SteelAsia, Meycauayan City,Bulacan, Philippines, January 22, 2015 I. Introduction Mission To provide our country with world-class products and services, by innovating and adapting to changing customer needs, while helping to protect our environment. Vision For our country to have its own steel industry. Corporate Profile In 1995, Steel Asia Asia was established to put up the country's first modern steel bar mill. It was a quantum leap in technology and manufacturing capacity, intended to bring the Philippine steel industry to world class levels of quality, service and manufacturing efficiency. With innovation and continuous improvement as mantra, Steel Asia quickly established and entrenched itself as the Philippines' preferred supplier of rebar. With a majority share of market that continues to grow, its capacity has expanded to 2.0 million metric tons per annum. Steel Asia Manufacturing Corporation, a joint venture with TATA Steel from India, is located in Bulacan in the Philippines and produces reinforcing steel bars (also referred to as rebar) for use in construction. The plant was commissioned in 1996 and currently has 400 employees. Annual production is 360,000 tons of steel bars compared to its 400,000 tons annual designed capacity, which is mostly consumed by the domestic domestic market. market. The company participated in the project to sustain their their effort to improve the operation, cut down on production cost through energy efficiency and cleaner production and prepare for an application for Integrated Management System (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001) certification.
Technical Description Steel Asia supplies rebar to around 70% of the Philippines' infrastructure, high-rise, commercial mall, school, factory and power plant construction. The responsibility entails ensuring that it's rebar of the highest quality and are always available. Steel Asia makes determined effort to bring down its cost to help lower the cost of construction and support economic development. Steel Asia innovates to add value to its product, increase delivery speed and reliability, and make the buying of rebar easier for its customers. As part of its philosophy to give the best value to customers and spur construction development, Steel Asia is correcting the incongruity of the locations of supply and demand. Over 95% of steel bar manufacturing capacity is located in and around Metro Manila. The Visayas and Mindanao customers have to pay for the cost of freight to ship steel bars from Metro Manila, and suffer as well the lengthier lead times and shipping delays. Steel Asia is correcting this incongruity by relocating manufacturing capacity closer to its markets by establishing high capacity modern steel bar facilities in South Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Customers in these regions enjoy timelier deliveries from Steel Asia at the same cost as a Manila-based buyer. Steel Asia partners with government efforts to enforce safety and product standards and is a vigilant advocate against smuggling and other illegal trade practices. Steel Asia supports the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute as well, to help make the Philippine steel industry a real contributor to economic development. Steel Asia operates 3 straight line automated rolling mills. The company manufactures 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm, 25mm, 28mm, 32mm and 36mm rebar in Grade 230 (33,000 PSI), Grade 275 (40,000 PSI), Grade 415 (60,000 PSI) and Grade 520 (75,000 PSI).
Plant
Facilities
-This facility is home to the first modern rebar mill in the Philippines -Italian design and technology -Automated 12-meter walking hearth furnace -Automated 18-stand straight line, no twist horizontal-vertical rolling mill configuration for high quality and productivity -Temperature quenching box to increase bar yield and tensile strength -Slit rolling to increase productivity on sizes 10mm to 16mm -Cartridge rolling stands for quick size changing to minimize down time -84 meter cooling bed to minimize bar ends for multiple lengths -Automated counting and bundling -Quality laboratory equipped with spectrometers and UTM
II. Manufacturing Process Raw materials Steel Billets, Steel Scrap Process Flowchart Steel Scrap Recyclable steel materials which may be drawn from ve hicles, old appliances and buildings. Melting Melting of scrap materials by means of electric arc heat. Refining Refining and regulating of the temperature and chemical composition of molten steel in preparation for continuous casting. Continuous Casting Molten steel is molded and shaped into a solidified raw material such as a billet, bloom or slab. Reheating Process wherein the charge is heated to rolling temperature. Rolling Metal forming process in which charge is passed through a pair of rolls to create desired formation of steel. Cut and Bend Precision cutting and bending of rebars into shapes of exact specification, in a consistently accurate manner performed in a factory environment using shear lines and power bending machines.
Finished Product The cut and bended rebars are embedded with the company initials (SA) and the dimensions of the bar.
III. Quality Control Procedures In-Process Testing Rebars are made at very high temperatures and the process is very continuous thus, making in-process testing quite impossible. Instead, Steel Asia carefully monitors the heating process by using digital measurements that measure or monitor the characteristics of the steel at a certain point. Finished Product The finished rebars are embossed with the company initials and the specific dimensions of the steel. Any product that has not met the standards of the company is recycled back into the process.
IV. Water and Waste water treatment Both the Davao and Plaridel plants of SteelAsia are designed with the latest technology from Italy, and will rely on rain water for its operations using huge reservoirs during the rainy season. Both mills will also feature zero-wastewater systems that treat and recycle all water back into the manufacturing line.
V. Roles of Chemical Engineers Quality Control The job of a chemical engineer in the quality control line was pretty evident during our tip to Steel Asia. Chemical engineers were constantly monitoring the process and the environment in where the steel was being heated through the use of digital measuring devices and even a camera that was installed in the furnace. Chemical engineers were also responsible for testing the properties of the materials. The rebars were tested for: tensile strength, ductility, diameter, size, etc. Process Engineer The process engineer monitors the production of the rebars. They were tasked to monitor the: packaging, rebar heating, water treatment and the workers of the company. Process engineers adjust or record measurements to ensure the quality of the company is met in a very unstable environment that uses a huge amount of heat. Design The job of a chemical engineer when it comes to design in the rebar industry is that the equipment used can handle very large amounts of heat and pressure, much like the job of a process engineer. They are accountable for failures that were caused by the design of the equipment that are being used. Research and Development The chemical engineer finds ways to improve the product by experimentation. Either it was adding a tiny bit of another element to the composition of the bars or slightly increasing the heat used in the production, it is a task given to chemical engineers to ensure that the standards of the company is still met and that it is still economically viable. Wastewater Treatment In the steel industry, where large amounts of water are used, there is a movement toward not just preventing the waste water from causing pollution, but also to treat the waste water and recycle it in a closed system with the objective of conserving diverted water. We install devices like mills in the steel industry, and we utilize our experience in that area to provide steel waste water treatment systems to fit the needs of customers.
VI. Recommendations Industry’s top priorities is the improving safety regulations and encouraging safer building practices, especially as the industry continues to be one of the main contributors to severe and sadly sometimes fatal accidents in world. The cold deformation in other countries with a rebar industry has shown dramatically improved strength. The microalloyed rebars can give rebars unique properties that can be applied to different construction purposes.
VII. Appendix Documentation Bibliography Rebar – reinforced steel bars
http://www.steelasia.com/fac.htm http://www.philstar.com/business/2015/03/09/1431427/bulacan-host-philippines-biggest-steel plant
