When Dave Bell began his career at BlueScope, a trip to the photocopying machine was an exciting thing.
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The former general manager of manufacturing at BlueScope, who had his last day at the steelworks on Friday, February 4, began as a cadet, some 40 years ago.
Back then, words like automation and digitisation were unheard of and manual processes were the norm.
"One of my early jobs as a cadet was to drive to the photocopy machine," said Mr Bell. "I drove from the coke ovens up to the head office to get the photocopying done and take it back for all the bosses."
Today, looking around the steelworks, there's barely a process that doesn't have some level of automation involved. Finishing up as head of manufacturing at BlueScope, Mr Bell has been involved in the process of automation in the steelworks over the course of his career and says that this has been one of the ways that the steelmaker has adapted to ensure that steel continues to be made in Port Kembla.
Of course, there were times where this outcome did not seem so certain.
Mr Bell recalls one of the most difficult times in his career being the shutdown of blast furnace No. 6. At the time, following the financial crisis, BlueScope was losing a significant amount of money and a way out had to be found. Nevertheless, the decision was still traumatic, said Mr Bell.
"I was the ironmaking manager at the time, and you had to make that announcement to a whole group of people that where they worked was going away."
Mr Bell, then as manager of cokemaking and ironmaking, was also involved in another traumatic event for the Illawarra and those connected to the steelworks. In 2015, BlueScope management and unions agreed to a deal that would save the steelworks but ultimately cost 500 workers their jobs.
"I have to say, the local unions were quite helpful and we worked together," said Mr Bell. "It was combative, but I think everybody wanted the steelworks to survive."
Now, the future of steelmaking in Port Kembla looks a lot brighter, with high demand for steel products. In fact, the blast furnace that Mr Bell was involved in shutting down a decade ago is tipped to come back, pending board approval.
The proposed reline of blast furnace No. 6 is expected to set up the steelworks to take advantage of new green steel technologies, using hydrogen rather than coal to make low-carbon steel.
"It's a unique opportunity for us as a company to be able to reline the furnace, put in all the best available technology that we can right now, set ourselves up so we can retrofit what we can in the future, and then give us the ability to switch and fit in with green steel."
While Mr Bell said that zero carbon steel was a way off and the reline of the blast furnace to produce steel in the traditional method still made sense, BlueScope was also looking to improve on its social sustainability as well.
The company is close to being certified by ResponsibleSteel, a not for profit that checks steelmakers' procurement, emissions and labour standards. BlueScope would be one of the first steel makers to be certified, and the first outside of Europe.
Over 40 per cent of the workforce are now women at the plant, and this came from a focus on trade and operator roles. Mr Bell said that in these initiatives and others, the company did not take for granted its place in the Illawarra.
"We've got to work with the community. Lots of exciting things are going to happen in the Illawarra."
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