Past AIST Committee Activities
Current Activities
The Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC) met on May 4 at AISTech 2010 in Pittsburgh. Rich Smith of ArcelorMittal Coatesville opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and asked them to introduce themselves. Drew Poshard of SSAB Mobile volunteered to take the meeting minutes. The AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines were reviewed and everyone agreed to abide by them. The previous meeting minutes were reviewed and approved as written. The 2010 Steel Mill Fatalities Statistics report was reviewed, with a discussion on a more recent incident at one of the member’s mills. The committee elected their 2010–2011 officers as: Dan Elwood of ArcelorMittal as chair, Dave Bennett of EVRAZ Oregon Steel Mills as vice chair, and Steve Reese of EVRAZ Oregon Steel Mills as papers chair. The PRTC mission statement was reviewed and approved without change to be: “To promote advances in safe plate rolling and quality practices, operating technologies and processing through information exchange.” The PRTC then discussed the need for a plate rolling–specific training course. The consensus was to establish a subcommittee comprised of Eric Thokar of Danieli, Dan Elwood, Charlie Romberger of ArcelorMittal, and Rich Smith. Their directive is to establish a 3- to 4-hour curriculum that is not covered in the Hot Rolling Fundamentals Course, yet can be given as a breakout session or as an extension at the course. Some of the subjects could be heat treating, leveling and shears. Charlie Romberger is heading up the push to update the Plate Mill Roundup with the assistance of Eric Thokar. Dave Bennett presented a plaque to Rich Smith for his dedicated leadership as PRTC chair this past year. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8–9, 2010, at EVRAZ Oregon Steel Mill.
The Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC) met in Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 24–25. Committee chair Rich Smith of ArcelorMittal Coatesville welcomed the attendees. The attendees introduced themselves and gave a brief update about themselves and their companies. Miles Brittain of Evraz Oregon Steel Mills Inc. volunteered to take the meeting minutes. The AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines were read and agreed upon. The 2009 Steel Mill Fatality Report was distributed and reviewed for the 2009 fatalities to date. It was noted that 2009 has seen a decline compared to 2008. Each of the producing mills summarized their respective safety programs that are in place to improve safety performance. A list of the abstracts for AISTech 2010 was reviewed by the papers chair, Dave Bennett of Evraz Oregon Steel Mills Inc., with recommendations. After discussion it was recommended that a joint session be sought with the Metallurgy — Process, Products & Application Technology Committee. The PRTC will sponsor a half-day session on Tuesday and will include a review of plate rolling history at the Coatesville facility in honor of their 200th anniversary. A significant amount of discussion occurred on the nature and extent of the benchmarking program. A subcommittee was formed to evaluate the latest technical roundup information, along with a rough outline that currently exists. Charlie Romberger of ArcelorMittal R&D will chair the subcommittee, along with Larry Charbonneau of George Kelk Corp., Eric Thokar of Danieli Corp., Mr. Smith of ArcelorMittal Coatesville, and Dan Elwood of ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor. Once a draft is reviewed, it will be distributed to the other producers for review. Drew Poshard of SSAB North America – Mobile gave a comprehensive presentation on a reheat furnace rebuild project at the SSAB Mobile plant that was completed in 2007. Mr. Brittain summarized a productivity upgrade at the Evraz Oregon Steel heat treat line completed in 2008. The nature and extent of a plate-specific training seminar and whether it should stand alone or be integrated into the Hot Rolling Fundamentals Seminar was discussed. It was determined that it is too late to attempt to integrate into the early 2010 session; however, it may be possible, depending on attendance, to schedule another one in 2011. The chair expressed his appreciation to the personnel of Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa for their efforts in arranging and conducting a tour of their facility in conjunction with the PRTC meeting. The next PRTC meeting is scheduled for the week of Feb. 22, 2010, at Evraz Oregon Steel – Portland.
The Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC) met on Tuesday, May 5 at AISTech 2009 in St. Louis, Mo. Robert Cousins of Nu-Iron Trinidad welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked the attendees to introduce themselves. Stuart Hardcastle of Hatch agreed to take the meeting minutes. The minutes from the previous meeting on March 3–4, 2009, in Brighton, Mich., were reviewed and approved. The following officers were voted in for the 2009–2010 term: Richard Smith of ArcelorMittal as chair, Miles Brittain of Evraz Oregon Steel as vice chair, and David Bennett Sr. of Evraz Oregon Steel as papers chair. The committee presented Mr. Smith with the Norman D. Hodgson Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the industry and the PRTC. The mission statement was reviewed and approved as written: “To promote advancement in safe plate rolling and quality practices, operating technologies and processing through information exchange.” The committee agreed that a Plate Mill Roundup should be pursued to gather data regarding North American plate mills. The roundup would allow opportunities for part sharing/sourcing and exchanges of operational issues/upgrades. Mr. Cousins was presented with a plaque to recognize his service as outgoing PRTC chair. It was agreed that the next PRTC meeting will be held at Evraz Oregon Steel in the fall. Depending on the economy and resulting responses for attendance at this meeting, Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa will be considered as a possible second choice. Discussions will focus on reheat technology regarding reheat furnace upgrades at Oregon and Alabama.
The Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC) met March 3 in Brighton, Mich. Charlie Bender of NSK Corp. welcomed everyone attending the meeting, as well as those calling in, and thanked them for participating. The AIST Antitrust Guidelines were reviewed, and the AISTech 2009 PRTC sessions were then discussed. The PRTC will be sponsoring two sessions at AISTech 2009, with eight technical presentations on Tuesday, May 5. The paper order and session chairs were reviewed and adjusted as needed. The session chairs were encouraged to contact the authors within their sessions and discuss with them their responsibilities and upcoming deadlines for participation. The PRTC topic for the AISTech 2010 Call for Papers was reviewed and updated. The consensus was to have a session on reheat furnaces at AISTech 2010, since both Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa and Evraz Oregon Steel Mills recently completed the installation of reheat furnaces at their facilities. The PRTC thanks Allor Manufacturing for allowing them to tour their facility on March 4. The next PRTC meeting will be held May 5 during AISTech 2009 in St. Louis, Mo.
The Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC) met Sept. 16–17 in Suffolk, Va. The committee chair, Robert Cousins of Nucor Steel–Hertford County, hosted the meeting and opened it by thanking everyone for attending. Tony Gamboni of Nucor volunteered to take the meeting minutes. The attendees were asked to introduce themselves. The committee selected abstracts for AISTech 2009. The abstracts were organized into two sessions: one on Tuesday morning and the other Tuesday afternoon. The session titles and session chairs were also selected. The session chair responsibilities were reviewed. The PRTC will also hold a committee meeting on Tuesday during AISTech 2009. Mr. Cousins was given the task of proposing the plate mill benchmarking format. Then each attendee gave a summary of their safety status and programs. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 10–11, 2009, and will be hosted by Evraz Oregon Steel Mill in Portland, Ore.
The Plate Rolling Operating Committee (PROC) met at AISTech 2008 on May 6. The committee chair, Drew Poshard of IPSCO Steel–Mobile, welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for their time and participation. Mr. Poshard asked everyone to introduce themselves, and then discussed the plan for integrating the AISI and AIST committees. The PROC was renamed the Plate Rolling Technology Committee (PRTC). The committee was reminded to nominate candidates for the Norm Hodgson Award, which was established to recognize outstanding contributions and/or enhancements to plate production and is presented every other year. The election of officers took place, with Robert Cousins of Nucor Steel–Hertford County being elected as chair, Rich Smith of ArcelorMittal as vice chair, and Miles Brittain of Evraz Oregon Steel–Portland as papers chair. The committee then revised their mission statement to read, “To promote advancement in safe plate rolling and quality practices, operating technologies and processing through information exchange.” The benchmarking questionnaire is nearly complete; Mr. Cousins will take the lead to finalize it. Charlie Romberger of ArcelorMittal presented Mr. Poshard with a plaque for his exceptional service and dedication as committee chair for 2007–2008. The next PRTC meeting is scheduled for Sept. 16–17, 2008, and will be hosted by the ArcelorMittal Coatesville/Conchohocken plants. Two full days are being scheduled, with round table discussions, a plant tour and supplier presentations planned. Visit www.aist.org for the most up-to-date details.
