Gao Jiaqing, Assistant Manager of the Product Innovation Department at the Drive Shaft Company

One night, the laboratory of the Transmission Shaft Company was brightly lit. Gao Jiaqing from the Product Innovation Department and his colleagues stood nervously around a metallographic microscope, utterly silent. Suddenly, the colleague in charge of the experiment looked up and said quietly, “It’s done!” The once-quiet lab instantly erupted into excitement. Everyone exchanged smiles, high-fived, and cheered joyfully. Gao Jiaqing had already lost count of how many times they’d adjusted the process plan—but now, looking back, that moment when their repeated trials finally paid off still filled him with exhilaration. After years of working in technical roles, he’d developed a “strong heart” that dared to confront challenges head-on and excelled at innovative breakthroughs, enabling him to grow into a key technical leader capable of guiding his team through even the toughest problems. Thanks to his outstanding performance, Gao Jiaqing was awarded the title of “Outstanding Communist Party Member” by the Wanxiang Group for 2025.

If technological R&D is a silent battlefield, then the C-brand driveshaft project serves as a vivid testament to Gao Jiaqing’s exemplary dedication as a Party member. In early 2024, the company took on the development task of an integrated telescopic driveshaft for this brand’s flagship model. The project had a tight schedule and posed significant technical challenges: users demanded a 20% increase in product strength compared to previous models, while also requiring the driveshaft to meet high-torque demands under extreme off-road conditions. However, the dimensions of the earlier products had already been finalized, making it impossible to simply increase the specifications and size of the driveshaft to meet the new user requirements. Faced with this daunting challenge, Gao Jiaqing took the lead, identified the key issues, and focused all efforts on overcoming them.

The first major hurdle was material selection: The steel traditionally used lacked sufficient strength, and multiple bench tests had repeatedly resulted in torsional failure. Together with his colleagues, he boldly innovated by introducing, for the first time, a higher-performance grade of steel, boosting the product’s strength by 10%.

After the material upgrade, the heat treatment process for the spline shaft became an even greater challenge. While deepening the induction hardening depth can enhance strength, excessive hardening increases brittleness and raises the risk of cracking. Led by Gao Jiaqing, the team worked day and night, repeatedly adjusting hardening parameters such as heating time, energy control, and cooling rate, and conducting meticulous metallographic analysis and bench testing again and again. During one particular process adjustment, the hardening depth exceeded the specified limit, causing deterioration of the microstructure at the spline shaft’s corner regions and nearly bringing the project to a standstill. Gao Jiaqing organized cross-departmental collaboration and coordinated repeated trials on the shop floor. After dozens of minor adjustments to the parameters, they finally pinpointed the ideal hardening depth range, achieving a perfect balance between toughness and hardness and boosting the strength by 15%.

In the spline sleeve stage, users had extremely high requirements for the microstructure after quenching and tempering. After trying various materials and processes without success, everyone was at a loss. Just when things seemed hopeless, Gao Jiaqing and his colleagues brainstormed and came up with the idea of using non-quenched-and-tempered steel. This innovative approach not only ensured the required strength performance but also met the stringent demands for microstructural consistency, thus effortlessly resolving the long-standing challenge. For every unexpected situation encountered during the project, Gao Jiaqing would promptly document it as part of an FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), using it to train new employees and providing valuable reference material for future projects.

On the eve of mass production, to ensure product stability, Gao Jiaqing worked side by side with the customer, putting in overtime late into the night for an entire week and successfully resolving the initial process fluctuations. This tenacity—never giving up until the problem is solved—is a true reflection of the Communist Party members’ spirit of tackling tough challenges.

Gao Jiaqing stated, “As Party members, we must dare to take bold initiatives and grow by tackling real-world challenges.” Leading by example, he has set a shining role model for new employees. Having just received the Group’s “Outstanding Communist Party Member” title for the first time, Gao Jiaqing feels both greatly encouraged and deeply aware of his heavy responsibility. He said, “‘Outstanding’ is not the end point—it’s a brand-new starting line. Whether it’s overcoming technical hurdles, improving production processes, or engaging in daily teamwork and quality control... my work is my ‘main battlefield.’ I’ll continue to delve deeper into my field, hone my skills to perfection, and hold myself to the high standards expected of an outstanding Party member. With every step forward, I’ll keep pushing even harder.” This resilient and unwavering “strong heart” is driving Gao Jiaqing and his team to charge toward the next technological peak and write a new chapter of relentless striving.