103 : Beginner’s Luck
I left Incheon Port and headed for Incheon Steel.
Although they succeeded in making a steel plate using the existing method by extracting molten iron from the fluidized furnace, today is the day to make a steel plate using the 21st century method.
Since both the continuous casting facility and the hot rolling mill were remodeled, SMS’s ‘thin plate casting method’ should be realized theoretically.
“Sambok! Factory Manager Wöst!”
“Come on.”
“Welcome, boss.”
Everyone was waiting for me.
The staff next to me brought me work clothes.
Wearing work clothes made it easier to endure.
It was a characteristic of the steelworks that the president and executives thought that oiled work clothes were cool.
“How have you been making any progress?”
I worked hard on making boats in Busan, and Boest experimented with the thin-plate casting method.
“You have to keep trying, boss.”
It sounds like you haven’t succeeded yet.
It is easy to say that continuous casting and hot rolling are performed at the same time, but it is very difficult to find process conditions.
If you don’t care, the steel plate will break, the equipment will stop, and even if you somehow make the steel plate, the surface condition or strength quality is poor.
“Chansu, if it fails today, I think I will have no choice but to produce it with the existing process. It is too hard to go back and forth between the new process and the old process.”
“Yeah, I know.”
For the experiment, both the continuous casting machine and the hot rolling mill, which were running well in the conventional way, had to be stopped.
Since the time to put molten iron in the melting furnace or converter is limited, such experiments were a great burden on the production line.
Moreover, considering the situation in which the ship must be launched until May, the facility should not be stopped any longer.
“Factory manager, please show me the samples you’ve been experimenting with.”
“Yes, boss. Come here.”
Voest took me to a corner of the factory.
On a long table, samples of steel sheets were arranged according to process conditions. Seeing that there were well over 80 samples, it seemed that all process conditions that could be changed had been changed.
Boest’s worries were intact.
“At this level, there are no process conditions to change.”
It was confirmed that all conditions such as time, temperature, water cooling, rolling speed, rolling pressure, etc. were turned into a full matrix.
Nonetheless, they all had flaws.
It is sufficient to show a tendency according to the process conditions, but it was not possible to pull out an influencing factor because the final quality jumped null.
“Even if you push all the conditions to the limit, you won’t see a trend. Defects are observed in all cases, so process design is impossible.”
“If it were easy to implement, SMS would not have sold us a patent.”
“Do you think this technique will succeed, boss?”
“I am sure I will succeed. However, it will be difficult to succeed in a short period of time.”
“…that… that’s right.”
It is a mass production method in the 21st century, and of course it must succeed.
If I had worked at a steel mill, I would have known at once what I had missed, but I am sure I have this know-how.
“I’ll help you get rid of the samples.”
Sambok must have been heartbroken by my words, and he dragged a large container and began to put samples in it.
“Wait, what is that?”
“What?”
“What is that sample?”
“this? this is not a sample it’s scrap It was pulled out when the rolling mill was restored.”
“Give me this.”
I pulled out a piece of iron plate from the scrap bin. The smooth surface was the perfect sample.
“Who pulled this out?”
“Uh…”
“I’m not trying to scold you, so please raise your hand.”
“Yes, boss. We have restored the machine.”
Several artisans raised their hands and came forward.
“Tell me about everything you did when you took out this iron plate.”
When I got excited, Wöst also came running and listened to the artisans.
“Hey, what did we do when we were cleaning? Do you remember?”
“Oh, I didn’t do anything. There was a lot of slag in the tundish, so I started a fire once…”
“…the only thing we did was sing along to the beat when we took the metal plate out of the mold.”
Hearing the words of the technicians talking to each other seemed to brighten my eyes.
“Wait, wait! did you sing? Call me. Do the same thing you did back then.”
“Yes?”
“Come on.”
“The boss told me to do the same. Start!”
The seniors yelled at me from the side, so some technicians ran to the continuous casting machine and started singing.
bang bang! bang bang!
“Skinny, slender girls! Oh yea!”
“Holding hands in a friendly way! Oh yea!”
Craftsmen began to hit the mold of the continuous casting machine with metal pipes while singing popular songs.
It was a passage through which molten iron passed.
“Boss, please understand. You have to beat it so that the dregs stuck in the mold come out.”
“It’s in 4/4 time.”
I couldn’t even hear anything from the side.
When you hit it in 4/4 time, the molten iron flows well.
Chwiik! Chwiyiyi profit!
In addition, an artisan adjusted the pressure of the tundish’s gas burner from the side to match the beat.
“Perfect! Perfect!”
How could there be such a coincidence?
Come to think of it, it was natural to do that.
It was a method perfectly suited to the thin-plate casting method.
“Yes, perfect? president.”
“haha! let’s start Everyone back to their seats!”
“In place!”
Böst put on a puzzled expression, but I sent the staff to their places with a hook.
The preparations for the experiment were already perfect.
Seeing that the molten metal that had gone through the melting furnace was contained in the converter, the refining was finished.
