The Taean Heavy Machine Complex boosts production by encouraging mass technical innovation drive.

“We’ve considered the mass technical innovation campaign as the key factor in increased production and technical upgrading and dynamically push forward with it,” said So Sung Gwan, deputy chief engineer of the complex.

The complex converted lots of data on machining into e-files and multimedia presentations and added them to its database so that all materials technicians, skilled workers and other employees need for learning latest science and technology are available at the sci-tech learning space at any time.

It also encourages employees to enrol at the study-while-you-work system including the online education faculty of Kim Chaek University of Technology and Taean College of Technology in order to solve scientific and technological problems arising in workplaces.

According to Kwak Myong Ho, senior staffer of the technical development department, with the mass technical innovation drive gaining momentum, many employees were trained to become highly skilled workers, technical skills and qualifications of others improved and lots of scientific and technical problems needed for the production of custom-built equipment resolved.

For example, its technicians established a melting method in three-phase arc electric furnace for strong deoxidation and desulphurization. By applying this method, the complex shortened the melting time of electric furnace to lower electricity consumption per ton of molten iron and raise the melting efficiency of metal charge, while cutting down the content of sulphur and consumption of ferromanganese, ferrosilicon and aluminium. It also reduced the processing time of large gear from over 30 days to seven with over 70 percent less manpower, while increasing the serviceable life of machine 10 times, and shortened the cast-steel casting production cycle from 25 to three days.

Workteam leader Kim Sung Chol also came up with a plan for remodelling the power unit for the 16m turning lathe.

In the past, the device needed repair more than two times a month. But thanks to his technical innovation, it has been operated in good order showing no signs of imperfection this year.

Other valuable technical innovation plans include the automatic welding method of large equipment, which enables it to increase the speed and improve the quality of welding by carrying out build-up welding of bulky equipment in cylindrical and linear parts by way of automatic welding, and the automatic temperature control method in the 14m vertical heat treating furnace based on SSR, which automatically controls the heat treatment of machine parts.