Iron and steel enterprises look forward to spring in winter

Today, the Chinese steel industry is facing severe challenges such as structural adjustments, development opportunities for transformation and upgrading, rising costs, slowing demand growth, and increasing pressure for energy conservation and emission reduction. It has entered a “high-cost, low-profit” micro-profit era. Under such circumstances, how should iron and steel enterprises "overwinter"?

The double squeeze of the price of ore and steel “has not yet seen any signs of warming.” A person in charge at Jinan Steel felt that the pressure was unprecedented when he predicted the 2012 steel prices. He said that the pressure mainly comes from two aspects: the continuous decline in steel prices and the continued rise in the price of imported iron ore. Last year, domestic steel prices fell by 730 yuan per ton from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, while the price of imported iron ore was for the whole year. It rose by 40 dollars.

An important reason for the continued decline in domestic steel prices is excess capacity. The responsible person calculated that as of the end of last year, the cumulative domestic crude steel production capacity was about 790 million tons, and in 2012 it is estimated that there will still be 30 million to 50 million tons of inertial growth. Based on this calculation, this year, domestic crude steel production capacity will be around 840 million tons. If the apparent consumption of crude steel is calculated at around 688 million tons, the overcapacity ratio will be about 122%. Coupled with the sluggish downstream demand for automobiles, shipbuilding, and real estate, this problem has become increasingly serious.

Jinan Steel also has its own difficulties. Under the trend of eliminating backward production capacity in the domestic steel industry, Jigang has shut down six 350 cubic meters of blast furnaces and reduced its pig iron production capacity by about 2.8 million tons. In addition, last year, Jinan Steel invested RMB 1 billion in the bank’s interest in new construction and reconstruction of production lines, which will in turn erode some of its profits.

The data released at the end of last year made the industry more worried. Luo Bingsheng, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association Party Committee, pointed out that from January to October, the profit rate of domestic large and medium-sized steel companies was only 2.8%, which was lower than the average profit level of China's industrial industry. The industry was still in a low-profit state. Excluding the steel company's investment income of 5.494 billion yuan, the actual profit of the iron and steel industry is only 63.845 billion yuan, and the sales profit rate is only 2.58%, far below the bank interest rate.

The person in charge of Jinan Iron & Steel said: “The 'guarantee of profit' has become the top priority for Jinan Steel in 2012.”

New "Project Hope"

In a production workshop of Jinan Iron & Steel, Song Guodong, chief of the technical department of the Heavy Plate Plant, told the reporter by touching the machine around him: “This is a 4300 wide and thick plate production line. Advanced technology and equipment will become the main force for Jinan’s production of high-end products. It carries the 'hope' of Jinan Steel."

The wide and heavy plate plant is a new department established by Jinan Iron & Steel in 2011 specifically for this production line. At the moment, Song Guodong is leading the technical team to work in three areas: first, six key processes such as refining, continuous casting, and finishing rolling. Carry out technical research to improve the ability to produce high-end products. Second, set up a research team to solve cracks in steel billets and improve the uniformity of water-cooled steel plates to solve quality problems. Third, establish an applied technology research institute to strengthen the market. Docking, providing customers with quality products and personalized services.

At the same time, in recent years, Jinan Steel has also vigorously promoted the “product + service” marketing model and the integrated operation mode of production, sales, and research, established a user application technology center, established a two-tier research and development mechanism, and used more than 50 nuclear steel and non-oriented silicon steel. A new breakthrough has been made in the research and development of high-grade products. A few days ago, Zhao Yong, an engineer from the Heavy Plate Marketing Department of the Customer Application Technology Center, rushed to the Zhoushan, Zhejiang, and Nantong, Jiangsu Provinces to develop the market with the person in charge of the heavy plate plant. He took orders of several thousand tons, and the profit per ton board was over 400 yuan.

Song Guodong vigorously told reporters: “There was a level of R&D products of 218,000 tons last year and a total gross profit of more than 48 million yuan. This year, our new target of a 10% increase in the proportion of high-grade products will be realized.”

To wring dry towels out of the “water” to face a severe survival situation, Jinan Steel has introduced a simulated legal person system to solve the loss situation of some units and better create benefits, and those who are independent in the production chain Units are transformed into independent operations to adapt to the ever-changing market situation.

The first simulation pilot was a medium-sized rolling mill. This factory began to assume its own profits and losses and operated independently from June 2010. After experiencing short-lived pains, the whole factory overcame many difficulties and made every effort to open up the market. It used management innovation and technology innovation to reduce costs and increase efficiency. It achieved profitability and profit increase in the year, achieved sales revenue of more than 500 million yuan in six months, and created profit of 2.674 million yuan. .

The company has successively implemented simulated corporate management models for chemical plants, cold-rolled plate plants, color plate plants, and general stores. After a year of hard work in the market, the chemical plant has improved its management level and enhanced its ability to respond to the domestic market. It also sold its products and technology abroad, creating a profit of 30 million yuan. Cold rolled steel mills, color plate plants and other units have also gradually come out of the trough by adopting various contingency measures.

Jinan Steel also pays more attention to seeking breakthroughs in technological innovation. “The historical breakthrough in the structure of coking coal blending is a major highlight of the reduction of the iron front system. This year alone, we saved more than RMB 25 million,” said Gao Xiancheng, director of the ironworks. Chang Yu, a leader of the coking coal preparation technology research group, and 6 team members made extraordinary efforts: In the several months of the research, the work was done for more than 12 hours a day. In April last year, domestic high-quality coal completely replaced imported coal; in September, high* coal was used instead of high-quality coal, with a ratio increase to 28.8%; and gas-fired coal replaced fat coal, the ratio increased from an average of less than 2.5% at the beginning of the year to 20%. , is the first in the industry.

In the face of not optimistic about 2012, Ji Zhichao, chairman of Jinan Iron & Steel Group, said that we must promote the spirit of “squeezing dry towels out of the water,” and squeeze out “moisture” in the production and management fields, so as to truly increase the economic efficiency of enterprises. .