This investigation is being made in an effort to determine the probable effects on the Southwest of the basing-point changes recently instigated as a result of the Federal Trade Commission rulings.

關怡淸. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院歷史學部. / Reprint of manuscript. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 341-499). / Zhou Yiqing. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan li shi xue bu. / Chapter 第一章 --- 緒言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 東周兩漢鐵器出土遺址與冶鐵遺址之地理分佈 --- p.7 / Chapter 一 --- 東周兩漢鐵器出土遺址之地理分佈 --- p.7 / Chapter 二 --- 戰國兩漢冶鐵遺址之地理分佈 --- p.13 / Chapter 第三章 --- 東周兩漢鐵器應用之演變 --- p.33 / Chapter 一 --- 東周兩漢鐵器種類與形制之演變 --- p.34 / Chapter (一) --- 農具 --- p.37 / Chapter (二) --- 其他工具 --- p.67 / Chapter (三) --- 武器 --- p.92 / Chapter (四) --- 生活用器 --- p.132 / Chapter (五) --- 車馬器 --- p.157 / Chapter (六) --- 機械構件 --- p.161 / Chapter (七) --- 刑具 --- p.164 / Chapter (八) --- 雜具 --- p.167 / Chapter 二 --- 東周兩漢銅鐵器消長之概況 --- p.184 / Chapter (一) --- 東周 --- p.185 / Chapter (二) --- 兩漢 --- p.194 / Chapter 三 --- 小結 --- p.209 / Chapter 第四章 --- 東周兩漢鋼鐵冶煉技術之發展 --- p.224 / Chapter 一 --- 冶鐵遺址、遺物所見東周兩漢冶鐵技術水平 --- p.233 / Chapter 二 --- 東周兩漢鐵器之科學考查 --- p.272 / Chapter 三 --- 東周兩漢鋼鐵冶煉技術綜論 --- p.283 / Chapter (一) --- 中國古代鍛鐵、鑄鐵技術出現先後之探討 --- p.283 / Chapter (二) --- 鑄鐵技術之發展 --- p.289 / Chapter (三) --- 鍛鐵技術之發展 --- p.308 / Chapter (四) --- 鋼鐵熱處理工藝之發展 --- p.311 / Chapter 四 --- 小結 --- p.320 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結語 --- p.327 / 引徵及參考書目 --- p.341 / 地圖一至五 / 圖1至160 / 表一至九 / (以上見附錄)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1987. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-157).

No description available.

M. Tech. (Department of Logistics, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / This study examines the influence of lean supply chain management (LSCM) on supply chain competitiveness in the steel industry in Gauteng, South Africa. The industry suffered a huge blow when imported steel took over the market and collapsed big players within the industry in South Africa.A range of problems hit the market hard, leaving companies applying for section 189 of the labour law to reduce overheads and restructure their organisations. It is evident that organisations need to change their way of thinking,heighten their supply chain strategies and adopt international standards like lean supply chain management practices to become competitive in a broader spectrum. Using a data set of 265 supply chain professionals drawn from the steel manufacturing industry in Gauteng, results showed the importance of proper implementation of LSCM woulddirectly influence SCC, leading to improved organisational performance. The collected quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 27.0) statistical software.Techniques such as correlations and regressions were used to test the hypotheses.The results of the study showed that four lean practices, namely Just in Time, Total Quality Management, Strategic Partnership and Waste Elimination all predictthe establishment of a lean culture. However, Human Resource Management was statistically insignificant. The results further showed that Lean culture predicts the competitiveness of the steel supply chain. Thererefore, an emphasis on lean supply chain management in the steel industry is anessential contributor to its success.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The 2008/2009 economic downturn had a major impact on the international steel industry. With economic activities declining, the demand for steel decreased and subsequently, prices started to tumble. This put a great deal of pressure on steel manufacturing companies’ financials and they had to focus on cost reduction initiatives to survive. Steel companies who did not follow a turnaround strategy were not able to keep up with the competition. This research study focused on determining the details pertaining to the ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works turnaround strategy, as it is viewed as one of the most successful in the steel industry. Data was obtained from discussions with various role players and managers at ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works. The aim of the interviews was to get the detail of all the steps taken by the company to turn around its performance. Quantitative data describing the operational as well as financial and cost performance was sourced from the ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system and from financial statements and progress reports. It was found that the basis for the turnaround strategy of ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works was World Class Manufacturing as it provided the vehicles through which improvements were managed with the aid of mainly the Autonomous Maintenance (AM), Professional Maintenance(PM), People Development (PD), Focused Improvement (FI), Product Quality (PQ) and Safety Pillars. The Cost Deployment (CD) Pillar was used to identify the biggest losses that needed to be addressed. ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works moved from one of the highest-cost producers in the ArcelorMittal group during 2010 to the second-lowest-cost producer in the group at the end of 2013. It reduced its total cost of production with $70 per ton over this period, without any major capital expenditure. The study concluded that the turnaround of ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works was successful and it is sustainable. This can be seen from the increase in the overall equipment availability, amount of hot-rolled coil tons produced, as well as the EBITDA figures reported in the study.

