Maintenance Guild: News / Comments / Meeting minutes of the November 4th

The members of the guild arrived on Wednesday November 4th for the Golf outing at Reserve Run Golf Club. That evening we all joined for hospitality at the Hampton Inn, Canfield.
On November 5th Dave Giancola opened the meeting with the introduction of the officers and general business and then began with the introduction of the technical papers.
The first presentation was by Mark Kropf from AE Resources is presenting a paper on “Opportunities to utilize waste heat for power generation and a reduced carbon footprint”
The next presenter was Bob Ehrlich from Power Electronics International is presenting a paper On “VF drives for mill EOT cranes, benefits and considerations.”

The next presenter was Richard Szeg & Lou Lazzaretti from SMS Millcraft is presenting a Paper On “Measure and Maintain Caster Alignment”

Our last paper for the day was presented by Nick Klipa from CONCAST presenting a paper on “V&M star Caster Upgrade Project”

All presentations will be available on the website under the Technical papers section.

After the technical papers were complete, the group broke for lunch at 12:00 left the hotel at 1:00 for their tour of the V&M Star Steel facility.
After returning from our tour we joined in the Hospitality room at 6:00 for a social hour. Dinner was served at 7:00 and we were able to listen to Eric Shuster - Manager Rolling Mill V&M Star talk about his plant and the economic conditions in the steel industry. We finished the night with conversation and hospitality.

Friday morning we had a short Business meeting to determine the location of the next meeting and to remind the membership that the spring annual meeting will be an election meeting for a vice president. Members need to make sure they have approval of the potential candidate before submitting them for nomination. Next Dave Giancola had everybody introduce themselves and the company they work for. The following company’s were represented; CMC, Nucor Timken, Republic, Alta, V&M Star and ArcelorMittal.

The round table session began with questions from the floor at 8:30. Dave had everyone go around and state their main issues and concerns in their shops then moved to detailed questions and discussions. Bob Fabian ask that as they come up for questions also be thinking about what type of papers they would like to hear at the next meeting.

First question was about utilizing outside sources for maintenance training. The members in attendance discussed the usage of outside training facilities as well as internal training. They also discussed the possibility of removing someone that may not have preformed as well as they thought. Ramsey Test Assessment was also discussed as a measure of what training is needed. CMC introduced their program called “21st Century Steelmaking”. It was mentioned that a dedicated training coordinator is helpful to a successful program.

It was pointed out that the maintenance Guild is a very important organization and we need to make sure that it remains viable and available for the future members.

Does anyone have problems with bag house dust sticking in the hoppers? Some did and have utilized a slippery surface coating in the duct and fluidizers for the hoppers. Sonic horns were discussed as well as reviewing the chemical makeup of the dust. Also mentioned were air slides, fluidizer beds, silent horns, and the BHA sonic tubes. It was mentioned that Alta Steel uses air horns.

Is anyone having problems with delta arcing? Yes some items to look at would be evacuation, carbon injection operations, grounding, arc bars, coating the bottom pipe with a ceramic coating and foamy slag performance based on arc stability.

How often do you align your caster and what are the tolerances allowed? About every 5 years the slab caster plants will laser align their machine? We are looking a 3 different radiuses and are always out of alignment Radius gauges are used and can assist when blending a particular roll with other rolls in the machine.

What experience does anyone have between pulse air vs. reverse air with shakers? There was a general discussion held about geographical locations and deciding what type of maintenance you want to do. Each design has its pros and cons and you would have to decide which one would work best with the given parameters that you are dealing with.

Is anyone using the replaceable hot face system on their carbon injection burners? No one here was using them but has heard about them.

How many shops us automatic sample lance systems and whose are you using. Variable shops were using them from different manufactures. Different designs and locations were also discussed.

Is anyone using the PTI quad jet burner system? No one had any experience with them.
Some are trialing the Nucor jet box design copper blocks.

Is anyone using coating hydraulic cylinder rods? No one in this group had information on this, but one mill trialed a coating with no luck.

Is anyone using Concast burners? No one here Beaumont maybe using them.

Is anyone using blow back thermocouple detection systems and what is the temperature range. Dofasco has been using them with good results. Ange S to send Bob F some literature

Has any shop developed a Panel change procedure for safety? Nothing formal has been utilized, some shop have procedures dealing with position in relation to the panel during the change. Some shops utilize a bleed off type system to prevent pressure.

Can the Maintenance guild possibly start sharing different safety procedures during the round table session to expand our experiences? Yes. Mark will set up a safety page on the website for members to share. There was also a discussion held on updating safety procedures after new or upgraded equipment has been installed.
What process do other shops use to assure consistency in lockout tag out procedures between different departments and areas in the shops? Different shops have established plans to assure the proper lock out tag out procedures that cover multiple areas. Others are in the process of developing and training to assure safe lockouts. Group lockout procedures were discussed and how they apply to operators, outside contractors, and maintenance. Tool box talks and other means of communicating and monitoring the various procedures to assure consistent and accurate safety procedures were discussed along with “cardinal rules” and how they are handled.

Is any using ceramic coatings on delta rings and or panels? Yes there were some shop trialing different types of coatings. Mark will send contact information on the companies that have this type of product.

Are any shops dealing with employees leaving for higher paying jobs? Some were and trying to develop different ways to attract and retain people. We know that we will lose good people and there are some industries you cannot compete with.

What is the status of the Arc flash rating compliance in the other mills? Most have been through the process and have included the mechanical group as well. There were a couple of mills that are in process of becoming compliant. Maybe we could get a shop that has done all the training to do a paper on the process for the guild.

How many shops run a reactor on their furnaces that use it to control arc stability? The ones that use reactors report good reliability.

Are there any shops adjusting their pm program based on operating data points to generate work orders?

What are the other scrap bucket suppliers? Signal, Gerard, Ewing were a few named.

Does anyone have information on cameras that can look into the caster molds to monitor mold powder applications? There was some that have this and the information will be emailed to him.

Does anyone have experience with peak shaver system in your duct? There were a couple of shops that shared their experience with this technology. The conversation moved into bag house bag maintenance and the effects the peak shavers can have if not maintained. Then the conversation started to cover duct maintenance particularly during the cold months.

Is anyone using the XO electrode adding robot and how does it perform in the cold? There will be troubles and it will need to be kept warm and clean.

Who using what type of high voltage disconnects? Siemens, Joslyn, Pac all were mentioned.

Anyone have experience with quick disconnect connections on the electrode leads? None of the shops here had any but they did know shops that were.
The next meeting we will move the round table to Thursday to avoid the conflicts with travel home. Mark will communicate the revised schedule to the membership for the next meeting.

A discussion was held on the establishment of the 5s set up process and planning.

Does anyone have spindle monitoring? Vibration monitoring was discussed and understanding the readings to determine if it is a bearing, gear or spindle issues.

Meeting adjourned at 2:00.