(Werner Wilhelm Heinrich Gottschalk)

Facing the Huangpu River in the south and with Jiangchuan Road to the north, SEPG’s (Shanghai Electric Power Generation Equipment) Shanghai Turbine Plant (STP) is located in the Minhang Development Zone in the southwestern part of Shanghai.

Covering an area of one square kilometer, STP has an exclusive railway line and a terminal. With more than 1,300 pieces of major manufacturing equipment and over 3,600 employees, it is called the cradle of Chinese turbines.

The predecessor of STP was General Machine, established in 1946. STP got its current name on August 30, 1953, as the first company in China to manufacture turbines.

Today, STP is a joint venture between Shanghai Electric and Siemens. It integrates the old plant’s experience of design and manufacturing with Westinghouse and Siemens’s advanced R&D, manufacturing and management technology. It is now able to design and produce world-class products independently.

Coming from Germany, Werner Wilhelm Heinrich Gottschalk is Vice General Manager of STP. In his office, he had an interview with Eastday.com.

Werner is a typical expert technician. On the wall of his office, there are plenty of pictures of turbines and the bookcase is full of design drawings.

(Werner introduces components of a rotator to the reporter.)

Having graduated from the University of Dortmund with a degree in general mechanical engineering and specialized manufacturing technology, Werner joined Siemens in 1985, and has served the company for over three decades. When he first came to Shanghai in 2002, he was GM of Siemen’s Hungarian factory.

Before 2002, Werner’s understanding of China was based on textbooks. He knew that China had four great inventions, there had been a great thinker named Confucius, the country has a long history and it is famous for china porcelain.

“When I first came to Shanghai, I saw so many construction projects under way across the city, which was unbelievable. Due to this, compared with the time when I first came, it has changed tremendously.”

Before coming to China, Werner had worked in many different countries. Therefore, although Chinese culture is vastly different from that of Germany, he is used to adapting to the differences.

What impresses him most is the way Chinese people speak and do things. The Chinese are more implicit, which is totally different from the outspoken Germans.

“Having worked in China for so long, I’m always impressed by the workers here.” He thinks that Chinese people are very devoted to their work. They are very efficient once they are assigned a task. Sometimes they work overtime voluntarily to ensure the project is completed on time.

Starting in 2014, Werner has served as Vice GM of STP. As a bridge between Siemens and Shanghai Electric, he has initiated and promoted a range of projects.

Under his leadership, the two parties have worked together on blade production management, technical breakthroughs, CIPs (Continuous Improvement projects), capacity subcontracting and intelligent manufacturing. The win-win result has increased the competitiveness of the joint venture in various respects.

In his opinion, the cooperation between Shanghai Electric and Siemens has boosted the entire Chinese turbine market, which has made tremendous progress in such areas as industrial standards, high-tech, and especially nuclear power.

In recent years, China’s blade production technology has been greatly improved. As a key component of a turbine, the improvement of blade manufacturing is bound to bring a technological revolution.

As Werner said, STP now boasts the latest production technology for ultra-long blades. Each blade has a cross-sectional area of 26 square meters, the greater size allowing the cost to be reduced by 20% while at the same time improving the turbine's power generation efficiency.

The technology has been applied in Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station in Guangdong and in an overseas project in Pakistan, where STP will provide technical support for its partners.

China’s turbine market has seen many changes over recent years, especially the higher demand for small-sized turbines and the emergence of waste incineration power, wind power, and hydropower. To adapt to the changes, STP has developed many new products and the R&D team keeps making technological innovations.

Thanks to strict implementation of the 5S management standard, the plant is cleaner and tidier, and the safety of workers is more valued than before.

In Werner’s office, there are some abstract paintings created by his wife, who comes from Hong Kong but was born in Shanghai. In Shanghai, the couple first met each other by chance in a hotel and then fell in love.

(In 2015, Werner took a trip to Turkey with his wife and son.)

Now the couple have a son. When asked what they talked about in their first encounter, Werner smiled, “It was too long ago. I can't remember what we said, but it might be me who said hello first.”

After a busy day’s work, Werner goes swimming with his wife or plays football with his son every day. His son goes to Deutsche Schule Shanghai. But since his wife is not good at German, Werner tutors his son on his homework. On weekends, the family go to the Bund or Century Park for a walk. Occasionally, they will go with friends by car to see West Lake in Hangzhou or the ancient gardens in Suzhou.

For Werner, Shanghai is full of charm. Life is convenient here and the city is a perfect place to live. What’s more, the people are also a reason why he stays here. In Shanghai, he has his colleagues, friends and a family.

(Werner in a basketball game with his colleagues)

(Werner and his family at the presentation ceremony of the 2018 Shanghai Magnolia Award)

I have heard about the award and it is a very high appreciation to get the Magnolia award. My expectation is the momentum to optimize and improve the JV will go on. An individual can only move things, when he is imbedded with and surrounded by an excellent team of people with the common spirit to achieve success. My thanks to Shanghai Electric management in the JV and my colleagues for their support.

——Werner Gottschalk

Story by Fan Yicheng

Translated by Wu Qiong

Cameraman: Jia Haoyu

Special thanks to SEPG Shanghai Turbine Plant