The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) proudly announced the 2012 Gold, Silver and Bronze Reliability Achievement Awards on 23 October 2012.

The AIST Reliability Achievement Award was established in 1998 by the AIST Maintenance & Reliability Technology Committee to recognize iron and steel producing companies for reliability improvements and achievements that can be demonstrated as unique or first in the industry. This award recognizes organizations and the individuals within them that have developed, applied and proved a new practice, policy or procedure that significantly improves iron- and steelmaking reliability in North America. The award is given on three levels — gold, silver and bronze. Award finalists will be invited to present papers on their achievements at an AIST conference.

The 2012 AIST Reliability Achievement Gold Award recipient is Severstal Dearborn’s Iron Producing Division, Dearborn, Mich., for an application entitled: "A Practical Engineering Approach to Improving the Reliability of Blast Furnace Tuyeres." The program’s successful implementation resulted in 96% reduction in production tonnage lost due to tuyere failures (1,290 tons/month in 2010 to 66 tons/month in 2011). The project was submitted by Charles Copeland and Stuart Street, both from Severstal Dearborn’s ironmaking technology group.

"This project was a great example of teamwork, and why practical engineering is still an effective tool for improving reliability," commented Street. "Our team developed considerable skills throughout the process, and are looking forward to the challenge of applying them on other projects. We appreciate the honor that AIST has awarded our team, and look forward to sharing our experience with our industry peers in the near future."

The 2012 AIST Reliability Achievement Silver Award recipient is ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor’s Hot Strip Mill, East Chicago, Ind., USA, for an application entitled: "PRSB Descale System Redesign and Reliability Improvement Project." Upon completion of the project, delays were reduced 94% on average for 2011, approximately US$500,000 reduction in energy costs were achieved, and overall continuing average annual savings of US$1 million were realized. This project was submitted by Jason Vicari, senior maintenance engineer.

The 2012 AIST Reliability Achievement Bronze Award recipient is Nucor Steel – Berkeley’s Caster Maintenance Group, Huger, S.C., USA, for an application entitled: "Development of New Continuous Caster Segment Bearing Technology." The program resulted in fewer catastrophic failures, thereby increasing the reliability of the caster segment components. This project was submitted by Glenn Aker, caster mechanical technician — continual improvement.

More information on the awards will be published in an upcoming issue of Iron & Steel Technology and will be available on AIST.org.