On Thursday 30 October 20 NCCJ members made a trip to the Nippon Steel Corporation plant in Chiba, located on the other side of Yokohama in Tokyo bay. The name of this plant is Kimitsu and by far Nippon Steel’s largest plant with a crude steel production over 10,661 tons and a workforce of 3,285. In the Netherlands the former Hoogovens (now days Corus) plant is well known….Imagine that the size of this plant is almost 3 times larger.
The group left by bus from the embassy and arrived around 14.00 in Kimitsu. First, a very interesting introduction film and a short presentation was given about the plant and the production process. This was followed by a bus tour and a visit to a blast furnace, a hot strip mill and a plastic recycle plant – but not before all members were fully secured with helmet, gloves and jackets! What we have seen was very impressive. Especially the hot strip mill. Everything you see is big, hot and heavy. With an enormous speed, steel slabs are pushed through mills, then cut and finally rolled into sheets. This goes on 24 hours a day. The visit ended with some more information given by senior plant managers and a Q&A session. Thanks to Yamamoto-san and Takeuchi-san, responsible for the splendid organisation of this tour, the members had a unique and very interesting company visit. After all that violence of hot steel, the beers in the bus back to Tokyo were most welcome! Thanks again, gentlemen.
Bert van Haagen