MTL - Rebirth 2008: I Can Make Money Reading-Chapter 24 New Plan - Surfacing Cobalt-Based Alloy STL Six

(In this chapter, the explanation is more detailed, and the professional knowledge may be more, which seems to be brain-burning; but all the data are real, the author was responsible for this a few years ago, and it is the author's experience, and the novel is processed.)

One of the business opportunities that Muyang sees is the surfacing welding of the valve sealing surface:

Surfacing special materials cobalt-based hard alloy STL6 and nickel-based alloy 625, in 2007, the world also has a market size of 2 to 3 billion US dollars.

In the production of industrial valves, welding is the most problematic process. Leakage, cracks, corrosion, etc., are mostly caused by welds.

Therefore, in the special material valve, the welding cost occupies a large part of the cost.

It will be easier to understand with a comparatively easy-to-understand example.

For example, the steel material used in residential buildings is Q235B (Q means "yield strength", 235 means the minimum yield strength of the material is 235MPa, and the tensile strength is not less than 375MPa), and the matching domestic brand solid wire welding material ER50-6 (50 means the minimum tensile strength of the weld is 500PAa, and the strength of the welding material is stronger than that of the base metal). In 2008, the price of a certain brand of welding material was 8 yuan/KG, which was about twice the cost of steel.

And the special welding material cobalt-based hard alloy STL6, the current domestic market price is 250 yuan / KG, the import price is doubled.

The high price is because STL6 contains high cobalt content, accounting for about 50%, and the target cobalt market price is about 320,000 yuan/ton.

A 10-inch gate (an important part of the valve, equivalent to the sealing structure of the faucet, must have wear resistance), the wear-resistant part is surfacing the wear-resistant material cobalt-based alloy STL6, the weight is about 2KG, and the cost of the light welding material is not high. less than five hundred dollars.

If the valve size is larger, the amount of welding consumables will be larger. For some valves, one needs to pile up more than tens of kilograms of special welding consumables, and the cost of light welding consumables needs to be tens of thousands.

To engage in this industry, Muyang has to talk about its background and development.

The research on valve sealing surface surfacing technology in my country began in the early 1960s. After forty or fifty years of development, valve surfacing methods have changed from non-automatic and low-efficiency methods such as manual arc welding and oxygen-b drying flame surfacing. The traditional surfacing method has been developed to the widespread adoption of efficient and automated surfacing methods, such as flame surfacing, plasma arc surfacing and laser cladding.

However, the development of automatic surfacing welding is not smooth, and there are many technical problems to be overcome.

What are the advantages of Muyang?

First, equipment.

He is ready to use plasma spray welding, which is several times faster than traditional methods!

And what about the amount of welding?

Only 0.7 times the amount of conventional welding!

(It can be welded evenly with less machining allowance)

Don't underestimate the coefficient of 0.7. Among the special welding consumables, the welding consumables are so expensive, and a coefficient of 0.3 is a major technological reform.

The cost of light welding consumables is saved a lot.

At present, most valve manufacturers have not yet applied plasma spray welding. It is still two or three years after the application, and it will be five or six years after the general application.

Second, the repair rate.

Since the hardness of STL6 reaches 330-450HV (the hardness of ordinary steel Q235B is only about 150HV)!

In metal materials, the greater the hardness, the worse the plasticity, so it is easy to crack.

Regular manufacturing has a very high rework rate of 20%!

Such a high repair rate delays the cycle, and the cost of repairing a workpiece is about the same as manufacturing a new one.

However, the repair rate of the equipment and processes that Muyang has explored in the past few years is as low as 1%.

Third, craftsmanship.

The conventionally manufactured surfacing welding STL6, the iron element exceeds the standard (corrosion resistance will deteriorate), and it is difficult to meet the requirements of foreign customers.

Such products with excessive iron elements that can be exported are mostly foreign customers who are coveting Huaguo valves for cheap, and it is difficult to find qualified manufacturers.

Or due to the small size of the valve, it has been assembled. Due to the small space, it is inconvenient to use a spectrometer to detect alloy elements. Therefore, customers only look at the leakage situation and do not detect alloy elements.

However, the valves of medium and large size can still be detected if they want to be detected.

If the problem of iron exceeding the standard can be solved and the production capacity can keep up, domestic manufacturers can easily grab international orders with their price advantages.

In his previous life, Muyang worked as a welding supervisor in a valve company. In order to solve this problem, he visited many welding equipment manufacturers on a business trip, and then explored the process. It took three or four years to completely solve the problem of excessive iron elements. The process used The advanced level has reached the top level at home and abroad.

He is familiar with the manufacture of plasma spray welding equipment, and commissioned a non-standard manufacturer to manufacture one. The company spent 450,000!

But it failed to meet the requirements for use, so I personally rectified it for half a year, and then copied four sets for the company. One copy cost less than 70,000 yuan.

If it is copied again, the cost will be lower.

Then Muyang, how to make money?

Why do these valve manufacturers give him OEM?

In fact, Muyang has grasped the technical particularity of poor technical information and surfacing welding of valve sealing surface.

For example, the conventional process is artificial argon arc welding STL6 surfacing. It takes more than 2 hours for one person to surfacing an 8-inch gate, the labor cost is about 50 yuan, the welding material needs more than 2 kilograms, and the welding material cost is 500 yuan. Gas, electricity and other costs are about 80 yuan, and the cost of light welding is about 700 yuan.

