Fiery hot slabs of steel rolled along the 80-inch hot strip mill at Arcelor Mittal's Indiana Harbor facility, flashing a blinding bright cherry red glow and emitting a wave of scorching heat as they passed by.
When they finished their almost 7-foot journey on the rolling mill, the original 10-inch thick slabs had been squeezed down to around 1 1/4 inches, narrowed, blasted with powerful bursts of water to remove any residue off the top and rolled up into coils, ready to be transported to customers according to their specifications.
When they finished their almost 7-foot journey on the rolling mill, the original 10-inch thick slabs had been squeezed down to around 1 1/4 inches, narrowed, blasted with powerful bursts of water to remove any residue off the top and rolled up into coils, ready to be transported to customers according to their specifications.
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| Alan Oviatt |
A few blocks away, technicians at the steel giant's East Chicago Global Research & Development Center demonstrated how they're working to improve that process and the steel itself on a much smaller, and much less heat intensive, hot strip mill simulator.
"We want to find the ideal clarity," said Dan McDonald, a research technician at the center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary at the 49-acre East Chicago campus Sept. 13 with tours for invited guests, speeches, a reception and the unveiling of "Steel for the Future," a new South Shore poster by artist Mitch Markovitz.
McDonald said the simulator is a more cost efficient way to achieve their goal.
"We can work on a small ingot on a small scale here instead of on a slab in the mill," McDonald said.
In addition to seeing innovation at work in the R& D center, media guests also were able to tour the 80-inch hot strip mill and No. 3 steel producing area at the sprawling Indiana Harbor mill in East Chicago and the Subaru plant in Lafayette, taking them from the beginning stages of steel production and innovation to an example of how their improvements have helped improve their customers' end product.
Citing worldwide competition, Brian Aranha, executive vice president of strategy, technology, research and development, marketing and global automotive, said ArcelorMittal must compete on two fronts: cost of production and innovation.
Alan Oviatt is pleased to share his accomplishments at this point of time, not only of his achievements, but of mistakes he made. Day to day, he learned from my mistakes – improved and become a far better person. He proudly share that he endured some self-imposed afflictions. Although these things doesn`t inspire envy.
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