furnace crews put operations back on track
We’re back in the race and making up ground fast
Blast Furnace Manager William Cunningham has a love for Formula 1 so it’s no surprise he describes the recent ramping up of production at the Whyalla Steelworks in fast-paced racing car terms.
In December last year the blast furnace faced multiple process issues and factors.
There were coke supply issues, only one operational trough for the offtake of iron, just four treadwells (when a minimum of six are required to effectively transport the molten iron to steelmaking), understaffing and continual plant failures.
The team has dug so deep, it was a mammoth effort from everyone, just amazing, and a thank you from me just isn’t enough
Blast Furnace Manager William Cunningham
Yet, as they had done for the past few years, the furnace crews continued to get behind the wheel to keep the furnace engine warm and ready to fire up when conditions improved.
“Through no fault of anybody on the floor, we were stuck in the pits, losing valuable time on the track,” William said. “It was soul destroying in a lot of ways, but we were still in the race.”
The delays kept coming throughout December but February brought new hope with OneSteel Manufacturing placed into administration with funding from the Federal and State governments to get the steelworks back on track.
“We went from zero out of ten, in regard to production, to where we are now at about seven out of ten with an acceptable hot metal usage to keep steelmaking going,” William said. “Our existing crews went the extra mile to make things work including those coming across from other areas to help and leaders jumping onto machines to keep things going.
“With the injection of funding from the Federal and State governments for resources, repairs, maintenance and new staff, we are now out of the pits, starting making up ground and confident of winning the race.
“The team has dug so deep, it was a mammoth effort from everyone, just amazing, and a thank you from me just isn’t enough.”
We went from zero out of ten, in regard to production, to where we are now at about seven out of ten with an acceptable hot metal usage to keep steelmaking going
Blast Furnace Manager William Cunningham
While production is now in synch with steelmaking with the blast furnace running smoothly and safely, William said there was still work do as they strive to maintain their place as the beating heart of the steelworks.
“We still have some important repairs to complete and need to get ahead on the maintenance schedules to return us to the point we can operate on the regular 17-weekly shutdown schedule,” he said.
“Once we can do that, we can improve hot metal utilisation even further, maintain the quality of the metal and, importantly, continue to ensure the safety of our people every day.
“With the right funding and resourcing, we can now run more consistently to make the right amount of iron and the right amount of steel … and keep on making it.”
