Blast mud filling robot

According to the chief operator at No.2 blast furnace, in the past, the whole operation process was done manually, requiring 2-3 people to carry heavy objects back and forth in a high temperature environment of over 50 degrees, while paying attention to safety risks such as gas in filling operation. While currently, only one person needs to sit in front of the blower and blow the wind, and “supervise” the robot’s fully automatic operation.

“In recent years, the workshop has changed a lot, and everyone clearly feels that the working environment is improving.” The chief operator at No.2 blast furnace said that recently, workshop workers are debugging automatic temperature measurement and sampling equipment. After formal application, workers do not need to wear heavy flame-retardant clothing and protective masks to work in high temperature environment.

The change of a workshop is also the epitome of the development of the whole enterprise. Inside Baosteel, robots are also affectionately called “Baorobots”, which function as assistants and partners of the workers. In the past several years, Baosteel has actively implemented the “Ten Thousand Baorobots Plan” of Baowu Group, and vigorously promoted the “four musts” work of centralized operation rooms, robots for operation posts, remote operation and maintenance, and online services. With the newly-introduced robots, there are gradually fewer or even no human workers at production sites.

Through robots, which replace human workers for posts, there are gradually fewer or even no human workers at Baosteel’s production sites.

Of course, it is not easy to build a smart factory. In this process, Baosteel has achieved a series of technological breakthroughs: in 2018, Baoshan Base invested in steelmaking and continuous casting multifunctional robots, and realized the four-in-one continuous casting and steel pouring operation for the first time in China; In 2020, Qingshan Base launched the first sleeve robot, unbundling robot and laser engraving robot in China; In 2022, Dongshan Base implemented the automation transformation of thick plate sample processing and launched the world’s first intelligent thick plate sample processing system...

Behind these technological breakthroughs, a lot of time and money need to be invested. Therefore, in practice, it is very important to pay attention to which links should be transformed first. According to the relevant person in charge of the Baosteel Trade Union, in the steel industry, robots should first replace 3D jobs, which are Dangerous, Dusty and Difficult.

Up to now, more than 1,250 Baorobots have been put in use in production in Baosteel, and the changes at each point are gradually interconnected in series. More than 2,800 manual workers have been liberated from repetitive, heavy and harsh environment, and the essential safety has been promoted to achieve a qualitative leap.

Guided by the idea of promoting safe production, Baosteel also vigorously promotes the construction of urban steel mills to provide employees with a higher standard of healthy working environment. At present, the largest closed unmanned stockyard in China has been built, and more than 1,080 transport belts with a length of 160 kilometers are in closed reconstruction to reduce dust emissions in an all-round way. In addition, the enterprise has also established an integrated platform for emission management and control, and installed a large number of suspended particulate matter monitoring systems, volatile organic compounds monitoring systems and high-definition video systems, etc., so as to realize the integrated management and control of the whole emission process synchronized by “production-treatment-monitoring”.

“Now I can’t feel the dust in the air at all when walking in the factory.” The relevant person in charge of Baosteel said that the safety and health of employees are actually the wealth of enterprises. Nowadays, more and more employees have a better working environment so that they can put their energy into products and services with higher added value, which greatly improves labor efficiency and creates more value for the enterprise and society.