Chen Tiaofu's career.

19 14, Fan Xudong founded Jiuda Salt Company in Tanggu, and planned to set up a soda plant, but suffered from lack of talents. 19 17 winter, introduced by industrialist Zhang Jian, Chen Tiaofu, Wu Cibo and Wang Xiaoxu went north to Tianjin to establish an alkali factory with Fan Xudong. The two sides hit it off, and Fan Xudong later recalled: "The comrades in the North and South are willing to run Li Yong with Jiuda as the center, and the seeds of China alkali industry were planted in Tanggu." In the process of discussing how to establish an alkali plant, Chen Tifu advocated the adoption of the advanced Sulvi alkali production method at that time. Some people think that although the alkali made of southern salt is good, it is doubtful whether it can be used together if northern salt is used as raw material. Therefore, Chen Tiaofu and Fan Xudong built a 3-meter-high lime kiln in Fan Xudong's home in Taihe, Tianjin, to supply carbon dioxide. Wang Xiaoxu drew a sketch and made a set of soda equipment. After many tests, qualified soda ash was obtained, which greatly encouraged Fan Xudong's determination and the confidence of shareholders.

19 18, Fan Xudong, Chen Tiaofu and other seven people founded Wynn Alkali Industry Company was formally established in Tanggu. Fan Xudong had a heart-to-heart talk with Chen Tiaofu in Jiuda Laboratory, and wanted to entrust Chen Tiaofu, who is less than 30 years old, with the technical responsibility of alkali production. Chen Tiaofu replied: "My ability is weak. Asking me to shoulder this great responsibility is equivalent to asking the children to be masters of the country. " Fan Xudong said: "Anyone is a child. As long as he has determination, he can succeed!" Encouraged, Steve Chen readily agreed. In the winter of the same year, Chen Tifu went to the United States to inspect alkali-making technology, organize design, purchase machinery and equipment, and recruit technicians when the application for industrial salt tax exemption was delayed for a long time. After many twists and turns in the United States, with the help of overseas Chinese industrialists and managers of Huachang trading company, Steve Chen invited several foreign students to assist in the design, including Hou, who is studying tanning technology at Columbia University Institute. When Steve Chen discovered that he was very talented, he was invited to return to China to participate in the construction of the soda plant. Hou agreed.

19 19, Steve Chen returned home with drawings and was appointed as the chief engineer by Fan Xudong. 192 1, and then return to China to participate in the construction of alkali plants. Fan Xudong appreciated his talent and entrusted him with an important task. Fan Xudong gratefully said to Chen Tiaofu, "Your recommendation is meritorious and should be rewarded." Chen Tiaofu replied: "I don't ask for anything in return. I hope I can play the role of a catalyst and have a chemical effect, which is beneficial to my career and my success." In addition to Hou, Chen Tifu also introduced more than a dozen technicians from the United States, such as Liu Yunzhong, Wu and Li Deyong, and became the technical backbone of Yongli Soda Plant.

At the beginning of the factory, there were many difficulties. Chen Tiaofu is cautious in introducing technology. All the machines and equipment that can be made in China are made by ourselves, and all the machines and equipment that cannot be made by ourselves are purchased from abroad. Everything that needs to be imported is always compared repeatedly. Copy it immediately after introduction, and don't introduce it again. Besides, as long as it can buy cheap, it won't buy expensive. In the United States, he bought a 1 large planer for a soda factory. At that time, the brand-new planer needed $20,000. He saw an old equipment of the same kind for sale in a newspaper advertisement, so he hurried to see the goods. At that time, the machine had been dismantled and piled on the ground. He found that it could only be used by renovation, and he bought it back at the price of $65,438+0,000 scrap. Until 1950s, this kind of planer still played a role in the maintenance workshop of soda plant.

There are also many large-scale mechanical equipment under construction in China. On the way to Tanggu, many accidents happened. Heavy castings crushed the dock, and the concession patrol room demanded compensation. Warlords scuffled and trains were requisitioned, so some equipment was put on hold for many days. To solve these problems, Steve Chen traveled between Tanggu, Tianjin and Shanghai. The bearing capacity of foundation in Tanggu area is low, so it is difficult to build a large high-rise factory building. During the construction of the south and north floors of the soda plant, there has never been such a 10 floor building in China. He used many local methods to build this building, and it still stands today. 1924 65438+ 10, the first large-scale basic chemical enterprise in China was finally built, and Chen Tifu played an important role in the design and capital construction of alkali plant.

1923, recommended by Chen Tiaofu, Wynn appointed Hou as the chief technician. Chen Tifu was appointed Minister of Public Works, devoted to enterprise management and talent training. He, Hou, Li and others encouraged and supported each other. Even in a pinch.

