The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 271 The production model beyond the times

The traditional practice of lighting foundry craftsmen, wanting to ensure that the finished product specifications are the same is simply a dream.

Don't say that the things made by different craftsmen are very different, even if the same craftsman makes different things when he is in a good mood and when he is in a bad mood.

Let’s say that the blunderbusses equipped by Daming were said to fire three-coin lead bullets, but in the hands of specific soldiers, they ranged from two-coins and eight-cents to three-coins and two-cents, and they were all considered qualified.

The huge difference between the firecrackers forces every soldier to process the lead bullets according to the caliber of the firecrackers in his spare time, otherwise it will either leak or fail to fit in.

Therefore, if you want to install rifled guns on a large scale, you must first improve the processing technology, specifically, to standardize the process.

Without workmanship standards, it is difficult for craftsmen to collaborate, not to mention that components manufactured by downstream factories are assembled and used by upstream factories.

That's why Zhu Linming made up her mind to take advantage of the opportunity of large-scale manufacturing of rifled guns to promote the standardization of craftsmanship throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.

Change the habit of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty to do their own thing, and turn the handicraft workshop into a real factory!
You know, it took Europeans hundreds of years to go from manual workshops to factories with standard processes.

But once this transformation is completed, the production efficiency and product quality of the whole society will be greatly improved, paving the way to industrialization.As far as national strength is concerned, an industrialized or even semi-industrialized country can definitely completely abuse a group of agricultural countries.The British of later generations explained this to people by colonizing more than half of the earth.

With the large-scale planting of potatoes and sweet potatoes, Zhu Linmi believes that the food problem in Ming Dynasty should have been basically solved.And as Ming Dynasty continues to expand overseas in the future, it can also get a lot of food supplements from maritime trade and colonies.

Having enough food is a necessary condition for starting to develop industry.

In addition, the advanced equipment in Zhu Linmi's later planning is beyond the power of the manual workshop.

Firearms such as breech loading.He has given Song Yingxing the method of synthesizing the thunderbolt mercury necessary for making breech-loading pistols, and it is currently being trial-produced in the laboratory in Ganzhou. Of course, there is still a long way to go before it can be successfully synthesized.

However, once the trial production of Thunder Mercury is successful, the precision machining capability is the most basic in order to produce a breech-loading gun with good air-tightness.It is absolutely impossible to achieve such high precision in manual workshops that have not completed process standardization.

As for more advanced rifled cannons and even copper-cased bullets, etc., it is something that the hand-crafted workshop does not even need to think about.

There is also the shipbuilding industry. If you want to win the huge cake of maritime trade from the mouth of Western countries, you must have excellent seagoing ships.

Although the shipbuilders of Ming Dynasty can now build large-sized sea ships, there is still a big gap compared with European warships.

Shipbuilding is a huge system engineering.

Zhu Linmei did remember the characteristics and structures of many advanced warships, but with Daming's current level of craftsmanship, it is absolutely impossible to complete the construction of these super-era giant ships.

And to ensure that Ming's merchant ships can travel safely between Europe and Asia without being attacked by European pirate countries, a fleet that can form an overwhelming advantage over the Europeans is essential.

……

A huge banner was hung on the main entrance of the Fujing Arms Bureau three days ago, writing: Unified teaching, unified weights and measures, unified process flow, and unified acceptance.Below is the autograph of Mr. Song, the current minister of the Ministry of Industry.

The Arms Bureau is also very different from the past. The original chaotic workshop has repainted the walls, and the ground is divided into several areas with thin wood chips. There are signs on the side - "raw material area", "machinery area", " Tool area", "map, registration area", "waste area", "receipt area"...

In the "ware making area", there are several workbenches, and each workbench is equipped with a complete set of equipment such as forging stands, drilling stands, and anvils.There are also various measuring tools such as rulers, set squares, compasses, protractors, and balances. Not only are the specifications exactly the same, but even the placement of them is exactly the same.

Such a standardized and scientific and meticulous "production workshop", not to mention in Daming, even if you look at the whole world, you can't find another one.It was Zhu Linmi who copied all the models from the workshop of the * Fang Vehicle Research Institute in later generations.

It's just that the craftsmen who are working in it are a little shy, and they don't seem to be used to it.

Recently, Li Jing feels like he has returned to his apprenticeship.

In the past few days, he has been studying with a large group of apprentices in the technical school in the morning.Learn to read characters for half an hour, and learn the use of utensils and "industrial pattern" recognition for half an hour.

Fortunately, he attended the "Craft Standards" class for the next hour in the advanced class, which allowed him to regain the feeling of an old craftsman in front of the group of apprentices who went to the elementary class.

He glanced at the "Standard Process Manual". Although he couldn't read a few words, there were clear illustrations on it, and he could understand the meaning at a glance.

He looked at Tu and thought for a while, then found a "small sickle" from among the new and exquisite tools beside him, and suddenly remembered that this thing seemed to be called a vernier caliper.

According to the requirements of the "Procedure Manual", he used a caliper to repeatedly measure the size and thickness of more than a dozen places on the iron piece in his hand, thinking to himself that my old tape measure was still comfortable to use.

This made him miss the old tools that he had taken away. Although this pile of new utensils was extremely delicate, they were not as smooth as the ones he had used for more than 20 years.

There seems to be a discrepancy in size.Li Jing frowned again and sharpened the gun base in his hand, measured it with a vernier caliper, and then ground it again.This was repeated more than ten times until the size of each place was the same as that required in the "Procedure Manual".

He weighed the iron piece in his hand, and said to the craftsman on the side, "Usually, I can make such a small thing in half an afternoon. Now it takes me a whole day, and I still have half to finish it."

The craftsman also nodded, "Who says no, but I don't know why it is so long-winded."

When Li Jing put the blunderbuss base on the drilling platform and was about to start drilling, a "supervisor" dressed in white walked over quickly and stopped him, "Old Li, you haven't finished the last process. After passing the review and acceptance, we will start punching holes and deduct one point from the evaluation.”

Li Jing was taken aback, and hurriedly said with a bitter face: "I have carefully measured this size according to the "Procedure Manual", and there is absolutely no mistake."

But the supervisor ignored him, just took out the small book, drew a cross behind Li Jing's name, and handed it to him for his fingerprint.

Li Jing shook his head helplessly, and said to himself that it is just a trial run now, and he has to be very careful next month. The monthly evaluation award can be a whole tael of silver, which can cover half a month's wages.And if the supervisor collects a fork, a penny will fly away.

(End of this chapter)