Chapter 536: Is there a problem with the machine?

In the blink of an eye, it was Thursday.

At eight in the morning, seven or eight container trucks arrived at the park, followed by hydraulic forklifts and cranes.

The property management sent staff to direct traffic and designated two freight elevators for exclusive use.

The Mercedes-Benz arrived downstairs first; Fang Yin got out of the car and looked around.

There were quite a few people: Lin Sicheng, Wang Qi Zhi, Zhao Xiuneng, and the three engineers seen last time.

Besides them, there were seven or eight others, all quite young. Judging by their attire, they appeared to be staff from the Center, such as researchers or operators.

Feeling relieved, Fang Yin walked up to them and shook hands with each one.

"General Manager Lin, Professor Wang, General Manager Zhao..."

After shaking hands, Wang Qi Zhi pointed to the people behind him: "General Manager Fang, let me introduce them. These two are the core researchers of the Center, Zhu Kaiping and Qin Tao. These two are Lin Sicheng's assistants, Li Zhen and Fang Jin. These two are Lin Sicheng's students: Zhao Boheng and Zhao Zhongjiu."

Fang Yin was stunned: What on earth, students?

Looking at their ages, these two were more than ten years older than him.

Just as she was feeling suspicious, Zhao Xiuneng beside her nodded: "These two are my sons!"

Fang Yin suddenly realized; she finally understood how Lin Sicheng came to call Zhao Xiuneng "Senior Brother."

But the problem was, Lin Sicheng himself was still a student; what could he teach?

She was only curious for a moment; Fang Yin couldn't spare the time to ponder it. The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries, and the crane moved over to begin unloading.

Fang Yin took out the packing lists and handed one to each person.

Lin Sicheng received it and flipped it open.

It was all in English, but for him, there was no difficulty at all.

Comparing it carefully, this version was much more detailed than the one seen in the warehouse last time. It included detailed installation instructions, debugging procedures, performance and parameters, as well as problems that might arise during use.

Every instrument had one, totaling over a hundred pages.

Lin Sicheng scanned it roughly and looked at Zhu Kaiping and Qin Tao: "Two Senior Brothers, can you understand it?"

If it were anyone else, these two would have started cursing long ago.

One was a Doctor of Cultural Relics Protection, and the other was a Doctor of Archaeology; even at their worst, it was impossible for them to be unable to understand an instrument's operation manual.

Even if it was entirely in English.

But because Lin Sicheng asked, they really did have some misgivings.

The two looked at each other and weighed their words: "We can understand it, but if it comes to hands-on operation, we might need to familiarize ourselves with it for a while." It wasn't that they were being modest; it was truly because this batch of machines was overly advanced. If compared with domestic cultural and museum institutions, the gap was no longer a matter of a few levels, but a whole generation behind.

Whether it was the operating software, drivers, database, or the functions and various modules, it was simply not the same system at all.

Of course, they would definitely learn it, but it would take time.

Lin Sicheng was noncommittal.

They were doctors, after all, and having been trained by him for so long, simple operations were certainly no problem; they could get started just by following the manual.

For the more complex ones, he would just have to teach them step by step.

Maintenance was the same: the maintenance costs of Saishi Company were unusually high. Lin Sicheng felt it was best to train two or three people himself to ensure daily operation and upkeep.

Unless the problem was so big that it had to be repaired, then he would spend money to hire someone.

Therefore, since one sheep is grazing and a flock is grazing, Lin Sicheng simply called everyone over.

He planned to choose one person from Zhao Da, Zhao Er, and Fang Jin to be the person in charge of the equipment.

Li Zhen could also learn along with them and step in when necessary.

Flipping through a few more pages, there were no major discrepancies, so Lin Sicheng handed the manual to Li Zhen.

"Everyone take a look, and ask if there's anything you don't understand!"

The group nodded in unison.

Fang Yin watched from the sidelines and secretly praised him in her heart: This kid isn't very old, but he manages things quite well.

At least she could tell that these people all respected him quite a bit.

Of course, it was highly likely that the money paid was quite sufficient.

In a flash, the first piece of equipment was hoisted down from the container truck, and a group of workers surrounded it to dismantle the outer packaging.

Two cameramen turned on their lenses and began filming.

Engineer Xu squinted his eyes, walked to Fang Yin's side, and gave her a look.

Fang Yin nodded imperceptibly, meaning "don't worry."

Whether it was the packaging, the main unit, the accessories, the tools, or the paper documents, there were no problems at all.

The only place where problems could be found was during functional debugging.

But in all of Beijing... oh no, in all of China, only Engineer Xu and Engineer Qin beside her had participated in the original manufacturer's operation training. For the others, let alone debugging, they couldn't even understand it.

