Today, we had an industrial visit to Wugang, a steel mill in Wuhan. (:

It is the third largest steel factory in China.

I remember learning about the manufacture of steel in Engineering Materials during Semester 1. Well, Mr Lim Choon Boo had actually explained to us the processes involved in manufacturing steel. However, it was hard for us to visualize how the processes actually are unless we see it for ourselves as we do learn better and grasp things faster if it is more hands-on.

 I managed to do that today. (:

Start of the tour around the factory:

Vehicles had to stop in order to allow the cargo to pass through.

This is an efficient and effective way to transport materials to the factory or transport the steel which have been manufactured from one factory to another.

It helps to save time and more things can actually be transported at one time.

This is the factory which we went to.

It is where the raw materials of iron ores, coal and limestone go through certain processes so as to manufacture steel. It is quite a pity that we were not allowed to take photos of the processes. This is because it is to avoid any leakage of information of the company's processes to outsiders.

During the tour inside the factory, there was only one person at the front who showed us through. Therefore, at the back, we did not really know what was going on in the processes as all we could do was just to look, obeserve and analyze. However, our dear lecturer, Mr Wong, explained to us the entire process when we got back from the industrial visit. (:

And so the manufacturing of steel works this way..

1. The raw materials are added into the furnace to produce molten iron at 2000 degrees celsius.

2. It is then moulded into a rectangular block at 800 to 900 degrees celsius.

3. The iron block is pressed to a certain width (1.7m) and thickness (350mm).

4. It is being washed with water because there are some lubricants on the rollers and thus, the impurities are removed.

5. It is then quenched repeatedly so as to cool it down.

6. The steel is then rolled and the process is completed.

Mr Wong also told us that the company is proud to be able to produce their own steel. This is because what if in the future, other countries decided to stop selling their products to China? This comes back to the issue of being dependent on other countries which I have mentioned previously. Therefore, it is important for them to come up with their own products and depend on themselves. This also applies to Singapore, in which we are a country with few natural resources but we have to maximise the use with the pool of resources that we have.

Many countries, including Singapore, are working hand-in-hand with China because they are currently expanding in many areas and aspects. This would actually help the individual countries create more opportunities and build good relationship. That is one of the reasons why we are having this Overseas Immersion Programme in China, I suppose. (:

A group photo at the end of the tour.

An even larger group photo with the LSCT and ECE students. (: