In YOFC, Mr. Zhong is well-known to all staff. He is passionate about and persistent in his work. At the crucial moment of technological innovation in YOFC, he overcame all difficulties and made outstanding contributions. For example, the electronic control system for large-scale cable production lines developed by him broke the foreign monopoly on technologies completely. And he developed the cable-former with extremely high efficiency for cabling lines. As a winner of Wuhan Labor Medal and a member of the Huanghe Talents Plan, he was awarded several honorary titles, including the “Wuhan Technical Expert” and “Wuhan Chief Technician”.

With numerous patents and awards, he has stuck to his post of equipment maintenance for over two decades, making “great contributions” to the “basic work”.

His full name is Zhong Sheng.

“I'm stubborn with an indomitable spirit since I was young.”

In early 1990s, the former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the PRC, Wuhan Municipal Government and Royal Dutch Philips Electronics Ltd. jointly founded YOFC. It is the first joint venture in Wuhan’s optical fibre and cable industry. When stepping into the workshop and seeing neat plant buildings as well as numerous advanced equipment, Zhong Sheng felt that he entered a “moon factory” described in a science fiction.

“Those machines are imported from foreign countries and controlled by computers. I had hardly seen computers until then, let alone knew how to use them. But I believed I could handle the matter.”

He spared no effort on his new job: observing carefully, being pleased to practices and consulting the master workers during work hours; reading every issue of relevant technology journals; going to nearby college libraries for reading during breaks; and carefully going over useful knowledge points learnt from books while repairing and maintaining the machines.

Through persistent efforts, he figured out the operating principle and performance of various optical cable production lines, mastered the technique for repairing various optical cable equipment and grew into a backbone technician in YOFC within 3 to 4 years.

"Maintenance is also valuable.”

During his career of over 20 years, Zhong Sheng has made 231 achievements on technical innovation and acquired 8 patents. Based on the profound understanding towards equipment maintenance, he formed a creative idea of proactive maintenance to address the root faults.

“The equipment maintenance should not end with repairing and restoring the equipment passively. We should think about more questions, try to find out the root of faults, improve the performance of equipment and handle every factor that may cause faults to the maximum level. As a result, we can maximally eliminate repeated faults and reduce unnecessary losses. Maintenance is also valuable for the company. The improvement of handling cable lugs can reduce the losses by tens of thousands of yuan for YOFC.”

“Let me have a try!”

For a long period in the past, optical fibre and cable enterprises in China imported production equipment from abroad. As time went on, most of the equipment aged with frequent faults, making their performance degraded and the production affected seriously.

To change the situation of being controlled by others, Zhong Sheng volunteered to help. His idea of “having a try” surprised the leader and himself as well. To be on the safe side, YOFC took two measures. One was to build a team led by the doctoral adviser and consisting of ten members. The other was to keep negotiating with the foreign manufacturer. With an indomitable spirit, Zhong Sheng devoted himself to the project research in silence. Soon after, the equipment at production sites broke down completely. The foreign manufacturer stuck to the original offer for repairing during the negotiation. And the team lead by the doctoral adviser did not fulfill its task either. At that time, Zhong Sheng had just finished his programming.

“Let me have a try!” He requested the leader again. This time, determinately.

The research process was full of difficulties. Due to the foreign manufacturer’s technical blockade, Zhong Sheng could not obtain the guidance of any foreign experience. While learning and researching, he encountered numerous setbacks, failures and dilemmas. After over two years, Zhong Sheng and his team finally developed the electronic control system software for cable production lines combing several modern technologies and the cost was less than RMB 60,000.

Based on the research achievements, he upgraded many production lines at a low cost. The new system was welcomed by front-line operators for the convenient operation, automatic alarming and other features. This was the first time to independently and integrally transform the electronic control system for large-scale imported cable production lines in China’s optical cable manufacturing industry, breaking the foreign monopoly on technologies. It also marked that YOFC with the strongest capacity of the optical wand, fibre and cable mastered the core technology of optical cable production equipment and could transform the imported optical cable production lines as well as manufacture optical cable production lines independently.

“When I first came to China and joined YOFC, I felt unfamiliar with them. Now, I have fitted in the team well. Born in Surinam and with the nationality of the Netherlands, I am a member of Wuhan and YOFC at present!”

 YOFC was founded in the late 1980s. Shouldering a historical mission of developing national optical fibre industry, it began the technological exploration under the joint efforts of numerous Chinese and foreign experts. Matt majored in optical fibre engineering and worked for the Royal Dutch Philips Optical Fibre Manufacturing Company after graduation. He came to Wuhan in 1991, participated in YOFC's early construction and engaged in introducing and debugging optical fibre production equipment. Until now, Matt has worked in YOFC for nearly 27 years, growing into the chief scientist and having witnessed the 30-year leapfrog development of YOFC.

 YOFC offers a comfortable office environment, high-quality platforms for scientific research and an advanced enterprise culture. Matt cooperates with Chinese colleagues closely, shares all his techniques and knowledge and trains Chinese talents in an all-round way to lay a foundation for YOFC's rising in the optical communication field. He is a model among YOFC’s foreign experts.

As a foreigner living in Wuhan, Matt is quite well-known. He was presented the "Friendship Award" by State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs in 1993, the "Chime Bell Award" by the People's Government of Hubei Province in 1994 and the "Yellow Crane Award" by Wuhan Municipal Government in 1995. In 1999, he became one of the four foreign experts in Hubei Province who acquired the "Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card of PRC" for the first time.

"YOFC ranks first in the optical fibre industry globally and it gives me a great opportunity and memorable experiences. Here, I could display my talents and has acquired a successful career and friendships. I hope I can introduce the yellow crane, chime bell and Wuhan's culture to my hometown in the future, as well as the profound friendship with YOFC.”