In the spring of 2018, the final batch of cargo ships loaded with steel structure products got close to the Shougang Peru iron ore port, marking the successful completion of the steel structure production project of the 10 million tons of the ore treatment plant in the Shougang Peru iron ore new district contracted by Shougang Mining Corporation.

Since 2017, under the guidance of the strategic thinking of “coordinating efforts as on a single chessboard” of Shougang iron and steel, Shougang Mining Corporation has used its parent company Shougang Mining Construction Company as the general contracting unit and integrated relevant industrial units with steel structure processing advantages to jointly complete construction tasks and serve the first project of overseas engineering of Shougang. These steel structures were shipped from Tianjin Port to Peru which was 16,000 kilometers away in seven batches with the shipping time of each batch up to one month.

“The general issues an order, and many soldiers respond.” In order to make it a success, the cadres and employees of Shougang Mining Corporation worked hard to overcome technical difficulties. 19,320 tons of high-quality steel structure products erect the “iron and steel skeleton” for the new ore treatment plant across the ocean.

Take the “new order” – be ready to conquer technical difficulties

Shougang Peru iron ore new district expansion project is located near the east coast of the Marcona area in Peru. It mainly includes 8 workshops, such as the main plant, the filtration workshop, the high-pressure roller mill, the screening workshop, the original ore warehouse, and the steel structure for supporting seawater desalination system, where there are 16,183 components in the main plant alone.

The first time to undertake a large-scale overseas construction project; the first time to undertake large-scale steel structure production; the first time to break through the technical constraints of the American standards... Many precedents brought many pressures and challenges to high-quality, high-speed completion of production tasks.

After contracting the project, which was regarded as a key project for expanding overseas markets by Shougang Mining Corporation, it quickly established a construction working group and formulated a stringent implementation plan. With the general contracting and management of Shougang Mining Construction Company, in cooperation with the mining machinery factory, Xieli Company, and Shejie Company, the leaders and field workers signed “military orders.”

In order to ensure the quality of construction, Shougang Mining Corporation actively planned to build a dedicated site for the production of Peru iron and steel structures. In response to the project’s requirements for the accuracy of component fabrication, a series of CNC drilling machines, cutting, welding, shot blasting, and spraying machines were purchased to provide equipment support for the manufacturing of steel structures. Since the project was located in South America, American standards for steel structure design were adopted. As it was difficult to purchase American standard materials in China, the high-end plate welded steel produced by Shouqin Company was used to replace most of the American standard hot rolled steel through research and analysis, which further ensured efficiency and quality control.

“Shougang Mining Construction Company has a wealth of experience in general contracting, but it is the first time that a number of participating units have been collaborated to organize such a large-scale individual project with new technical standards. Moreover, the scattered production points have brought difficulties to general contracting and management, however we, as Shougang staff, were never afraid of difficulties and constantly strive to become stronger. We didn’t engage in it before, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it. We have a scientific construction organization and a mature quality management system, and we are confident that we can break through the technical bottlenecks of the American standards and complete this project with higher standards.” Wang Honglei, the Deputy Manager of Jinjie Branch of Shougang Mining Construction Company and the head of Peru iron and steel project, is confident in this project.

Strategic “contempt”, knowing yourself as well as the enemy and going all out to defeat the enemy. In order to realize technological breakthroughs, they organized professionals to visit and study in well-known manufacturers of domestic steel structures, collecting, studying, and digesting the 39 technical standards required in the technical agreement of the Peru iron project, and formulated production technical documents in combination with reality, forming the production technical standards with more than 20,000 characters which covered the manufacturing process of all steel structures. At the same time, a steel structure supply factory inspection and test plan was formulated, a technical guide for the production of steel structure products was prepared, and a material traceability system, a quality inspection method, and the finished product component delivery data system were completed. The basic data formed a complete system, which had accumulated valuable information for overseas projects. The iron and steel processing thus began...

Work out “tactics” – find ways to train strong troops

The requirements for welding, anticorrosion and appearance quality of the design and production of the steel structure project of Peru new ore treatment plant far exceeded the domestic similar engineering standards. While some employees were afraid that they couldn’t fulfill the requirements within 1-2 mm structural part manufacturing error.

Based on the principle of actual combat training, various units of Shougang Mining deployed the crack troops to form a project department. Wang Tao, Zhang Zhao and other young “welders” who made outstanding achievements in the Beijing Welder Technical Competition and the Shougang Skills Competition were involved. At the same time, professional technicians and welders were trained with professional training, concentrated learning, practical training etc. Two technicians obtained the qualification for registered welding inspector, and 15 welders successfully passed the training and got the certificate, which provided technical support for steel structure production.

