Chapter Visit to USS-POSCO Industries, January 25, 2007
In one of the most successful Chapter events in recent years, a visit to the USS-POSCO steel rolling mill in Pittsburg, CA was held on January 25, 2007. Special thanks to Chapter President Tony Meadow for arranging the visit, and to UPI staff members Rod Simpson and Jim Carthew for a fascinating tour of this state-of-the-art plant!
We were scared about the traffic (rightly so!) in the area, so arranged to meet before the plant tour at the Pittsburg Historical Society. They had dug into their archives and had a lot of material about the plant, and other industries available for our members and friends to view. The town of Pittsburg hasn't, yet, been as completely developed as some of the communities in the area, so has a delightful, quaint downtown (Old Town) along Railroad Avenue leading to the waterfront. Worth a stroll if you're ever in the area! The Museum is in a building that was built in 1926 by Coast County Gas & Electric, then later became home of the Pittsburg's Post-Dispatch. There are other buildings along Railroad Avenue with lovely terracotta work, including the California Theater. Hopefully, some other members took pictures (HINT!).
We got to tour the eclectic Museum on our own, then had a talk by Don Carpenello on the rich industrial history of the area. This set the scene quite well for the short drive over to the UPI site.
It took a while for the caravan to get all signed in, but we eventually made our way to the plant offices. Rod and Jim gave us an introduction to the history of the site and the current production there. Of particular note were some old ink on linen engineering drawings from previous products built at the site. These completely captivated us! Later, Jim furnished images of some of them.
The site has a rich history. (It's interesting that one of the drawings from Jim dates to 1902, some eight years BEFORE the plant was initially established at the site.)
This is a steel finishing mill. Coils of steel come into the plant via ship from Korea. One interesting aspect is the efforts made to control air pollution from the ships by employing advanced catalytic converter technology as they near the Coast and proceed to the plant. The plant keeps about a 30 day supply of coiled steel. The plant is highly automated and operates continuously 24x7. As the next coil is processed, it is welded on to the end of the previous coil, so the ribbon of steel is continuous. A the end of the rolling mill, automated machinery cuts off the ribbon to the desired length as it is put into another coil. Much of the production is used for sheet metal for buildings (air ducts, etc.) so is hot dipped galvanized. Other production is destined for tin cans, so is plated at the plant. Alas, company rules prevented taking pictures at the plant, so you'll just have to use your imagination.
Several of us proceeded over to Humphrey's, a restaurant on the Antioch waterfront named after the wayward whale that made it's way into th Delta some years ago for a lively meal.
Thanks to all for what was a wonderful kickoff to 2007!