By way of
introduction, I was the Manager of lronmaking at the
former Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point facility from
1988 until 2000, and then Manager of all Primary Production
from 2000 until the sale of Bethlehem's assets in mid
2003. When I arrived at Sparrows Point in January 1988,
I found the equipment to be in very poor condition,
and at the same time, the steel market was very strong
necessitating maximum production. It was quite a dilemma.
Our internal forces just weren't sufficient in numbers
to make all of the repairs needed, and in condensed
maintenance outages. Obviously, we needed help. With
the passing of years, I cannot precisely recall exactly
how I became introduced to AS&L, and you, but,
thankfully, it happened. Our first project was the
Sinter Plant, a facility well known for literally consuming
itself. You provided the skilled tradesmen, and Bethlehem
provided the downtime, the plan, and the money. Well,
we were successful beyond all expectations. Within
less than 2 years this operation was producing, not
at a record pace for itself, but at world-class standards.
I guess you could say that we never looked back, only
forward, and AS&L became our supplier of choice
for maintenance services. It wasn't just in the routine
planned work that AS&L excelled, but more importantly,
in those emergencies, which always seem to happen at
the worst possible time. It was over a Thanksgiving
holiday that we had one of our greatest challenges.
A main gearbox failed, 200 feet in the air and on top
of the blast furnace, and which had never before been
changed except during a full blast furnace reline.
To make matters worse, our spare was in York, Pa, and
we had no equipment anywhere in Maryland capable of
lifting the very large failed gearbox from the furnace
top, nor the spare into place. Because Sparrows Point
had only a single blast furnace, the entire primary
side of the steel plant was stopped, so there was considerable
pressure for a repair, and yesterday! No question you
had to be very innovative as you completed the repair,
and the furnace was restored to operation. It was significant
that you could even acquire the necessary manpower
during the holiday festivities. The best thing about
AS&L is that, no matter the problem, you always
maintain a positive outlook, and there were just no
surprises, always a big deal when one deals with contractors.
That does not mean that we did not run into unforeseen
obstacles, but we always worked thru them together,
in real time, not some time later with a surprise bill
for extras. If you ever have a potential customer who
is considering retaining AS&L for a repair, and
would like some further confirmation, you have my number.
Have them give me a call. I would be most happy to
speak to them.
Frederick C. Rorick
President, RORICK INC Global Consulting
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