The REI Expo is one of the world’s largest new and renewable energy exhibitions. More than 725 companies from 40 countries participated in the Expo, along with approximately 50,000 visitors. The turnout was largely due to the Indian government’s infrastructure expansion and intensive investment plans for new and renewable energy.

POSCO’s Booth at REI 2017 showcased PV structures made of PosMAC steel.

POSCO India’s booth at the event showcased its solar PV structures made of PosMAC steel to major solar companies and structure manufacturers such as Adani, Nextracker, Arctech, Softbank, Purshotam, etc.

During the Expo, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreements were signed with four companies. POSCO India’s Chief Managing Director Gee Woong Sung said, “By the end of this year, we will complete the Indian solution marketing system, which will supply not only steel but also solar PV structures. In 2018, we will further expand PosMAC sales in India.”

POSCO India signs an MoU with Ganges Internationale.

In addition to showcasing their premium product, POSCO has been working hard to meet customer demands in all areas. In order to meet short delivery times and structural supplies required by various PV projects in all parts of India, POSCO India has decided to establish a PosMAC structure supply chain system through strategic cooperation with local construction companies.

In the first stage of development, the free space at POSCO-IAPC located in Ahmedabad will be utilized via a long-term lease, and the manufacturing machinery is being installed with an operation target set for October. In the second stage, POSCO India has plans for additional installations in the Delhi and Pune regions.

POSCO India will strive to build a differentiated sales network with its solution marketing activities and secure a sustainable competitive advantage over other companies through its premium-quality products and advanced supply chain system.

Don’t miss any of the exciting stories from The Steel Wire – subscribe via email today.

“Nowadays, all of the electrical instrumentation control facilities use a digital control system with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) or Distributed Control Systems (DCS). At that time, the Cold Rolling Maintenance manager gave me the task of drawing up each of the 25 A3 pages of the equipment control block diagram by memory, in a month. It seemed impossible, but I did it faster than anyone.”

The training paid off. In his third year, he quickly detected a disconnection in the winding part of a motor during a daily inspection of the cold rolling mill, preventing what could have been a catastrophic equipment accident.

“As a result, I found the same defect in 5 other motors and repaired them in advance. It was the first time I was commended for my work and since then, I immersed myself in my work because of the rewarding experience.”

Milestones in Suh’s Career

There was plenty more to be commended for after that as Suh became a crucial member of the cold rolling mill.

In 1995, Suh was in control of the rolling equipment brought in from Japan at the Pohang Cold Rolling Mill 1. “I had special orders to figure out how to work with the brand-new equipment without any difficulties as soon as possible. For that to happen, I knew I had to be able to communicate freely with the Japanese supervisor. I spent all my free time outside of working hours learning Japanese. Soon, I was able to converse with the supervisor without any trouble. Of course, I was able to operate the equipment faster and better than anyone else.”

His passion for achievement continued. Starting from 1997, he became a member of a new development Task Force Team (TFT) for the the Cold Rolling Mill 1. Together the team achieved a processing speed of 2,150 mpm which was the fastest among all the steel mills in the world at the time.

Sheets of cold rolled steel

His next task was at Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd., in China. It was the source of many problems for POSCO, starting with the vibrations coming from the payoff reel (POR) of the annealing and pickling lines. He tried stabilizing the base and frame, but the vibrations wouldn’t stop. He finally found the root of the problem: it was the oxygen that seeped into the hydraulic oil that caused the vibrations. Right away he installed an air vent and the vibrations stopped.

In 2001, Suh joined the Double Reversing Mill’s new line TFT and successfully completed the planning, design and installation construction of all the equipment. All that was left was the trial when they ran into issues. The Japanese supervisors couldn’t properly laminate the thinnest sheet of steel that was 0.05 millimeters as they insisted on using a roll gap to roll out the steel. Suh thought of a better way. He persuaded his team and supervisors to try combining the roll gap method with the stretch rolling method for better results. His idea was applied right away, to achieve the desired thickness.

Expertise in Cold Rolling

Suh’s numerous achievements coupled with his endless efforts to learn made him an expert in his field of cold rolling.

In 2006, Suh developed a technology called the Roll Force Mode to take care of plate breakage problems. From 2008 to 2009, Suh took successful steps to improve the welding machine for the annealing and pickling process. He achieved an error margin of less than 0.001 millimeters on all the welding equipment.

His latest achievement was in February of this year when his team completed the trial run of the cold rolling process 3 without any external support. The process of rolling Hyper NO had never been done before, so they had to try numerous times to find the most desirable settings for the equipment and the inputs. At the end of the demanding process, they were successful.

Working Philosophy/ Results

In 2011, Suh received the CEO’s Exemplary Award, and was named the Maintenance Man of the Year in 2013. When asked for his secret to success, he answered, “steady learning, deeply caring for the facilities and communicating with my colleagues. If I did not practice these three things, I would not be where I am today.”

Suh Gwang-Il on site at POSCO’s steel mill with his colleagues

Among his colleagues, Suh is known for his ability to identify different equipment and machinery by the sound it makes. It is this kind of practice, unending curiosity and genuine interest in his work that makes Suh Gwang-Il a true master.

Nam Tae-Gyu in his early days on site at a POSCO steel mill.

Nam’s Battle with the Sublance

Five years into his first job ever, Nam hit his first hurdle. The sublance used for detecting temperature and carbon levels of ingot iron in the converters kept breaking down. The brutal process for replacing the sublance probe took a physical toll on the workers and Nam remembers frequent nosebleeds and extreme fatigue vividly.

Nam explained, “Pure iron is converted into steel in a smelting process that requires 1700 °C of heat and oxygen incorporated into the ingot iron. When the process is 80 percent done, a sublance goes into the ingot iron inside the converter to take temperature and carbon measurements. Then, it sends the data to the operating room. With that data, the operator decides if the process should be continued or stopped. Afterwards, a sublance goes into the post-steelmaking converter again, measures the temperature and the amount of carbon, and then sends that data to the operator one last time. The data is used for the slab and bloom making processes as well. In a way, the sublance acts as an important key that decides the final quality of the steel. So if the sublance doesn’t work properly and sends the wrong data to the operator, there will be a tremendous loss.”

A sublance, which has to be inserted about 1 meter deep into the ingot iron, has a 2-meter probe with a sensor measuring the temperature and carbon and oxygen components. This disposable probe stays in the 1700 °C converter for 5 seconds and transmits the data to the monitor of the operating room through a cable inside the sublance pipe. The problem is that the travel distance of the sublance changes whenever a new probe is equipped. For that reason, facility managers must check the accurate position and adjust the length on every occasion. The sublance had to be adjusted at the top of a 7-story steel mill that is 20 meters higher than the top of the converter. To make it worse, technicians had to physically climb up and down dozens of times for 3 hours to alter the length manually if the lift didn’t work.

Liquid ingot iron in a steel mill during the smelting process

Nam’s First Masterpiece

Nam knew there had to be an easier way. After studying the sublance diagram and its instruction manual, he finally had an “aha moment.” He installed a digital location detector in an encoder form that could receive data to determine the travel distance of the sublance from a cambox instead of a touchbar that bred most of the errors in the previous system.

This allowed digital information on the travel distance of the sublance to be sent directly to the operator who in turn could locate the probe accordingly. This alone reduced errors in the data for every probe change. Furthermore, Nam even installed a detection system to eliminate all errors of the previous touch bar.

In the end, the improved sublance allowed 2 people to finish in 10 minutes what 3 people had to work on for 3 hours previously. The measurement success rate increased from 87 to 95 percent and lead to cost reductions and a shorter operation time overall for the smelting process.

Another Hurdle, Another Masterpiece

In 1997, Nam met his second and biggest challenge of his time at POSCO. A converter tilting device that could tilt and rotate a 1300-ton converter broke down. No one expected this machine to malfunction, as it was made with certified parts with advanced technology brought in from Japan. The Japanese supervisors kept the device’s technology a secret for copyright reasons, so the Korean technicians didn’t know the inner workings of the machine.

The complex device was composed of four motors, reducers, inverters and other parts. In order to run the motors, they had to use a magnetic contactor and high-voltage circuit breaker, both imported from Japan and extremely expensive since they had a short lifespan.

“One time, a large amount of electric current spilled on the converter tilting device. A severe arc was generated and melted the magnetic contactor, causing equipment failure and a KRW 200 million loss. I tried to replace the contactor with a domestic model to improve it, but in the process, the electric current flowed to the field motor, and the electric arc leaned causing molten steel to leak. We had to stop all operations for 14 hours and ended up with 15 tons of leaked steel.” Nam recalls.

A converter holding molten steel being tilted

It was a dark moment for Nam and POSCO, but it only prompted him to work harder towards a solution. After much research, trials and failures, he developed a vacuum magnetic contactor made of domestic parts and applied a vacuum breaker to the tilting device, thus localizing the core parts of the converter tilting device. Also with the new technology, temperatures could be monitored at the bend, cable crossing point and cable access point for a real-time monitoring system for accident prevention. Nam not only raised POSCO’s production quality to global standards, he helped reduce quality deviation and eliminate waste.

Working Philosophy/ Results

Looking over his achievements at POSCO, it is easy to see why Nam was named a 2017 POSCO Master. In the past 40 years, he accomplished 15 patents, 32 outstanding proposals, 1830 general proposals and 156 knowledge records. Nam received the highest award of job competence, the Steel Mill Proposal King award, this year’s Person of Pocheon award, Korea’s Quality Manager award and was named a POSCO Master in 2014.

Nam Tae-Gyu walks through the fire prevention system at POSCO’s Steel Mill 1 with executives and employees.

Nam’s working philosophy is simple. Achieving the best results in steelmaking and maintenance requires hard work and passion, much like how a good harvest requires the sweat and blood of the farmer. With this in mind, Nam’s curiosity is unending as he continues to look for improvements and leave behind a legacy of hard work and dedication.