M. Tech. (Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The main purpose of the study was to examine the level of job satisfaction and intention to quit, by employees in a steel manufacturing company. The research methodology used to conduct the study was a combination of a literature review and an empirical study. Due to the small size of the population, no sampling was done although a census had been drawn. The primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The measuring instrument contained 25 items. For the main survey, data from 181 respondents were collected and analysed. Participants in the study involved engineers, operators, technicians, artisans, administrative staff and safety, health and environmental specialists in the steel manufacturing company. Data were analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the measuring instrument were computed to establish construct validity. Content validity of the scale was ascertained by pre-testing the questionnaire with employees in the steel manufacturing company. Factor analysis was conducted for variables in Section B of the research instrument. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics on the demographic information of respondents. The results were also interpreted through the factor analysis and correlation analysis. The findings regarding employee’s perceptions or feelings about job satisfaction and employees’ intentions to quit their current organisation revealed that the supervision variable is positively correlated with job variable while it is negatively correlated with intention to quit. In addition, job variable is also negatively correlated with intention to quit. This means that effective supervisors are likely to improve employees’ job satisfaction hence decrease their intentions to quit their current organisation and vise versa. In addition, when employees are satisfied with their job environment, this will decrease their intentions to quit their current organisation and vise versa. Judging from the results from respondents, it is clear that when employees are provided with a job that rewards them for their effort and provides opportunities for advancement, they will be satisfied and therefore more likely to stay in the organisation. Hence, the employees at Babcock Ntuthuko Generations are satisfied and they are not intending to leave the organisation. The research information collected through this study can be used to encourage Babcock Ntuthuko management to continue providing employees with a conducive working enviroment to ensure that current and new employees are retained.

M. Tech. (Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Workplace health and safety is a global concern. South African companies are bound by the stipulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) (85 of 1993), which regulates employer and employee duties to identify and eliminate hazards, thereby controlling and minimising the risk to health and safety within the working environment. Employees are regarded as the strength of ArcelorMittal. The on-board programme of this employer is designed specifically to support the integration of new employees into ArcelorMittal’s environment and enable them to maximise their contribution to the performance of their team, implementation of a business plan and strategy and realisation of the group’s objectives. This study investigates the perceptions that ArcelorMittal (Vanderbijlpark) employees uphold regarding the effectiveness of the health and safety induction they received. The iron division was identified purposefully for selection of the target population because of its high rate of health and safety incidents. Simple random sampling was used within a quantitative research design to select 317 respondents out of 634 employees. Accordingly, questionnaires were distributed within the demarcated division and a total of 160 questionnaires were completed and returned. The collected data were statistically analysed and presented. The results indicated that the majority of employees perceive the health and safety induction they received to be effective. Respondents also indicated that ArcelorMittal was effective in providing them with the support they need towards their health and safety. Hence, it is recommended that the zero tolerance approach towards safety hazards be reinforced on a continuous basis within the work context of this leading steel manufacturer.

