Chapter 42: Soaring Heights, Crushing Lows

Su Desheng was alarmed to see that reporters from "Jiangzhou Daily," "Jiangzhou Evening News," and Jiangzhou TV Station had arrived at the scene. The seriousness of the situation became apparent.

As he approached, Su Desheng overheard the heated arguments among the customers.

"There is something wrong with your batch of equipment! We just purchased it, and it happened within a week of installation." Mr. Ma from Kaiyu Hardware Factory exclaimed, his face flushed with anger.

"Everyone is working hard before the Chinese New Year to meet the demand. We trusted your equipment, but now, all the motherboards are burned after working for more than ten hours!" Mr. Ma expressed his frustration.

He pointed out that while the CNC machine tools were sold at a more affordable price compared to foreign ones, the damage caused by the malfunction amounted to over a million yuan, and he demanded accountability.

Yao Lin, the vice president in charge of after-sales, was sweating profusely as he attempted to pacify the customers. He claimed that the equipment underwent strict inspections by the national quality supervision department and received certification.

Mr. Ma retorted, "Nonsense! We work in shifts, just like any other factory. The second-hand foreign equipment I bought before ran for days without issues. This problem is on your end!"

Other customers present voiced their agreement, demanding compensation for their losses due to the equipment failure.

Su Desheng scanned the crowd, recognizing some of the company owners, such as Kaiyu, Chenghua, Guojian, and others. He noticed that at least seven or eight companies were present, all of them major players capable of affording expensive CNC machine tools.

Concerned about the extent of the issue, Su Desheng discreetly asked his after-sales staff for details.

"Xiao Jiang, what's happening here?" Su Desheng inquired.

Xiao Jiang, visibly sweating, replied, "Mr. Su, I'm not entirely sure yet. Two days ago, one company reported a problem with our equipment, saying the motherboard was burnt. We initially thought it was an isolated case, maybe due to improper usage."

"But today, multiple companies are here, and all their motherboards have been burned!"

"After burning, the fire spread, causing severe damage to the circuit chips and equipment. The losses are substantial!"

Su Desheng couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean all the motherboards of the CNC machine tools have been burned?" he asked, astonished.

Xiao Jiang nodded, confirming, "Yes, most of them were burned during continuous work. We sent technicians to inspect, and it's true, but the customers were following the usage specifications we provided, so they don't understand why this happened."

"They used the CNC machine tools for normal continuous operations, which is entirely normal," Xiao Jiang added.

Su Desheng was deeply troubled by this revelation. "Do you think there's a problem with the design of our CNC machine mainboard?" he asked anxiously.

Xiao Jiang expressed his concerns, "I think their argument makes sense. Why don't we see this problem in foreign second-hand equipment? Why are our new machines facing this issue so soon?"

"With one or two cases, we could dismiss it as a random issue. But when multiple customers experience the same problem, it's something serious," Xiao Jiang added.

Su Desheng realized that the main board designer of this batch of CNC machine tools was Chen Xiao. However, the official records attributed the design to his son, Su Qiao, to support his university admission and for financial gain.

He knew that he was ultimately responsible for signing and approving the production and application of the motherboard.

Su Desheng was frantic, thinking of ways to handle the situation. He considered blaming the flawed design entirely on Chen Xiao and distancing himself and Su Qiao from it. Additionally, he thought of finding a scapegoat among the project's decision-makers.

However, Su Desheng feared that it wouldn't be enough. All the timelines and procedural documents bore his signature, making it difficult to escape responsibility.

In the meantime, "Jiangzhou Daily" reporter Li Feng continued to report from the scene. He explained that Zhongjing Company had previously claimed to produce domestic CNC machine tools comparable to Germany's Demag CNC machine tools. However, this batch of CNC machines seemed to encounter significant issues, leading to multiple companies demanding accountability due to the motherboard burning after continuous use for more than ten hours.

As Li Feng reported, he wondered if the designer of the motherboard, Chen Xiao, was a senior at Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School.