Save each other's lives and fight together. He participated in the formulation and implementation of major decisions, initiated and organized a machine maintenance workshop, which greatly improved the efficiency of equipment transformation and maintenance. He often goes to the front line day and night to guide production and solve problems. One night in the dead of winter, he climbed to the top of the 10-meter-high lime kiln and saved a fainted maintenance worker.

1June, 926, the world-advanced Wynn Soda Factory finally produced high-quality soda ash after eight years' struggle, and won the reputation of "symbol of China's industrial progress" and the gold medal at the World Expo on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United States/kloc-0 in August of the same year. Fan Xudong said to Steve Chen in one breath, "My clothes are too big. Mr. Chen, you can live a few more years. " In order to reward his contribution, Wynn Company presented a bonus of 2000 yuan, and Chen Tiaofu immediately gave it to the welfare department of the soda plant, and talked with his colleagues in China and the United States for a while.

1956 expansion of Li Yong soda plant. At that time, Chen Tiaofu had been working in the North China Research Institute of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, and he was nearly old. However, at the invitation of some of Wynn's old colleagues, he attended in person to assist Zhang Zuotang and others in presiding over the technical transformation work. Therefore, many people think that Chen Tiaofu's life is closely related to Wynn's career, and he has made great contributions to the establishment and development of Wynn. Together with Li and Hou, he is the founder of China chemical industry. Another important achievement of Chen Tiaofu's career is the establishment of Yongming Paint Factory. As early as his youth, he became interested in the study of tung oil and lacquerware in China, and wrote a book, National Treasures and Lacquerware. After Li Yong Alkali Factory was completed and put into operation, he felt that the coating industry in China was still very backward, especially the national treasure lacquer and tung oil were not used to develop the coating industry in China.

1928 12, with the consent of Fan Xudong, Chen tiaofu set up Yongming paint factory by himself, taking into account the situation of Li Yong soda plant. At the beginning of the factory, it was very difficult to raise funds, only 6,543,800 yuan was raised, half of which was borrowed from his uncle. In view of the fact that many enterprises struggle for power and profit and interfere in administration, so that technicians can't give full play to their talents and their careers can't be done well, Chen Tiaofu decided not to take the form of a joint stock limited company, but to form a joint venture company, with Chen Tiaofu as a shareholder and taking unlimited responsibility.

Yongming Paint Factory is located in Xiaowangzhuang, Hebei District, Tianjin. At first, it only occupied 7 points and had 9 houses. Because of its poor equipment, it can only produce some low-grade paints for the market and cannot compete with British and American products. Two or three years ago, it lost money. In view of his experience in Li Yong Soda Factory, he decided to cultivate technical talents, take the road of technological innovation and develop into high-grade products. He has recruited several technicians from universities in Tianjin and Tianjin, giving them generous treatment, and assigned a special topic to each person, equipped with two assistants, engaged in the research and development of new products. He adopted the method of merit-based admission. In order to recruit Wang, a graduate of Hebei Institute of Technology, he first wrote to Wei Mingchu, dean of the college, and asked Wang to come to the factory to "help". The content was to do an experiment and write a report in English. Wang completed the examination as required, and after expressing satisfaction with the examination results, he issued the letter of appointment.

Chen Tifu attaches great importance to the technical and cultural education of employees. He extracted 20% of the factory profits as an education fund, all of which were used to improve the technical and cultural level of employees. He set up an amateur cram school for workers, which was managed by a special person and taught by a special person, and the workers participated in the study for free. He hired teachers to tutor technicians in foreign languages, and some young workers went to study foreign languages outside the factory, and the expenses were also borne by the factory. He also personally taught chemical knowledge and led the workers to operate. For a time, it became commonplace for employees of Yongming Paint Factory to learn culture and technology. The personnel engaged in technology and product development and research in Yongming Paint Factory account for about 20% of the total employees.

Chen Tiaofu also took the famous educator Tao Xingzhi's educational thought of "teaching and doing" as the school motto of Yongming Lacquer Factory. He explained to the workers: "the first thing to do in running a factory is to do it;" If you do too much, you will find shortcomings, so study; Learn a little experience, teach it to future generations, and let future generations continue to do it. " This method of combining production with education encourages employees to study hard and keep making progress, which has promoted the development of Yongming Paint Factory.

