In 2020, in the face of multiple pressures such as war epidemic, flood prevention, raw fuel restriction as well as key project construction and environmental problems remediation and pinning, the Ironmaking General Plant ensured the stable and efficient smooth operation of the blast furnace for a long period by implementing new concepts of operation, benchmarking to find differences and improve indicators, and technical innovation to increase efficiency. While harvesting the best output of 186,000 tons of iron overproduction, the cost reduction achievement also hit a record high: the annual cost reduction of 1,808.1 million yuan was achieved, which is 348.1 million yuan more than that of 2019.
The achievement was not easy to achieve, how did this general plant do?
This main plant keeps an eye on the target of 14.4 million tons of annual iron production plan issued by the company, takes the problem as a guide, actively changes its thinking, implements new methods of operation, and achieves remarkable results. In response to the lack of airflow in the center of No.3 blast furnace, the situation of high fuel ratio and high consumption has been delayed, the plant actively referred to the operation and management methods of advanced blast furnaces in China, and took advantage of the strengths and weaknesses to determine the operation direction of “control the edge and release the center”, which led to the utilization factor of No.3 blast furnace for five consecutive months from August to December from 3.1t/m3-d to 3.2t/m3-d. m3-d for five consecutive months from August to December, and the utilization factor was close to 3.2t/m3-d, with a record high of nearly 3,200 tons per day; the operating fuel ratio gradually dropped from 540kg/t to less than 500kg/t, which was the lowest level in history. At the same time, the monthly economic benefits exceeded 7 million yuan.
Find the difference to improve the index
The head office closely focuses on the target task of cost reduction of tons of iron issued by the company, and effectively combines the benchmarking work with the key work of the head office to continuously make up the “short board” and strengthen the internal strength. On the one hand, it establishes and perfects the index system and action plan for benchmarking and finding out the differences, and focuses the development of benchmarking and finding out the differences on high quality and green development, reflecting the lean and efficient production of blast furnace system, essential safety and personnel quality improvement. On the other hand, the 168 indicators sorted out are decomposed and implemented to the people, and the responsibility is assigned to each person, so as to improve the relevance, operability and effectiveness of the benchmarking work. Through comprehensive benchmarking, the total cost of iron in the plant is 54.84 yuan per ton of iron lower than the industry average, laying a solid foundation for a record high in cost reduction.
Technical innovation to increase efficiency
The General Plant has deployed its best and brightest to form a technical research team to increase the technical research, technical transformation and technical innovation of the production process of the blast furnace system, and to promote the digitalization, standardization and intelligence of iron-making production. Last year, the plant continued to promote more than 140 transformation projects, such as the blast furnace to achieve long-cycle stability and improve the technical research of blast furnace index, while strictly following the plan, plan and deployment of “green development and intelligent manufacturing”, actively and steadily promoting the remote control transformation of the mud cannon of the hydraulic system in front of the furnace, the elimination and renewal of outdated transformers, etc. The technical transformation and technological innovation projects have provided strong technical support for the record high cost reduction achievements.
This year, the iron-making plant will continue to find the difference against the standard, optimize the raw fuel and improve the blast furnace capacity, while striving to achieve new breakthroughs in cost reduction and efficiency, and help MISCO’s high quality development.