Engineer Cheolwoo Lee (2)
Admittedly, commercialization was difficult.
For the purpose of research, the budget could be used freely to some extent, but for the purpose of sales, the price had to be reasonable in the opinion of the people using it.
The AHS system is able to match the unit price because there are few places that use free vector gears, but the unit price is high as a part entering the vehicle, so it was a failure.
‘That’s why there is only news that it has been researched in the news all the time, but no news that it has been commercialized.’
I finally realized why.
In order to be commercialized, it must meet the conditions required by the market. especially money.
I was on my way to Chang-soo’s father’s company to find a way to lower the unit price.
“Minseok, did you look elsewhere?”
“parasol?”
“Uh, at what unit price is it possible to mass-produce?”
“I’ve been to dozens of factories, and the least requested is 60,000 won.”
“Eh? 60,000 won each?”
“Uh. That’s a figure that can only be achieved with an initial investment of about 300 million won.”
“Crazy 300 million won. Aren’t you a scammer?”
“Um, well.”
Setting the unit price was not as easy as I thought.
“Ha, what will Changsoo’s father say?”
“I don’t know. You have to go to know.”
Before I knew it, I arrived at the factory run by Chang-soo’s father.
It was a quiet countryside on the outskirts of Ulsan.
“Changsu!”
“You came? You had a hard time coming.”
“hahahaha, no. More than that, is this the factory your father runs?”
“Uh. It’s smaller than I thought, right?”
About the size of a school gym.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve heard it’s small, so I’m not sure it’s that small.”
“Still, there’s everything inside. Let’s go inside.”
“huh.”
There was a small office space in the factory. Sitting there, Changsoo served tea.
“drink.”
“thank you.”
“It’s the first time a friend is coming to our factory again.”
“hahahaha, you said you were making bearings, right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then there must be metal manufacturing facilities like CNC?”
“I’m sure? I’m not interested. Maybe not? I think I heard a while ago that Dad had to buy a new CNC machine.”
“I see. What kind of person is your father?”
“My dad? Um… I just know when I see him. He’s coming over there.”
A benevolent-looking old man was walking towards it.
We quickly got up and said our goodbyes.
“Hello! My name is Chulwoo Lee, my friend in Changsoo.”
“Hello. I’m Cha Min-seok.”
“Hey hahahaha, come on. Are you our Changsoo friend?”
“Yes! They are college friends.”
“hahahaha, thank you for being friends with Changsu.”
“Thank you Changsoo for being friends with us.”
“hahahahaha, the young people are polite. Sit down.”
At Changsu’s father’s words, we sat down again.
“So, what did you come all the way here out of curiosity?”
“Um… we made a new type of gear, can you take a look at it?”
“Yes. Of course.”
I took out a palm-sized Freevector Gear from my bag and put it on my desk.
“Oh…? It’s a strange shape.”
“Yes. If you look at this, you can move left and right like this, and you can also move in a straight line. Not only that…”
He touched the free vector gear here and there and explained it.
“Wow…that’s amazing? I’ve never seen a gear like this before. Can I take a look?”
“Yes. Of course.”
This time, Changsoo’s father took the gear and started touching it around.
“Hey, that’s really cool. The direction of the force is not one, it seems that the power transmission is also good at 1:1.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh, really. This is a great invention. It could be used in many industries.”
Certainly, he recognized the value of the free vector gear, probably because he had worked in the machine for a long time.
“Yes. So this time, I received an order inquiry from Hyunsung Motors…”
“Oh? Hyeonseong Motor?”
“yes.”
“hahahahaha, is there such a coincidence? We are also supplying to Hyunsung Motors.”
“I know it because I heard it from Changsoo.”
“Ha ha, good company.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So I received an order inquiry, but it seems that the unit price has not been met.”
also
Having worked for a long time in metalworking, we noticed our problem at once.
“Yes. As expected, you know it well. I can’t match the unit price. Wasn’t the lowest price 60,000 won?”
“60,000 won…. Well, there’s a high chance it’s a scammer.”
“Eh? Is that so?”
“Yes. From my point of view, even if the minimum unit price is set, it is 80,000 won.”
“Ha, 80,000 won. Is there any way?”
“How much did you want in Hyeonseong?”
“…… It’s 36,000 won.”
80,000 won must be reduced to 36,000 won to be able to deliver to Hyeonseong.
“It should be reduced by almost 3 times. Umm….”
Changsoo’s father thought for a moment and then spoke again.
“I don’t think there’s a way I know of. It’s going to be difficult unless there’s a new manufacturing technique.”
“Is there really no way?”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t be of any help.”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing to be sorry for. We came here just in case.”
“Rather, how about finding a sales route other than Hyeonseong? I think it will sell well anywhere that needs to be specially reduced in volume.”
The point of free vector gear is to reduce the volume that goes into the machine.
One gear for up and down motion, and one gear for left and right motion. Even various parts that connect the two in a complex way.
about six.
It meant that the six parts mentioned in Hyunseong could be reduced to one.
In other words, since the number of parts is reduced from 6 to 1, the volume is naturally reduced.
As the uncle said, if you use it in an industry that needs to reduce the volume extremely, you might get a higher unit price.
“hmm…….”
However, I did not know where the industry had to reduce the volume so drastically, and there was less publicity.