In the existing method, molten iron is poured into a casting machine to make a 240mm thick slab (plate-like member), and the cooled slab is heated to 1200 degrees and repeatedly rolled up to 50mm with a hot rolling mill to make a ship plate, or furthermore, to make a 1.5mm thick plate. make a hot-rolled coil.
Of course, it is a process with excessive production costs.
We will make 60mm slabs at the casting stage, and after rolling it a few times, thick plates of various thicknesses from 50mm to 6mm will pop out.
It is an innovative technology that costs 50% less.
“Chansu, did you have an idea?”
“yes! I think it will be today. I can feel it.”
“Are you feeling?”
It’s not just empty words, it really felt like that.
The facility seemed to be telling me to get started.
“Let’s start! Everyone on standby!”
“Standby!”
“Pour molten iron on the ladle!”
“Pour molten iron on the ladle!”
A ladle is a container that holds molten iron.
It is like sharing a small amount in a large-capacity converter.
Chow ah!
The molten iron from which carbon and sulfur were removed from the converter was transferred to a large gourd (ladle).
“Open the Tundish valve!”
“Open the Tundish valve.”
“Holding time 3 minutes 30 seconds!”
“Holding 3 minutes and 30 seconds!”
“Boss, the holding time is too long. Then the molten iron hardens in the tundish.”
Voest was startled.
Tundish refers to the transfer of molten iron from a molten iron gourd to a flat gourd.
When moved to a flat place, a dirty inclusion floats on top of the molten iron, so the purpose is to remove it.
“That thought was the problem.”
“Yes”
“The holding time was too short to remove impurities sufficiently.”
“Oh oh!”
Voest also vomited exclamations as if he had realized something.
It seemed like this would work.
“Tundish burner on! Target temperature 1200 degrees!”
“Tundish burner on! Target temperature 1200 degrees!”
“Aww, that was it!”
The fact that the craftsman heated the tundish to clean it prevented it from cooling even if the molten iron was left in the tundish for a long time.
It was the first know-how of the thin plate casting method.
“Holding time! Countdown, 5. 4, 3, 2, 1!”
“Open the mold, pour the molten iron!”
“Open the mold, pour the molten iron!”
Shoot aaa!
As the molten iron flowed into the thin-plate mold, strong coolant vapors came out.
“Tap the mold! 4/4 time!”
“Eh?”
“haha! what do you do They say the boss beats you up.”
The staff were bewildered by my words, but Böst ran away.
bang bang! Tata Tang! bang bang! Tata Tang!
“Na-ssina na-ssina (slender, slender) lady! ha ha ha!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Böst started beating the mold with an iron pipe while singing a clumsy song.
“Tap! Waaa!”
Craftsmen also joined in with excitement.
“what’s this?”
Sambok looked at me with his palms open as if he was dumbfounded.
“What is it? It’s our know-how!”
Large vibrators were sometimes delivered to steelworks, but they were used here. i need to make it right now
Chaaagh!
“aaa! out!”
“What are you doing! Spin the rollers! forward, backward! forward backwards! ha ha ha!”
“Forward backwards! Forward and backward!”
Really pretty thin slabs of about 60mm appeared between the rolling mills.
After going back and forth between the rollers a few times, the vermilion-colored iron plate changed into a heavy plate for ships.
At one point, the iron plate that reached the end of the equipment was suddenly cut off and fell to the floor spewing white steam.
The clean surface was the highest quality steel plate.
“Hahahaha! Chansu. Look at this. Look at this!!”
Sambok’s eyes widened when he saw the final product. I would still have wanted to do something.
“Also, you have to knock on the equipment!”
“hurray!! hurray!”
“Hahahahahaha! Success!”
Craftsmen and engineers ran to me and rinsed.
“Boss, this is the highest grade steel plate.”
Vöst was also extremely excited and went into a frenzy.
‘This is only possible because I’m new to the steel mill.’
To be honest, heating the tundish and tapping the mold were unexpected know-hows that were difficult for those who had worked at the steel mill for a long time.
“Koreans are really creative.”
“We are a nation that likes to sing.”
“It’s such an honor in your later years…”
Even Böst was surprised to see the thick plates piled up at a crazy speed.
If Böst’s fluidized furnace method was a revolution in the iron making process, this sheet casting method was a revolution in the post process.
“Chansu, aren’t we rich?”
“Yeah, of course not.”
Sambok shouted, spraying coolant everywhere instead of champagne.
“How much are you selling this for? Even if we only sell it for $95 per ton, it’s a jackpot for us.”
Steel is similar to the dollar, so it is a product that is consistently sold at $100 per ton.
It is a demand-generating product, where demand always outstrips supply, so there is little price fluctuation.
But that exceptional case soon arises.
“I won’t sell it. Let’s move everything to the shipyard in Busan.”
“to? Could it be… all of them?”
“Yes, all of them.”
If you use it at the shipyard and have surplus, you can stock it up.
It’s something that will cost 300 dollars per ton in the future.
“Somehow it seemed so. Kut.”
“Now, today is Incheon Steel’s dinner party.”
“Waaa!”
Since I made a lot of money, I should start with a party.