Therefore, recording it was useless.

While she was thinking this, the outer packaging of the first machine was removed, and everyone from the client side gathered around.

This was the first step of the acceptance: unpacking and inspection.

First, compare it with the packing list and count them one by one: check the model, the power, and the performance parameters.

Secondly, check for any impacts or bumps that occurred during transportation.

After all, it had been shipped over ten thousand kilometers, so it naturally had to be checked carefully.

Seeing that they were far away, Engineer Qin lowered his voice: "General Manager Fang, you said last time you would find someone to ask about it; did you ask?"

Fang Yin nodded: Of course she asked.

Although Zhang Xu didn't know much, and didn't even say everything, holding a little back, it was enough.

Generally speaking, this Center and these people, such as this Professor Wang and this kid, could be summarized in one sentence: wealthy and laymen.

If they weren't wealthy, they couldn't have gone to such great lengths to do the structural renovations.

Get this straight: you are here to do Artifact Research, not to build an Atomic Bomb.

If you are experts, why not hire a professional engineering design institute instead of designing it yourselves?

Only laymen would spend several times the cost to order such advanced instruments.

Fang Yin was at least certain of this: if they truly followed the Contract without cutting a single corner, given the scale of this Center, thirty percent of these machines' power would be enough to satisfy their daily usage.

Even if given to the top institutions in China, they would at most utilize fifty percent.

Therefore, she didn't blame herself for scamming them. Even if she didn't scam them, giving it to them would be a waste...

He nodded, and the two Engineers knew that the other party was not short on money; there shouldn't be any problems with the final payment.

What's more, future maintenance would rely on them, and considering this, the client could not possibly haggle over the final payment.

Just as that young Person in Charge said earlier: if you don't understand, ask.

Then, besides asking the Maintenance Engineer from the company, who else could they ask?

The two Engineers secretly felt smug: they certainly couldn't teach them, not to mention whether the matter of passing off inferior goods as superior would be exposed. The two of them still relied on this to earn extra money.

While thinking this, the first piece of equipment was loaded onto a forklift and entered the elevator.

Wang Qi Zhi and Zhao Xiuneng hurriedly followed, directing the workers to transport the machines to the installation site.

The workers started to unpack the second one.

Indeed, nothing could be seen; at least the quantity was sufficient, the dimensions matched, and there were no signs of collisions or bumps.

In this way, they unloaded until noon, and all the instruments were moved upstairs.

They had a simple lunch at noon and began installation in the afternoon.

Fang Yin brought quite a few people, and she also kept a team of workers from the moving company to help out.

To avoid getting in the way, the people from the Center all stood against the wall, including Lin Sicheng.

There was a camera in each of the four corners, their lenses flashing with red light.

Whether it was because of a guilty conscience or some other reason, even though he knew it was useless for them to record, Engineer Xu still felt uncomfortable.

But this was standard procedure; it wasn't just this company that recorded, but everyone who imported instruments from abroad would do so.

Some recorded even more meticulously than them, not letting a single screw go unexamined.

Installation began; Engineer Qin was responsible for component assembly, and Engineer Xu was responsible for calibration.

The parts on the floor became fewer and fewer, and the space became more and more spacious.

Lin Sicheng walked over and looked at them one by one.

At first, he didn't notice anything unusual, just glancing over them casually.

But subsequently, the more he looked, the stranger he felt.

Engineer Qin was responsible for assembly, and Engineer Xu was responsible for calibration. Roughly speaking, the former put the parts together, and the latter corrected the levelness, tilt, and adjustable mechanical angles.

The process was fine, and the method was fine; what Lin Sicheng found strange were the requirements these two had for the installation personnel.

For example, for the CT System instrument, when installing the stand, Engineer Qin required the operator to fix it diagonally, not allowing a single screw to be misplaced. For example, when installing the XRD, Engineer Qin required the Air-floating Platform to be thickened.

The so-called Air-floating Platform is an anti-vibration base. For heavy equipment like SEM and XRD, and for precision instruments, it is indeed necessary to reinforce it. But during the renovation, under Lin Sicheng's specific request, the floor had already been specially reinforced, and a standard Air-floating Platform was completely sufficient. Even without this kind of thing, it would absolutely not affect the operation of the instruments.

But Engineer Qin demanded that it must be increased to two layers.

One layer is thirty-five centimeters, so two layers would be seventy centimeters. Adding a ten-centimeter spacer base for each layer makes it ninety centimeters.

According to the original design, a Researcher could operate the instrument while sitting; now, standing might not even be enough, and they might have to step on a stool.

