The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee (CPLOC) met March 5–7 in Fontana, Calif., with the AISI Metallic Coated Sheet Practices Manufacturing Committee. The AISI committee vice chair, Tim McCrea of ArcelorMittal, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone in attendance. The meeting began with a review and open discussion of safety and coating weight control. There were then supplier presentations by IAS and ACT regarding their coating weight control technologies. During the afternoon, the committee reviewed a questionnaire that had been completed by some of the producers in attendance on topics about their mills. The committee then broke out into small groups to establish survey questions for the next meeting. This small-group breakout proved to be very useful and engaging for the whole group. The second day began with review and discussion about the operating performance benchmarking data, followed by presentations on quality problem solving. A discussion was then held concerning a survey of questions about each of the welders that the mills had in service, with a presentation by Miebach to wrap it up. The AISI/AIST committee integration status was discussed next. The following day, John Wray hosted the committee on a tour of California Steel’s two galvanizing lines. The next meeting was held during AISTech 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Visit www.aist.org for additional information.

March 5-7, 2008 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee (CPLOC) held a joint meeting with the AISI Manufacturing Committee on Metallic Coated Sheet on March 5–7 in Fontana, Calif. This was the first joint meeting of these committees. Tim McCrea of ArcelorMittal chaired the meeting. The meeting began with discussions concerning the safety questionnaire that each of the participating steel producers completed before the meeting. Topics such as safety reporting procedures, recent incidents and safety awareness were openly discussed, allowing each member to learn from the experiences of the others. The same philosophy was used for the next survey: coating weight control. The coating weight survey was followed by two companies presenting their technology for controlling coating weight. The group then split into smaller groups, each with the task of establishing a set of survey questions for topics that the whole group felt was relevant. This allowed the individuals the opportunity to give input on a subject they were most familiar with. The breakout groups then gave a summary of their results to the entire group. The questions that each group established will be the basis of the surveys that will be used at the fall meeting. On the second day of the meeting, the operating performance benchmarking, quality problem-solving and welder surveys were discussed. This was followed by a presentation by a major welding machine manufacturer. A plant tour of California Steel’s two galvanizing lines capped off this very informative meeting. The next meeting of the CPLOC will be May 6 from noon until 2 p.m. during AISTech 2008 in Pittsburgh Pa.

September 19, 2007 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee (CPLOC) met Sept. 19 in Detroit, Mich., in conjunction with MS&T’07. Committee chair Dr. Frank Goodwin, of the International Lead Zinc Research Organization, opened the meeting by thanking everyone for attending. CPLOC papers were chosen for AISTech 2008 and arranged into morning and afternoon sessions for Tuesday, May 6, 2008. The committee also chose to hold a meeting on Tuesday during the conference. Eric Almquist, CPLOC vice chair, reviewed his ideas of developing a framework of “focus topics” that could be considered for future meetings. He suggested having discussions on common subjects such as bridles and reels at all the meetings, yet also having a discussion on a more specialized subject, such as pickling, furnaces, coating sections, etc., in much greater detail. The committee agreed that the main objective of the committee is to focus on engineering and technology rather than the operators. Mr. Almquist agreed to poll the membership to establish topics of interest.

May 8, 2007 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee (CPLOC) met in Indianapolis, Ind., on May 8, 2007, during AISTech 2007. The meeting was convened by vice chair, Frank Goodwin of the International Lead Zinc Research Organization Inc. The committee members then introduced themselves. The new CPLOC officers for 2007–2008 were elected: Frank Goodwin is the new chair and papers chair, and Eric Almquist is the new vice chair. The committee’s mission statement will be reviewed at the next meeting. It currently reads, “Recognizing the tremendous value added to steel products by the application of coatings and accompanying metallurgical processing, the Coatings and Process Lines Committee seeks to further advance technological capabilities for coated products and the lines that produce them and foster the spread of new knowledge relating to these capabilities to AIST members and the broader technical community. The Committee accomplishes these goals by programming of symposia and other meetings with content relevant to these goals, organizing meetings and plant visits for Committee members to exchange information with their peers and recognizing member achievements with awards.” The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 19, 2007, in Detroit, Mich., during MS&T’07.

May 2, 2007 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee met at AISTech 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 3. The meeting began with officer elections for the new term. Discussion then moved to whether or not the committee will offer a Process Lines Training Seminar similar to two training seminars offered in the past by the Sheet Rolling Operating Committee. The general consensus was that this Operating Committee should offer this type of training. Members volunteered to review both the past training seminar and feedback to make improvements. Methods were discussed to improve participation in future meetings, including plant tours and meeting locations, formal and informal round table discussions, and incorporating technical presentations into committee meetings in order to provide value to attendees.

March 2-3, 2006 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee met jointly with the AISI Committee on Metallic Coated Sheet Practices on March 2–3, 2006, in Portland, Ore. This joint meeting involved a round table discussion on benchmarking pot equipment performance. The participants shared successes and failures regarding extending equipment life. After the meeting, a tour of Steelscape took place, with an emphasis on the coating lines. After the tour, the committee conducted their business meeting. They began by reviewing their mission statement and decided to broaden it to include metallic coatings such as tinplate and aluminized steel, as well as process line operations such as pickling and slitting. A review of the status of the committee’s AISTech 2006 sessions was held, and additional presentations were identified to fill in for some openings that arose. Chairs for the sessions were also identified. Discussion ensued on the development of a Process Lines Training Seminar. The committee will review the previous program and determine the need for this type of training. The status of sessions for MS&T’06, to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, was also reviewed, recognizing the need to solicit more abstracts for this program. Topics were then identified for the AISTech 2007 Call for Papers, and plans for programming at the two major conferences in 2007 were discussed.

September 28, 2006 - The Coating and Process Lines Operating Committee met at MS&T’05 in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sept. 28. After introductions, feedback on the MS&T conference was provided. The committee members reviewed the awards guidelines and made plans to meet with the other Operating Committees in their Technology Division to resolve what the division awards should be. They also made plans to schedule some joint sessions for AISTech and selected some papers to review for acceptance. An ensuing discussion focused on the goals and agenda of this committee and methods to share knowledge without duplicating the efforts of other committees or organizations. The attendees also reviewed the critical deadlines for future major conferences.