“Eat meat as much as you like. Beer too!”
“Waaa!”
The staff picked me up and ran to the meat restaurant. Today, we will kill all the meat in this area.
***
May 5th.
“We will hold a launching ceremony for Bulk No. 1, the first work of Joseon Dynasty.”
“Waaa!”
At the sound of the moderator’s microphone, all executives and staff members of Daesae Chosun cheered at once.
I’ve been working like crazy all this time.
Böst frantically pulled out steel plates at Incheon Steelworks, and I also lived in a shipyard with a welder.
When me and the chiefs held a welding machine and joined the assembly of each block, the craftsmen did the work in the form of welding.
Thinking of the hardships of the past, I was soaked in emotions, but I was awakened by the moderator’s voice.
“Please cut the rope according to the signal.”
“Three, two, one, hex!”
widely!
When Kim Bok-soon, the only female section chief in Daesae, cut the rope for launching, the technicians cut the real rope.
When launching a ship, a woman cuts the rope to mean cutting the umbilical cord.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa, boom! with a splash!
A huge bulk carrier slipped and plunged into the sea.
There was no large dock, so I made a long slope to the sea, connected the pieces, and worked on the top plate.
It is similar to the slipway technique done in old shipyards.
Of course, even with that, the working place was narrow, so I had to accept the fact that some of the players were submerged in the water.
It was an ignorant way to the point where anyone would wonder if it was okay to do this.
“Fortunately, the. president.”
Seonik Doo, the manager in charge of assembling, was moved with tears in his eyes.
The boat was well balanced and floated.
Because it is a bulk carrier, the draft is shallow and the bottom is wide, so it must be because the center of gravity is definitely lowered.
It seemed much safer than I feared.
“Captain Smith, test run.”
“Yes, boss.”
Captain Smith decided to board the Bulk 1 with veteran sailors and take over the steering.
On the cargo ship, which will serve as a tugboat, Kwon Chil-deuk and his colleagues, who were recruited earlier, decided to help each captain one by one.
“Two chiefs, there will be an adjustment, right?”
“of course. Bulk No. 1 only lacks the main engine, but there are enough rudders and engines to operate them.”
Bulk No. 1 is called a dumb ship, but minimal maneuverability was possible with a rudder attached.
It was like Captain Smith navigating the four cargo ships remotely.
＜Can you hear me? boss.＞
“Yes, I hear you. Captain Smith.”
＜Hey! We are probably the only people on the planet who can navigate a ship like this. Ha ha ha.＞
Smith’s laughter came over the radio.
“If you don’t have teeth, you have to do it with your gums. How is it worth going all the way to Australia?”
＜Are you watching? It’s in very good condition. I would like to be able to travel around the world.＞
It was very smooth to see them leisurely circling the coastal waters of Busan. If there was no rope connected to the cargo ship, they would not even know they were being dragged.
“Could you please leave right away?”
＜You can do it anytime.＞
“Did you check all the sailing routes?”
I took it once again
Money is money, but there should never be a problem with safety on the way to Australia.
The whole trend of shipping was at stake.
＜Don’t worry. Mr. Kwon and other towing experts have traveled to and from Australia 4 times with us. It should be enough.＞
“It’s reassuring to hear Captain Smith say that. Please telex as soon as shipment from Australia is completed.”
＜Don’t worry. Order to depart.＞
Captain Smith confidently asked for orders to sail. If the extra master, the world’s best captain, could talk about that much, it seems that the stability of the ship is certain.
“Bulk No. 1, the trending cargo ship fleet! Set sail!”
＜Departure!! Set sail!!!＞
Whoa! Boo Woo Woo~
“Waaa!”
“Have a good trip!”
“Fighting trending shipping!”
“Dad, have a good day!”
Four cargo ships sounded their whistles at the same time, and families invited to the launching ceremony waved their hands in all directions.
As if on a parade, the fleet made a great turn in front of the family. Daesae Shipping employees lined up on the deck and responded to the cheers with a handsome salute.
After all, shipping company employees are really cool when they wear uniforms. When going out to sea, the engineers will change into work clothes at once.
“Chansu-ya, it’s such a waste to send it over there on an empty boat. Shouldn’t you have sent it with a load of fabric?”
“Even waiting time at customs is a waste. Besides, you have to take the fabric and send it by train from the west to the east of Australia. It’s Hasewol.”
We have no time to waste now.
If we go as soon as possible, the possibility of Hammersley Corporation exercising a negative option will disappear.
“Why are you in such a hurry? At most, three or three days… A week at most.”
“Fabric exports focus on the US and Southeast Asia. The answer is to bring more iron ore to Australia.”
“Well, your judgment has never been wrong! I’m Chansu, I have to trust you and say hello! Bulk No. 1! Bye! Bring a load of iron ore safely!”
Sambok waved his hand at the ship that was disappearing over the horizon and saw it off.
‘Have a good trip, Bulk No. 1.’
It was a poor rickshaw when I went, but when I return, I will be welcomed as if I am carrying gold.
Well, June was coming.
The time has come when the Middle East appears in our history.