Lin Sicheng hurriedly called a halt: "Engineer Qin, the floor has been specially treated and is completely sufficient for the anti-vibration requirements of the Artifact Research. If you are worried, you can add one layer of air-floating, but there is no need to add two layers."

Are you the Engineer, or am I the Engineer?

If Lin Sicheng hadn't been the Person in Charge, Engineer Qin would have retorted on the spot.

He looked at him indifferently: "General Manager Lin, this is a high-precision instrument; even the slightest vibration will affect the test results!" "I know!" Lin Sicheng replied, flipping open the manual, "But the current anti-vibration data is fully capable of ensuring the precision operation of the instrument. If you don't feel at ease, you can measure it again..."

Engineer Qin's expression stiffened for a moment.

He knew the floor had been reinforced and vibration-proofed, using the very best water-based Epoxy Resin and Polyurethane Flooring.

Even without the base, it would not have any impact on the instrument.

But this was for the latest generation, the most advanced, cutting-edge Bruker D8 DISCOVER with VANTEC. It was not this thing in front of them, which was wrapped in the skin of a D8 and hung with a D8 nameplate, but inside was actually the first-generation XRD 500 manufactured by Siemens in France in 1997. Although it used the same type of platform, the same optical path system, and even the same detection control and Software, the performance of the two was a full two generations apart.

Other things were fine, especially regarding vibration: the former would only be affected in terms of detection performance if an earthquake occurred, the kind where people couldn't even stand steady.

But the latter, if people upstairs and downstairs stomped their feet together, it could cause the detection data to be off by one percentage point.

Therefore, it wasn't that Engineer Qin insisted on adding this anti-vibration layer, but that he had to.

"General Manager Lin, the manual is based on data calculated from anti-vibration tests at the instrument's place of origin, Karlsruhe, Germany. China is different from abroad... one must adapt to local conditions!"

Lin Sicheng was stunned: honestly, this was the first time he had heard such a statement.

"Does that mean the same anti-vibration data works in Germany, but cannot be used in China?"

Engineer Qin was choked up, but he didn't know how to explain it.

Oh no... it was that he had no way to explain it.

A bright idea struck him: "It doesn't have to be added, but General Manager Lin, during later use, it is very likely that the detection data will produce errors because the anti-vibration coefficient does not meet the standard."

Lin Sicheng narrowed his eyes: Impossible.

He had used this thing for eight generations, from the very first generation before Siemens was acquired by Bruker in 1997, to the super-detection D8 G4 Series developed in 2025 that was controlled by AI intelligent Software.

He knew exactly which generation had what improvements and what performance each model had.

The D8 DISCOVER was already considered the third generation, and its most prominent advantages were anti-vibration and stability.

But in this Engineer Qin's mouth, it was as fragile as an egg?

Was it because he didn't understand, or was there another reason?

Lin Sicheng took another look at the machine:

But to be honest, it was useless.

Because this thing is just a big iron box, you can't tell anything from the outside. Unless you take it apart.

He thought for a moment: "Just install one base layer, I'll take responsibility if there's a problem!"

Engineer Qin looked helpless: "General Manager Lin, why do you insist on waiting for problems to arise instead of using the foolproof method?"

Because if it's installed according to your method, my operators won't be able to reach it.

Forty-five centimeters, nearly half a meter higher than the previous plan; those who are shorter, especially female operators, would really have to move a stool over to operate it. The reason Lin Sicheng used the latest, cutting-edge instruments was to reduce research time and provide convenience for the researchers, not to make things difficult for employees or increase his own workload.

The more Engineer Qin insisted, the more Lin Sicheng felt there was a problem.

His expression was very calm: "Engineer Qin, just install it as I said!"

Engineer Qin was in a bit of a bind, looking at Fang Yin not far away.

Fang Yin hurried over: "General Manager Lin, please don't mind him; people who do Artifact Research are all like this, they like to nitpick. Old Qin, just install it as General Manager Lin said..."

The first-generation XDRD500 is not very stable, but that is only relatively speaking. Fang Yin did not think that in a park focused on scientific research, there would be scenes of collective dancing like in a ballroom.

Because the anti-vibration coefficient failing to meet standards causing errors in test data is definitely a low-probability event. It is possible that even if this machine were used until it broke down, one might not necessarily encounter such a problem.

Engineer Qin didn't make a sound and glanced at Fang Yin.

Fang Yin glared at him.

Only then did Engineer Qin arrange for the workers to remove one layer of anti-vibration padding.

Fang Yin smiled apologetically at Lin Sicheng: "General Manager Lin, sorry about that!"

Lin Sicheng nodded calmly: "General Manager Fang, it's fine."

He kept feeling that when the two of them looked at each other just now, their gazes were not quite right.

It couldn't be that there is a problem with this machine, could it?