The 11th CSM Steel Congress was successfully held in Beijing on Nov. 21-22, 2017. The CSM Steel Congress, a biennial academic conference on metallurgy and material science, hosted by Chinese Society for Metals (CSM) every two years and it has been successfully held for 10 times over the 20 years. The theme of this congress is “Making Steel in Green and Intelligent Way”. More than 1500 experts, scholars, managers and technicians in the field of metallurgy and material science from China and abroad participated the congress.

The following reports have been presented at the plenary session:

1, Applications and Prospects of “Big Data, Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Mobile Internet” in China’s Industrial and Economic Development

Mr. Hequan WU, Deputy Leader of Expert Advisory Committee of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Collaborative Development, Former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

2, Changes in the Global Steel Industry and Challenges to Overcome on the Way to Long-Term Sustainability

Mr. Edwin Basson, Director General of World Steel Association

3, Environmental Protection Measures and Prospects of Japanese Steel Industry

Mr. Kenji TAKAHASHI, Representative Director and Executive Vice President of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation

4, China’s Economic Transformation and Structural Reform

Mr. Bin YU, Member of Leading Party Group and Director of the General Office, Development Research Center of the State Council

5, A Prospects of Progressive Technology of Steelmaking & Ironmaking Industry in Korea

Mr. Dong Joon MIN, President of Korea Institute of Metals and Materials, Professor of School of Materials Science & Engineering, Yonsei University

6, METAL 4.0-Learning of Big River Steel for Future Smart Steel Plant

Mr. Klaus Pronold, Vice President of SMS group E&A

Dr. Yong GAN, president of CSM, gave the opening speech of the conference at the plenary session. He expressed his heartfelt thanks and highest respect on behalf of The Chinese Society for Metals to all the leaders and friends from all areas that have gave continuous support to the development of Chinese steel industry. The theme of this conference is quite in line with the current green and intelligent development of the steel industry. He summarized the achievements made by the steel industry in China, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, historic changes have been made in deepening the supply-side structural reforms, scaling down overcapacity and accelerating transformation and upgrading. The report of the 19th CPC National Congress pointed out: Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradictions faced by the steel industry have also been transformed into the incompatibility between the industrial structure and market competition requirements, and the inadaptation between green development with the ecological environment. 

To provide strong support and protection to the strategic objectives of new era, we shall focus on the goal of building a strong country, and aim to improve the quality of the supply system as the main direction and take green and low carbon and environmental protection as our primary responsibility. Meanwhile, we will speed up the conversion of old and new kinetic energy, make efforts to resolve overcapacity, and strive to build a well-structured, technologically advanced, service-oriented and environment-friendly steel industry. 

During this special occasion, on behalf of The Chinese Society for Metals (CSM), Dr. Yong GAN issues the certificates of CSM Fellow Award to Dr. Hwan-Tang TSAI from ArcelorMittal, USA and Prof. Wei-Kao LU from McMaster University, Canada. This is the first time that CSM granted the Fellow Award. 

In the lecture entitled “Enterprise information and industry Internet” presented by Dr. Hequan WU from Chinese Academy of Engineering, based on the successful technical cases at home and abroad, it is showed that the rise of large data, intelligent, mobile Internet and cloud computing, and material networking help the enterprise informationization construction develop to the stage of industrial Internet. The industrial Internet is aimed at the wisdom factory, covering the entire industrial chain, whole life cycle and cross-enterprise application, realizing the two-depth fusion development. It is necessary for the industrial Internet to promote the digital transformation of enterprise to adapt to the process reengineering, the management innovation and technological innovation are always on the way.

Dr. Edwin BASSON from World Steel Association gave a lecture entitled “Long term sustainability in the global steel industry” and mentioned that modern steel industry is very efficient in energy use and material efficiency by constantly adjusting and adapting to new challenges. However, this is not sufficient enough to deal with the increasing challenge of the steel industry and its customers caused by the decline of steel intensity in use, circular economy concept and digital mode of production. These challenges have been recognized by the steel industry, and the competitiveness of steel products will be maintained and improved through continuously developing new technology and process.

The lecture entitled “Measures and prospects of environmental protection in the steel industry in Japan” presented by Mr. Kenji TAKAHASHI from NSSMC mainly introduces the business strategy of NSSMC, global warming problems and measures taken by NSSMC. In order to handle the problems of global warming, the Japanese government proposes the greenhouse gas emissions targets. In this situation, the project of COURSE50 has been implemented in Japanese steel industry, and the basic principles of environmental protection and plan of low-carbon society are also formulated.

A member of Leading Party Group and Director of the General Office, Development Research Center of the State Council, Mr. Yu Bin made a report entitled “Economic Transition and Structural Reform of China”. Chinese economy has transitioned from a period of fast growth into a period of high-quality development, and is now in the key stage of transforming its mode of development, optimizing its economic structure and transforming its growth momentum. The construction of a modern economic system is an urgent request to cross the threshold and the strategic goal of development.

In a report known as “Prospects of Korea’s Technological Advancements in Steel Industry”, Prof. Dong-Joon Min, who is the President of Korea Institute of Metals and Materials (KIM), has introduced Korea’s latest developments in steel technologies. According to his report, to overcome challenges like deterioration of raw materials, oversupply of steel materials, energy price fluctuations and environmental regulations, Korea has made a series of technological innovations such as environment-friendly steel-making (including scrap preheating, slag foaming and sensible heat recovery), dynamic refining technologies (including deoxidation limit, inclusion control and contamination control), high-manganese steel processing with high-performance and special functions.

In the report entitled “Metal 4.0-Learning of Big River Steel of the United States to Forecast the Future of Smart Steel Plants”, Mr. Pronold, who is the Vice President of SMS group E&A, introduced the application of Industry 4.0 in steel industry driven by big data cyber physical systems - including concepts, models and methods of Metal 4.0. Taking the Big River steel for example, he vividly presented the future prospects of smart steel plants from the perspective of quality, processes and products and so on.

This congress was formed by plenary session, parallel sessions and posters session. It received more than 1,400 papers altogether, having arranged 19 parallel technical sessions, including ironmaking and raw materials, steelmaking and continuous casting, rolling and heat treatment, metal coating technology, metal processing technology, steel materials, automotive steels, steels for marine engineering, bearing steels, electrical steels, powder metallurgy, amorphous alloys, high-temperature alloys, refractory materials, energy resources and environmental protection, metallurgical analysis and testing, metallurgical equipment and engineering technology, metallurgical automation and intelligent manufacturing, metallurgical technical economics. The 49 sessions and over 500 presentations were given, including 130 papers were presented by posters.

This congress was a magnificent academic conference held immediately after the 19^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The whole nation deeply learned the spirit of the 19^th National Congress and President Xi Jinping’s thoughts of socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era. In addition, Chinese steel industry is at a stage of transformation and upgrading from rapid growth to high-quality development. After extensive and in-depth exchanges and discussions during the congress, it will be of great importance for promoting vigorous development of Chinese steel industry and leading the world steel industry.

The Chinese Society for Metals

Photographed by Mei Song