Fresh Ideas Revitalize Factory... POSCO Pohang Steelworks Expected to Accelerate Factory Operation Normalization

Improving Recovery Work Efficiency Through Employees' Ingenuity Amid Crisis

Employees of the Steelmaking Department at POSCO Pohang Steelworks are operating a small pump using an electric vehicle battery. [Image source=POSCO Pohang Steelworks]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] As the POSCO Pohang Steelworks, which had completely halted factory operations for the first time in 49 years due to flood damage, gradually speeds up its recovery, employees who contributed to the normal operation of the steelworks with unique ideas are drawing attention.

The steelmaking process is a procedure that removes impurities from molten iron and solidifies it to produce semi-finished products, ensuring that the products do not easily break or crumble.

However, to produce a single steel product, multiple stages including ironmaking, steelmaking, and rolling processes must be completed. Among these, if the steelmaking process stops, even if molten iron is produced in the blast furnace, there is nowhere to transfer it, paralyzing product production, making the steelmaking process a crucial part of steel production.

The steelmaking process needed to operate in sync with the blast furnace schedule to handle the molten iron, but the flooding situation in the steelmaking plant was more severe compared to the blast furnace, causing recovery to take several days.

During this time, employees at the No. 2 steelmaking plant worked tirelessly day and night, sleeping only briefly, but faced many difficulties such as power outages that left the factory without lighting and water rising up to 1 meter throughout the plant. However, POSCO employees’ ingenious idea?a “battery from electric vehicles”?brought them a big step closer to normalizing the factory.

When the power outage made it impossible to operate the submersible pumps for drainage, the idea arose to use electric vehicle batteries as a power source. Kim Tae-woo, deputy plant manager of the No. 2 steelmaking plant, connected his personally owned electric vehicle battery to supply temporary power to the factory during the blackout at the steelworks.

It was a moment of cheers as the dark work environment was illuminated. Moreover, by utilizing electric vehicle batteries owned by employees, they were able to operate submersible pumps and connect power to small pumps, accelerating drainage work even amid the power outage.

Deputy Plant Manager Kim Tae-woo said, “During the day, we used electric vehicle batteries to operate drainage pumps, and at night to light the office. When the batteries ran out, we recharged the vehicles at nearby charging stations, which was a great help in urgent situations.”

Thanks to the dedication and ingenuity of the employees, the recovery of the Pohang Steelworks is progressing smoothly. The Pohang Steelworks has restarted the No. 1 cold rolling and No. 2 and No. 3 electrical steel sheet plants, and on the 7th, restored and resumed operations at the No. 1 hot rolling plant, breathing new life into the steelworks’ product production process, which follows the sequence of ironmaking, steelmaking, and rolling.

Additionally, the recovery of the No. 3 heavy plate and No. 1 wire rod processes is planned to be completed by October, and other rolling processes will be restored sequentially according to the steelworks’ recovery plan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.