With the current trend of CO2 mitigation in process industries, the primary goal of this thesis is to promote biomass as an energy and reduction agent source to substitute fossil sources in the steel industry. The criteria for this substitution are that the steel process retains the same function and the integrated energy efficiency is as high as possible. This work focuses on advanced gasification of biomass and waste for substitution of fossil fuels in steel industry heat treatment furnaces. To achieve this, two approaches are included in this work. The first investigates the gasification performance of pretreated biomass and waste experimentally using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and a pilot plant gasifier. The second assesses the integration of the advanced gasification system with a steel heat treatment furnace. First, the pyrolysis and char gasification characteristics of several pretreated biomass and waste types (unpretreated biomass, steam-exploded biomass, and hydrothermal carbonized biomass) were analyzed with TGA. The important aspects of pyrolysis and char gasification of pretreated biomass were identified. Then, with the objective of studying the gasification performance of pretreated biomass, unpretreated biomass pellets (gray pellets), steam-exploded biomass pellets (black pellets), and two types of hydrothermal carbonized biomass pellets (spent grain biocoal and horse manure biocoal) were gasified in a fixed bed updraft gasifier with high-temperature air/steam as the gasifying agent. The gasification performance was analyzed in terms of syngas composition, lower heating value (LHV), gas yield, cold gas efficiency (CGE), tar content and composition, and particle content and size distribution. Moreover, the effects on the reactions occurring in the gasifier were identified with the aid of temperature profiles and gas ratios. Further, the interaction between fuel residence time in the bed (bed height), conversion, conversion rate/specific gasification rate, and superficial velocity (hearth load) was revealed. Due to the effect of bed height on the gasification performance, the bed pressure drop is an important parameter related to the operation of a fixed bed gasifier. Considering the limited studies on this relationship, an available pressure drop prediction correlation for turbulent flow in a bed with cylindrical pellets was extended to a gasifier bed with shrinking cylindrical pellets under any flow condition. Moreover, simplified graphical representations based on the developed correlation, which could be used as an effective guide for selecting a suitable pellet size and designing a grate, were introduced. Then, with the identified positive effects of pretreated biomass on the gasification performance, the possibility of fuel switching in a steel industry heat treatment furnace was evaluated by effective integration with a multi-stage gasification system. The performance was evaluated in terms of gasifier system efficiency, furnace efficiency, and overall system efficiency with various heat integration options. The heat integration performance was identified based on pinch analysis. Finally, the efficiency of the co-production of bio-coke and bio-H2 was analyzed to increase the added value of the whole process. It was found that 1) the steam gasification of pretreated biomass is more beneficial in terms of the energy value of the syngas, 2) diluting the gasifying agent and/or lowering the agent temperature compensates for the ash slagging problem in biocoal gasification, 3) the furnace efficiency can be improved by switching the fuel from natural gas (NG) to syngas, 4) the gasifier system efficiency can be improved by recovering the furnace flue gas heat for the pretreatment, and 5) the co-production of bio-coke and bio-H2 significantly improves the system efficiency. / <p>QC 20160825</p>

M.Ing. / Columbus Stainless, a subsidiary of Acerinox, manufactures stainless steel in their plant located in Middelburg, South Africa. During the hot rolling operation the steel is rolled on a 4-high finishing mill where strip movement perpendicular to the rolling direction occurs. This movement is undesirable because it causes inferior product quality and may also lead to downtime if the strip moves past the edge of the rolls. In the past the operator made adjustments to the relative alignment of the rolls in the mill in an attempt to limit the sideways movement of the strip. In order to improve product quality and production throughput, the manual action of adjusting the parallelism of the rolls was replaced with an automatic steering control system. Analysis of the process revealed that several variables have an impact on the way the strip reacts to changes in the alignment of rolls in the mill. An adaptive fuzzy logic control system was designed and implemented in the real time control system of the mill. During commissioning the system did not have an adverse effect on production and all initial project criteria were met, as was stipulated in Section 1.4 of this document. The control system improved the strip movement by an average of 11% on various products rolled. Based on production data, the system potentially prevented two coils from leaving the rolls during the month long evaluation period and saved 40 minutes of production time. If the savings in material losses and the potential gain in production time are added the possible anticipated monetary saving is estimated to be about 24 million Rand a year.