The Last Embers of Industry

Eleven employees, 760,000 yuan in debt, and an old machine tool with a main shaft ready to be dismantled.

When Lu Heng took over his father's factory, payday was just two days away.

A client was preparing to move its order elsewhere, the workers were considering finding other jobs, and an 86,000-yuan replacement quote was already sitting on the acceptance form.

But he held back the pen before signing.

An engineering simulation prototype, shelved for years, let him more quickly identify faults worth investigating. But it offered no ready-made blueprints and no funding. Feed it the wrong information, and it could still lead him into a ditch.

While others urged him to sell the factory, he first got the old machine tool producing parts that passed inspection. While others competed to offer the lowest price, he set out to earn money by solving recurring shutdowns.

From precision machining to industrial robots, from energy equipment to rail manufacturing, Lu Heng intended to turn a small factory on the verge of shutting down into an industrial system that could keep running even when others cut off its supplies.

But for now, he first had to earn back the 120,000 yuan owed for the goods.