Also, if it is too miniaturized, original performance cannot be achieved due to structural problems.
“If you simply think about it, it can be applied to robotics or smartphones if you do well.
Already, before coming here, Minseok had recognized him there.
The robotics side had the downside of not being able to sell much because it was still in the research and development stage, and even in the case of smartphones, it was said that there were no plans to make it in a foldable or movable form yet.
Obviously, the possibility of research and use seemed endless, but should I say that I am not good at using it?
Even if there was, it was an order from Hyeonseong Enterprises, but it was a headache because of the unit price.
‘Is there another way to use it?’
Clearly, Freevector Gear is innovative, but it’s hard to call it revolutionary. Because other parts can replace it.
If it’s something that can’t be replaced, it’s revolutionary enough.
‘It’s difficult.’
As for the free vector gear, it was still a challenge to reduce the unit price and find a way to use it.
“OK. Thank you.”
“This, I’ve come this far. I’m sorry for wasting my time.”
From noble mtl dot com
“Oh, no. We came here blindly. If you don’t mind, can we take a tour of the factory?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Changsu’s kind father gave him a factory tour.
“First of all, this machine shown here is a CNC lathe.
“Oh, so you mean cutting by moving in the X, Y, and Z axes?”
I knew at first sight how and how it works.
“Yes, it is. You are very smart? You understand this at once?”
“hahahaha, Dad, he’s a genius. In terms of engineering. I told you before.”
“I’ve only heard of it, but seeing it in person is a real genius.”
“no.”
“Even humble, yes. Anyway, this is called a 3-axis milling machine.”
“Well, it seems that it can be set simply, and most products can be manufactured with this. Instead, there is the hassle of having to set again to process additional surfaces.”
“Oh, that’s really clever. Yes, you’ll probably have to change the settings dozens of times to mill the free vector gear.”
With this, mass production will be difficult after all.
“Yes.”
We went a few steps further.
“What you see here is called lathe CNC. It is the most used in our company. It is a method in which the object fixed on the spindle rotates at high speed and cuts against the cutting tool.”
“Oh, this is probably used more when processing simple products rather than complex products, right?”
“Yes. That’s right. It also has the advantage of being able to process quickly.”
“okay.”
This was also eliminated, and the free vector gear had to be made quickly, but the complexity of the processing was also very high.
“Then shall we go see the next one?”
“yes.”
This time, there was a machine that looked expensive at first glance. It seemed to be 1.5 times the size of the others.
“This is the most expensive item in our company. It’s called the MCT 3+2 milling machine, but it’s also called a multi-axis machine.”
“Oh, this is… innovative. It’s the kind of technology where 1+1 becomes 3, right?”
“Wow, you can recognize the value of this at a glance? A real genius must be a genius. Yes, that’s right. If you add one axis to the existing 3 axis, it becomes a 5 axis instead of a 4 axis.”
It certainly looked more sophisticated than the CNC lathes I had seen before, and there was no need to manually rearrange the product.
I even made it precise.
But it will be expensive too.
“How much is this?”
“I think I spent about 200 million by doing everything here and there.”
“200 million…”
It is said that it will receive investment in the AHS system and has a stake in Chenchensa, but it has not yet been held in cash.
A billion dollars still seemed huge.
“It’s pretty expensive, right?”
“It’s very expensive. hahahahaha. But is this expensive machine idle?”
“hahahaha… There’s a little bit of a story there.”
“What? Tricky question?”
“No. Originally, half a year ago from Toyo Motors? A new part was ordered, and I bought it with a big heart, but now the deal has been cut off. It doesn’t appear.”
“Why did the deal with the Toyo car end?”
“Well, I don’t know the details either.”
The old man’s expression softened slightly. Obviously, he seems to be guessing something, but he seems reluctant to say it.
Let’s ask no more.
“You must be upset.”
“hahahaha, no. Shall I finish the story? Even with this, I can’t make the free vector gear designed by Cheolwoo’s friend at once. I have to change the setting at least 5 times and go into the lathe CNC once more. That’s why the unit price is high. .”
I had expected. The free vector gear I made should look very geometric.
“Umm… Then, if you can only make it with this machine without changing the settings, how much will it cost?”
Changsoo’s father thought for a moment and said.
“30,000 won? I think it’s around that.”
“Oh, 30,000 won!”
“But, as your friend Cheol-woo knows, it’s impossible.”
It certainly seemed physically impossible.
Unless there is one more axis… … .
‘No, if you wait a moment, then you just have to make another axis, right?’
Is it possible to make one more axis?
I’ll have to see it up close.
“Hey, boss. Can I take a closer look at this?”
“Yes. As much as you like.”
I approached the multi-axis milling machine and started taking a closer look.
‘Oh, this is why it’s 3+2 instead of 3+1.’
Obviously, I just added one more axis, but it became +2.
The magic of making 1+1 equal to 3. That was possible in the manufacturing industry.
‘I put a rack gear here to move left and right, and I put a bevel gear here.’
I continued to look at multi-axis milling machines, and suddenly a good idea came to my mind.
‘Wait a minute, if you change these bevel gears and helical gears to free vector gears… … ?’
I thought about it in my head. what will be the result
After organizing my thoughts, I opened my mouth.
“You said you were looking for an owner for this? Are you thinking of selling it to us?”