That is, the production cost of welding materials, 1KG = 350 yuan!

Workers are also tired. In fact, a welder works for eleven hours and can weld up to 9 kg of cobalt-based alloy welding material STL6.

If the repair rate is large, the welding production cost will reach more than one thousand yuan.

Counting the repair rate and the production cost of welding consumables, 1KG ≥ 500 yuan!

On top of that, the rework was delayed, resulting in delayed deliveries.

In 2008, 8-inch gate surfacing welding STL6, the general foundry fee is 1,200 yuan (depending on the price of welding materials),

That is, 1KG welding material OEM fee = about 600 yuan!

The production cost of 1KG welding material is only 350 yuan, and there is a gross profit space of 250 yuan.

However, the 600 yuan processing fee not only includes the cost of materials, but also the cost of repair. If the repair rate is high, the foundry will lose money.

If you don't do it well, you will have to make up for the cost of other people's workpieces for nothing, and you will not be able to get the OEM fee.

Therefore, there are not many outsourced manufacturers who can OEM, so they make a lot of money, and most of the products produced can only be accepted by concessions.

But if it is handed over to Muyang OEM, he can save 75 yuan (0.3×250=75 yuan) per 1KG of welding material cost.

The labor cost is about 15 yuan, other costs are slightly less about 30 yuan, and the repair rate can be controlled within 1%.

Comprehensive cost: 1KG welding material processing cost=(0.7×250+15+30)/0.99

= about 220 yuan!

Therefore, the foundry fee for an 8-inch gate is 1,200 yuan, and the gross profit is about 760 yuan, which is not lower than the profit of selling finished valves.

That is, the gross profit of processing 1KG welding material = 380 yuan!

If it is a large size valve, using dozens of kilograms of welding materials, one OEM will earn tens of thousands of yuan.

With machine welding, one worker can weld 10 tons of welding material a year!

With conventional equipment and processes, a worker can only weld 2.5 tons of welding consumables a year.

Because the machine welds well, the welding consumption is only 0.7 times, and the actual welding efficiency is 5.7 times that of manual work.

If you take into account factors such as low repair rate, less machining volume, high quality weld appearance, easier post-processing, technology concentration, quantity, and less picky foreign customers, the overall production efficiency is higher than that of valve manufacturers with traditional process surfacing. 7-10 times higher.

The above are Muyang's advantages and ways to make money.

For example, Huazheng Valve, the old owner of his previous life, has an annual output value of about 500 million yuan, about 800 employees, and only 20 welders. Among them, there are 7 welders responsible for surfacing STL6, but the annual consumption of STL6 welding materials is 20%. 18 tons, and the cost of light welding material is 4.5 million.

Costs of welding consumables, gas and electricity, wages of production workers and withdrawn employee welfare funds, waste loss and repair costs, workshop expenses, enterprise management fees, production delays, and customer fines due to welding quality. Costs of all welding factors.

Huazheng Valve Co., Ltd. spends 11-15 million yuan a year on the welding of cobalt-based alloy STL6.

If they can solve the headache of STL6 welding for about ten million yuan, no doubt they will be happy.

Moreover, to meet the requirements of foreign customers, we can also accept such more foreign orders.

This status quo is not only about Huazheng Valve, the old club of Muyang's previous life.

Nowadays, most domestic valve factories are struggling with this ST6L surfacing problem, which cannot be solved after years of exploration.

As long as there is strength to solve this problem, such orders will not be completed.

However, the production capacity is limited and there are many problems, so a large amount of welding business has to be assigned to capable outsourced manufacturers~www.novelbuddy.com~ and outsourced manufacturers of course use traditional processes, even if the repair rate is high, as long as there is quantity, you can make a profit Hard work is also a pleasure.

In addition, in order to reduce operating costs, improve quality, and concentrate human resources, if the quality of outsourcing meets the requirements and the cost is not high, the factory will outsource part of the business that is not easy to control, which can free up the organization to focus more on core business. The reason why most companies outsource part of their business.

If Muyang can make plasma surfacing equipment, and then produce it according to his new process, even if it is OEM, it will not be much lower than Party A's profit from selling finished valves, and it is a monopoly technology, and it can earn four or five years.

Of course, the biggest fear in doing business is not getting the money back.

Therefore, it seems that the profit is very high, but the money in the end is definitely not so much.

Figured this out, Muyang began to plan, make preparations, and make his own plasma spray welding equipment for surfacing cobalt-based alloys.

Many parts of this equipment can be purchased, such as the motor of the positioner, but some can only be made by yourself, such as the structure of the welding gun.

To manufacture these parts, there must be CAD drawings first, otherwise the workers will not be able to manufacture them.

Running the trilemma software with a pen computer might get stuck, so Muyang had to buy a desktop computer to make 3D Soliwoks first, and then convert it to 2D CAD for drawing.

He has faked this equipment, and he must remember the structure, but some of the dimensions are a little fuzzy. There are about a hundred drawings to be drawn. If it is fast, it will be completed in ten days, and it will take half a month.

After the drawing comes out, rent a workshop, hire personnel, buy materials and equipment to manufacture, debug, and then weld samples to valve manufacturers for negotiation and cooperation.

If you build a factory by yourself, firstly, there is no hurry, and secondly, the funds are not enough.