MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

Reliability Achievement Award Recipients

2012

Gold: Severstal Dearbon - Ironmaking Division, A Practical Engineering Approach to Improving the Reliability of Blast Furnace Tuyeres.

Silver: ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, PRSB Descale System Redesign and Reliability Improvement Project

Bronze: Nucor Steel - Berkeley, Development of New Continuous Caster Segment Bearing Technology

2011

Gold:  ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, East Chicago, Ind., for implementation of the Hot Strip Mill Gear Box Lubrication Project Converting from a Conventional Recirculating Oil System to a Continuously Controlled Lubrication System which resulted in more than double the campaign life of its 45” vertical edger gear boxes and yearly savings in excess of $900,000.00. 
- Submitted by Jason Vicari - senior maintenance engineer.

Silver:  USS-POSCO Industries, Pittsburg, Calif., for the development and implementation of a roll grinder condition based monitoring system designed to detect roll chatter dynamically during the grinding process before surface damage occurs resulting in a 7% increase in line speed and savings of more than $700,000.00 per year.
- Submitted by John Cox – reliability project engineer.

Bronze:  Steel Dynamics Columbia City, Columbia City, Ind., for the implementation of the Pusher Table Hydraulic Cylinder Upgrade Program which included advanced instrumentation, technology and engineered upgrades to the equipment and system resulting in zero cylinder failures since 2010 and significant oil usage reductions. 
- Submitted by Bill Bennett – melt shop mechanical engineer.

2010

Gold: USS-POSCO Industries, Pittsburg, Calif., USA for their implementation of a combustion reliability program within the framework of an established reliability-based improvement model. This program resulted in improvements to overall process stability, ability to achieve temperature set points, longer asset life cycles, and throughput increases up to 13% on heat-limited heavy-gauge products within the first five months.
- Submitted by Jeff Kroner - team leader - applied reliability and central shops.

Silver: ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, Burns Harbor, Ind., USA for the implementation of the World-Class Equipment Reliability Program (WCER) on the finishing stands of the hot strip mill. This program resulted in reducing delay rates by 30%.
- Submitted by Scott Piech - WCER manager/asset coach hot strip mill.

Bronze: USS-POSCO Industries, Pittsburg, Calif., USA for their implementation of a spares consolidation process and facility modifications that, in a three-year time frame, resulted in the capture of more than $12 million in spare parts. This program resulted in a benefit of more than $2.1 million from consumption of excess inventory, review of purchase orders and recovery of scrap.
- Submitted Tim Kuzmicky, division manager — reliability, and Mikal Brevig, department manager — MRO spares.

2009

Gold: Nucor Steel Indiana for implementing a procedure to continuously sample and analyze EAF transformer oil for signs of abnormal condition, including the load tap changer. This has eliminated tap changer failures and allowed them to switch from regularly scheduled maintenance to condition based maintenance.
- Submitted by Chris Birkbeck, electrical engineer.

Silver: North Star BlueScope Steel for switching from grease lubricated spindles to oil lubricated tube spindles in the hot strip mill resulting in repair cost savings, elimination of grease usage, improvement in waste water treatment, reduced maintenance time and increased up time.
- Submitted by Keith Hoffman, rolling mill maintenance manager.

Bronze: Precoat Metals Inc. for switching alignment methods from using an off-line reference to an in-line reference for greater accuracy resulting in 100% reduction in rejections for tracking damage and a 73% reduction in overall tracking related scrap.
- Submitted by Joe Howards, process improvement specialist.

2008

Gold:  United States Steel Corporation, Minnesota Ore Operations – for implementation of contamination control on process equipment lubrication systems that reduced lubricant consumption by 66%, and eliminated premature failures on mill trunnion bearings and lubrications pumps.
- Submitted by Al Kastonek, maintenance coordinator

Silver:  Nucor Steel – Indiana – for linking the Morgoil lubrication system with the mill drive to synchronize lubrication distribution with mill speed, resulting  in improved bearing life, reduced mill downtime, reduced oil consumption and substantial savings in waste water treatment.
- Submitted by Jason Roche, cold mill maintenance coordinator

Bronze: United States Steel Corporation, Gary – for implementation of  Maintenance Quality Inspection Teams (MQIT) to ensure quality of parts manufacture and repair resulting in more than $5,000,000 in annual savings and a 25% increase in vendor performance for correct components and assemblies.
- Submitted by Bob Bodnar, MQIT Reliability Manager

2007

Gold – ArcelorMittal – Dofasco
For implementation of a Maintenance Task Analysis methodology to efficiently monitor and manage key maintenance tasks to ensure manufacturing reliability in the KOBM, LMF1 and Caster areas resulting in 70,000 additional tons of annual slab production.
- Submitted by Ron Leadbetter, Steelmaking Reliability Coordinator KOBM Stream.

Silver – Nucor Steel – Berkeley, S.C.
For installation of weld head strapping technology to secure beams and long bar bundles which significantly improved bundle handling safety, eliminated downtime due to strapping failures, reduced banding material consumption and increased productivity.
- Submitted by Chris Andersen, Beam Mill Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor

Bronze – United States Steel Corp. – Midwest Division
For utilizing laser alignment and revised procedures for improved reliability of the alignment and maintenance of the temper mill rolls and tension reel resulting in a 92% reduction in trade shape rejections over a ten-year period.
- Submitted by Kent D. Harvey, Apex Manager, Gary and EC Tin Divisions

Honorable Mention: AK Steel – Rockport
For implementation of predictive maintenance technologies to ensure quality and timeliness of all maintenance work orders resulting in a 50% increase in customer satisfaction, increased mill availability and a reduction in delays.
- Submitted by: Mike Drake, Reliability Lead

2006

Gold Award: Nucor Steel–Berkeley, S.C.
For the implementation of an in-house mandrel repair program that decreased yield loss and mandrel maintenance time and increased mandrel reliability
- Submitted by Jason Curtis, cold mill mechanical maintenance supervisor.

Silver Award: CitiSteel USA
For the development of a computer software package to assist in shim calculations that improved bearing pad shimming practices for the caster banana frame improving product quality and maintenance practices
- Submitted by Frank Hancock, manager engineering and maintenance

Tie for Bronze Award: Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, Ont., Canada
For the implementation of a technically based equipment maintenance plan on the DSG galvanizing line that increased asset utilization and decreased unplanned delays and rate loss.
- Submitted by Mike Hendsbee, reliability specialist

Tie for Bronze Award: Stelco, Inc. Hamilton, Ont., Canada
For the redesign of a three piece to a one piece auger screw in the BOF electrostatic precipitator system that decreased maintenance costs and production losses.

2005

Gold - Nucor Steel, Decatur, Alabama, USA
Silver - Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Bronze - Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

2004

Gold - USS - Posco Industries, Pittsburg, California
Silver - USS - Posco Industries, Pittsburg, California
Bronze - U.S. Steel Corp.-Gary Works, Gary, Indiana