In order to ensure employees to use the newly introduced tools as soon as possible, they continuously carried out targeted learning and training. Wang Tao, a young technical expert, took the initiative to serve as a “teacher” and shared his experience in data input, cutting distance and flame temperature of “bee cutting machine.” At the Employee Skills Games organized by Xieli Company, three projects were set up for the Peru iron project: magnetic hollow drilled holes, two-welded welding, and “bee cutting machine”. The contestants learned from the practice, summed up their experiences, identified leaks and supplied deficiencies. The machinery factory organized eight technical trainings to grasp key points of the project at any time to ensure product quality standards.

The design and dimensions of raw materials in the drawing design of structural parts adopted American standards while mining Corporation used some domestic steel to replace American standard steel, so there were differences in sections of national standard and American standard materials, and the elevation size didn’t match the original. 

“I just didn’t know where to start with the drawings. If there was a slight difference, it would affect the follow-up construction.” Recalling the difficulties at the beginning of the project, Li Xindong who participated in the project is deeply impressed.

They began to train TEKLA software users in various organizations. Through this software, the American standard materials in the 3D model could be converted into national standard materials. The elevation problem could be solved according to the actual height difference, and the two-dimensional construction drawings that replaced the national standard were generated according to the two-dimensional model. The young worker Li Gang has learned the role of new technology, “At that time, the actual size of 16 brackets was different from the drawing by 20 mm. I used software to learn the installation position and use of the brackets and found that the size difference must be made up, otherwise the brackets wouldn’t match the bases. The 20mm adjustment pads were added later to ensure the construction quality of the brackets.”

After eight months’ improvement of basic work and technical level, in November 2017, Shougang Mining Construction Company successfully obtained system certification, which provided Shougang Mining with access qualification for the development of the international steel structure market.

Focus on “strategy” - organize the staff to improve quality and efficiency 

Efficiency and quality are the two lifelines that affect the production process of the Peru iron and steel structure. The dispersion of processing points and drawing design adjustments caused this system project to emanate many key points, lines, and surfaces, which radiated almost all the fields from management to technology.

Overall coordination was the primary task. Shougang Mining Construction Company fulfilled the functions as the general contracting unit and led the relevant units to focus on the promotion. After the production plan was released, each unit assigned the project to workshops and project departments, controlled the progress of the product in sub-regions, and ensured that the entire node period was met. At the same time, the construction progress was reviewed daily and dynamic monitoring was implemented. Various professions cooperated closely, and routine operations were combined with assault operations. After the materials arrived in batches, the organizational model was changed according to the situation.

Grassroots innovations continued to emerge. With the increasing familiarity with the production processes and tools, everyone began to ponder over the ways to improve quality and efficiency. In the production process, the machinery factory successively produced 24 types of tools and moulds of drilling, assembly and positioning. Jing Xinjie, an employee of Xieli Company, found in the production of flotation platform equipment supports that  they must weld the steel plate to make the mould on the work platform, fire the gusset plate by gas welding, and then press the desired arc with the screw jack to use the traditional process to bend the gusset plate. It took two people two hours to fold one bend. So he connected and modified the existing electric hydraulic jack and the hydraulic steel wire plug machine of the squadron. It only needed one person to step on the foot pedal of the plug machine to operate the electric jacking. It only took one person 40 minutes to fold a bend, which improved the efficiency obviously.

Control and improve quality step by step. All units strengthened the steel structure production, rust removal, rubber lining, coating quality control, design inspection procedure and acceptance procedure and strengthened the first trial production and the first inspection to avoid batch quality problems. The construction site had also made unwritten requirements such as “material real name” and “confirmation on the very day.” “Material real name” means that construction personnel must sign their names on the quantity, type, and completion statistics of materials each day, so that each material is in the charge of personnel, which improves material utilization, quality and efficiency; “confirmation on the very day” is convenient for overall management. The completed amount each day and the planned amount for the next day are clear and orderly at a glance.

To solve the worries of the installation units, they used the two-dimensional code technology to register the design information of each component and paste the complete two-dimensional code at the product identification location. The installation units could quickly learn the component information by scanning the two-dimensional code, avoiding the risk of claims arising from inaccurate component information during field installation.

As the steel structures arrived in Peru one after another, the technical service personnel assigned by the Mining Company also set off. Relying on technical service work, since October 2017, Shougang Mining has continuously tracked project information and participated in bidding for installation projects. In cooperation with China Communications Construction Company Limited and the overseas branch of the 19th Metallurgical Corporation, they successfully won the bid for the steel structure and equipment installation tasks of the main plant, the filtration workshop, and the high-pressure roller mill. Shougang Mining Construction Company has set up the General Contracting Department to organize the construction on the site.

In the past year, working together on the Peru iron and steel structure project, Shougang Mining has further strengthened its goal of advancing the market for technical service industry: to excel in quality projects and brand projects and to establish the image of Shougang staff overseas. At present, Shougang Mining is investigating the Peru iron ore late-stage engineering project and maintenance service market. In the future, it will continue to play a synergistic role in integrating relevant industry strengths, further expanding overseas markets, and better serving the transformation and development of Shougang.