A new facility opened on our Scunthorpe site at the end of last year is helping lower our costs, improve our service offering to customers and enabling us to adopt state-of-the-art measurement techniques.
The Heraeus Electro-Nite (HEN) Service Hub is where the team responsible for the measurement, analysis and control of our molten metal will be based.
HEN is a supplier of sensors used throughout our steel plant for the online measurement and analysis of molten steel. Works Manager Steelmaking Chris Vaughan said: “As well as lowering our cost base and improving our service, this new arrangement means we’ll be able to accelerate the adoption of innovative measurement techniques like the ‘QuiK Spec’ system at the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) Plant, ‘CoreTemp’ at the Ladle Arc Furnace and ‘CasTemp Superheat’ at Concast.”
The CoreTemp measurement technique is a world first. Using a fibre optic cable rather than a dip check means we receive an accurate temperature reading every 20 seconds. It will reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency.
This total-cost-of-ownership approach sees HEN take responsibility for the complete molten metal measurement systems at the iron works, iron de-sulph, BOS Plant, secondary steelmaking and Concast. Senior Sourcing Lead Sara Fletcher said: “The new contract includes a commitment to upgrade the plant instrumentation, which will be rolled out over the next 3 years and see us adopt innovative wireless technology.”
The hub is based outside the BOS Plant offices and provides workshop, meeting and office facilities for the HEN service and development teams. It’s all part of a new service contract, which started in October 2017 and will be manned by a team of service technicians based permanently on site, providing cover 365 days a year.
Mark Lee, Managing Director HEN, said: “It’s a great honour to be awarded such an important contract. I believe this approach will enable both companies to work together and pursue our mutual goal of making British Steel a sustainable, long-term success – a world leader.”