In order to develop new products, he put scientific research in an important position and invested 20% of the factory profits in scientific research funds. At the beginning of the factory, despite the difficulties and tight funds, he still insisted on establishing a laboratory and spent precious foreign exchange to buy testing instruments. In order to compete with foreign products, Chen Tifu bought American phenolic varnish and organized scientific and technical personnel to test and analyze it. It is found that American varnish has the advantages of high hardness and good luster, but its water resistance is poor. Once it is scalded, the paint film turns white. Chen Tifu used cheap tung oil from China as modifier. The developed new product does not change color after boiling in water for 10 minutes. After it was put into the market, it was immediately praised by users. The performance of this coating exceeds that of American novolak, and Chen Tiaofu named it "Yongming Paint", which is the first famous brand product in China coating industry. 1933 "Yongming lacquer" won the quality certificate issued by Nanjing National Government. As a result, Chen Tiaofu and Yongming Paint Factory are well-known in China, and their paint sales have soared. The same desk in a wood shop painted with Yongming paint will increase the price of 2 yuan.

The second famous brand product of Yongming Paint Factory is nitrocellulose paint, which is mostly used for spraying cars. On the basis of analyzing the composition and physical properties of DuPont spray paint, Chen Tifu first made domestic spray paint. 1In July, 935, Chen Tiaofu held an exhibition of paintings in national hotel, Tianjin, which won unanimous praise from the audience. Tianjin Business Daily published an illustrated magazine to promote the exhibition.

Chen Tiaofu attaches great importance to product promotion. In addition to holding exhibitions, we often visit users with samples and distribute promotional materials. In terms of sales, he has made car repair paint and railway vehicle paint as the main direction, trying to attract customers in many ways. Due to the excellent painting quality of Yongming Paint Factory, most of Tianjin auto repair shops have become customers of Yongming Paint Factory. Railway coatings also sell well, accounting for 2/3 of the total sales of Yongming Paint Factory. At that time, the vehicle factories in Tianjin, Tangshan, Changxindian, Puzhen, Sifang and Northeast China all used the products of Yongming Paint Factory. Just as the production and sales of Yongming Paint Factory were booming and Chen Tifu was preparing for further development, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out and Yongming Paint Factory planned to move in. With patriotic enthusiasm, Chen Tiaofu went to Chongqing via Hong Kong and contacted the Aviation Committee to set up a factory to produce national defense coatings. But the factory failed because he didn't take the road of being in power. He refused to produce paint for the Japanese, so he took refuge in Shanghai. Yongming paint factory is barely maintained by agents such as Wang Guoliang. The Japanese invaders coveted Yongming Paint Factory for a long time, but failed to win it over several times. In the name of military supplies, they robbed Yongming Paint Factory of all the precious raw materials stored in the warehouse of China Bank, which was worth half of the factory, forcing Yongming Paint Factory to stop production. The Japanese invaders also took Liang away and tortured him.

During his stay in Shanghai, Chen Tifu established Wanhua Refinery and Yongming Laboratory, and devoted himself to studying the raw materials of coatings, especially alkyd resin coatings, which laid the foundation for the appearance of another famous brand product "Sanbao Paint" in Yongming Coatings Factory in the future.

After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, Chen Tifu transported all the books, instruments and a lot of raw materials from Shanghai to Tianjin, and began to restore Yongming Paint Factory. During the period of 1946, the wind of civil war intensified. Regardless of his personal safety, Chen Tiaofu publicly distributed his book Collection of Jade Attractions on June 6 1946, calling for stopping the civil war, actively organizing scientific research and expanding production. He added a pigment workshop on the basis of the original Yongming factory to produce a variety of high-quality pigments such as chrome yellow, chrome green and chrome blue. In order to solve the packaging problem, a can-making workshop was added; Advanced equipment has also been introduced from abroad, such as single roller mill, large mixer and fast roller mill. He also expanded the laboratory and hired more technicians. 1948, another famous brand product of Yongming paint factory, Sambo paint, was successfully developed and put into production, which made China paint industry take a big step forward.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he used his tens of thousands of dollars in foreign exchange to buy new equipment and raw materials, and worked hard to develop production, which was strongly supported by the people's government. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, a large number of ancient buildings in Beijing needed maintenance. Chen Tiaofu took the lead in painting the Xili Pavilion in Zhongshan Park for free, which was praised by Premier Zhou Enlai.

From 65438 to 0952, the paint output of Yongming Paint Factory has jumped to the first place in China. The first generation alkyd resin paint in China-"Sanbao paint" was mass-produced, and the quality reached the international advanced level at that time. As the key construction project to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea and the designated paint in the first five-year plan, the products of this factory are widely used in China and exported to the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asian countries. 1 953 65438+1October1,Yongming paint factory became the first public-private joint venture in China paint industry. At the end of 1950s, although Chen Tiaofu was old, he still insisted on scientific research. He can't go to work in the factory every day, so he set up a laboratory at home at his own expense, engaged in the research work of silicone coatings, and made pentacarbon algae alcohol, which was commended by the Tianjin Municipal People's Government.