got the news, he rushed over overnight. Seeing the situation at the scene of the accident, Yu Uchida was also stunned. You know, the wind wasn't particularly strong last night, and Iketani was originally designed to withstand hurricanes, so if an equipment collapsed in such an ordinary gale, there would be no need to build the factory any further.

"It was an accident. ”

Uchida gave Erskine a 90-degree bow and said apologetically.

"Of course I know it was an accident, but how do you explain it?" said Erskine angrily, "It's only the construction phase, and there's room for redemption when this happens." If production has already begun, have you considered what the consequences of a fractionation column being poured out like this will be?"

"This is absolutely impossible, and we will definitely carry out strict inspections before putting it into production, and there will be absolutely no problematic equipment left. Uchida replied sweatingly. As a sales director for a chemical equipment company, he knows even more than Erskine the serious consequences of a plant collapse. The intermediate products of chemical plants are often highly toxic, flammable, explosive, etc., and if a fractionation column collapses during the production process and smashes some pipelines that transport intermediate products, the losses caused will be immeasurable.

"Our technicians are already on the plane and will be able to arrive in Perrault tomorrow, and the exact cause of the accident will be determined after they have carried out an examination. Until then, we will halt all construction work and inspect the installed equipment to ensure that no similar incidents occur. Uchida bowed as he spoke, his slightly bowed head shaking up and down, and in a short time Erskine was already stunned.

"Okay, then we will wait for the results of your inspection, and you will bear all the losses caused by the delay in progress. Erskine said unceremoniously.

"Yes, we will definitely bear all the losses. Yu Uchida assured.

As Uchida said, technicians from Japan arrived the next day, bringing a full set of testing equipment and original design drawings. Because of the importance of the matter, as soon as these people arrived at the site, they started intense work, some of them tested the situation of the fracture of the base, some investigated the technicians and workers in charge of the installation work, and some began to collect relevant information on local earthquakes and meteorology, hoping to find out some factors that can affect the quality of the project.

"Excuse me with your name. ”

In a makeshift office, Ta Yu-tetsu, deputy director of the technical department of Iketani Manufacturing, asked a worker in front of him with a dark face. The worker, like Tian Xiongzhe, was also dark-haired, yellow-skinned, and wore the yellow kaki cloth overalls of the Autumn Society, but his mouth was full of Chinese Haidong accents. He spoke Chinese, and Tian Xiongzhe also had to communicate with him through an interpreter.

"My name is Bi Jianxin, and I am a welder at the Hui'an Chemical Machinery Factory in Haidong Province, China. The worker replied.

"Did you weld the base of the fractionation column that collapsed the night before yesterday?"

"Yes, I welded it with a few other masters. ”

"So, when you weld, do you strictly follow the process specifications, and do you violate the process specifications?"

"You can check the work ledger to see if I'm the kind of person who will violate the process norms. Bi Jianxin's face also sank, and the other party was clearly questioning his work attitude, which made him not annoyed.

A few years ago, a member company of the Japan Chemical Equipment Association (JCA) went to China to discuss business outsourcing due to the lack of competitiveness due to the high price of labor in China. Under the organization of the Heavy Equipment Office, Chinese enterprises formed an alliance and repeatedly negotiated with the Japanese side on the issue of outsourcing prices, and finally obtained a relatively satisfactory price, and the business outsourcing cooperation between China and Japan was launched.

In recent years, although there have been some twists and turns, the scale of cooperation between the two sides has been expanding. The reason for this is naturally that the continuous appreciation of the yen has led to rising labor costs in Japan, and Japanese companies have to rely more on skilled Chinese workers to help them complete the construction tasks of overseas projects. In the course of these cooperations, the technical level and discipline of the Chinese workers also impressed the Japanese who had always pursued rigor, and the cooperation continued to deepen.

Bi Jianxin, an ace welder at the Hoi An Chemical Machinery Factory, was loaned out by Nguyen Phuc Gen of Quanfu Machinery Company and sent to a construction site in Mexico along with dozens of Quanfu workers. Sending overseas workers is of course more difficult, and Nguyen Phuc Gen has paid all the workers who are dispatched three times their salaries, which is an important reason why the workers are eager for this task.

The fractionation tower, which was poured down the day before yesterday, was made in Japan and sent to Pero by sea. Bi Jianxin and several other workers were tasked with erecting the fractionation column and welding the pins under the fractionation column to the pre-built base. They have done this kind of work many times, and this time they are naturally familiar with it and do it without pressure.

But who would have thought that the fractionation tower that had just been erected was blown down by a gust of wind, which could not but be shocking. When Bi Jianxin heard the news, he was also scared into a cold sweat, for fear that the welding quality would not meet the design requirements because of his own wrong operation. He went to the dispatching department to check the production records of that day, although he couldn't recognize a few of the Japanese in the record book, but he also made sure that his operation was not wrong, and it fully met the requirements of the process documents. With such confidence, he will naturally be able to argue with Tian Xiongzhe.

Tian Xiongzhe also had read the production records before the meeting with Bi Jianxin, and knew that from the records, there was nothing wrong with the operation of Bi Jianxin and several other welders, so he asked like this, just holding on to some luck, hoping to hear some different situations from Bi Jianxin.

From the heart of Tetsuya Tian, he hopes that the cause of the accident can be attributed to Bi Jianxin and other Chinese workers, so that the credit loss that the Japanese side will have to bear will be much smaller. He didn't expect that Bi Jianxin's reaction would be so strong, and he didn't leave him any chance.

"Are you sure you won't make a mistake?" Tian Xiongzhe is still making his last effort.

Bi Jianxin shook his head resolutely and said: "I don't dare to say how high my old Bi's technology is, but at least there is no problem in welding a fractionation column base." If you don't believe it, you can check the test records and see what I welded on this construction site, and there was no mistake.

"Well, I'm very sorry, Mr. Bi, you can go back. However, if you have thought of something else in the past few days, please do not hesitate to give me advice. Tian Xiongzhe also stood up and sent Bi Jianxin out of the room.

The same talk also happened between Tian Xiongzhe and several other Chinese welders, some of these welders had a violent personality, and immediately reasoned with Tian Xiongzhe, while others were relatively weak, but when it came to the question of whether there was a mistake, their attitude was also very resolute, that is, they would never admit that there was anything wrong with their operation.

"Mr. Tian Xiong, Mr. Bi and his Chinese colleagues are very good at technical level, and their work attitude is also very good, as if they are working for their own company. I think that we should be more protective of such good employees and not be easily suspicious of them. ”

After completing a round of conversations, Naohiro Iwasaki, the on-site dispatcher of the construction site, timidly suggested to Tetsuya Tada. Bi Jianxin and these people all have a few brushes on hand, especially in their work, they work hard and don't make any additional requirements, which makes Iwasaki Naohiro look at them with admiration. Uchida Yu and Tian Yuya Tetsuya, although they came from the headquarters and were aggressive, Naohiro Iwasaki still wanted to persuade them.