The plant is one of the largest concrete reinforcement steel facilities in North America. their products range from I beam, C channel, Angles and Flats. My university students as wells as some other universities' students were invited on the occasion of World Steel Day to visit the plant.
The management of Gerdau Steels arranged for our ride from the University of Texas at Arlington to the site. We boarded the bus at 6.45 am. We first taken to the Midlethian Conference Center. Where we had our breakfast and were given some introduction and given a brief overview of the plant as well as the Gerdau international presence.
Interiors of Midlothian Conference Center
A clock in the Midlothian Conference Center
Panoramic View around the Midlothian Conference Center
Specimen for show at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibit in the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
Exhibits at the Midlothian Conference Center
After this we had time to interact with the employees from the plant. As many of us were from engineering background we were interested in the technical stuffs.
After this we were taken to the plant. First we were shown the shredder that shreds the cars and other stuffs to make the raw material for steel. The plant uses 99% of recycled materials for its production.
Cars waiting to get shred
A crane load the cars and other stuffs to be shred on to a large conveyor. Following is a video of the crane and the conveyor:
Then later we were taken to the main office of Gerdau Plant and given safety gears like the coats, gloves, hard hat, glasses and an earphone which would let us later hear what our tour guided was saying. Safety was the prime focus of the company and they claim to have no work hindrance due to any injury from a long time, thus showing their safety concerns
Main Office Gerdau Steel
Later we were taken the tour of the inside of the plant. Photography is not allowed inside the plant so I couldn't take any pictures :(
We were shown the manufacturing, quality assurance, maintenance facilities. The plant was na interesting one and the tour guides were really curious to answer our questions.
After an hour or so we were taken back to the Conference center where a big gun waited for us. This was the big barbecue grill which was shaped like a gun it was pretty cool. We had a quiz about guessing how much cars went to make a section of I beam that was displayed at the center. The answer was 7.81 cars. A guys won a Kinfle fire as he gave the closest answer as 7.77. We had hot dogs and burgers grilled on the big gun grill. And hence the tour had ended and we headed back to the campus.
Big Smoke Gun
Big Smoke Gun
Big Smoke Gun
Big Smoke Gun
Bus that commuted us back and forth
This was really an interesting field trip that I had ever taken. I really enjoyed it and so did all of us. I would give the field trip a 4.5/5 and a 5/5 for the safety standards of this plant.
So that's all for this time folks. Hope you enjoyed reading the blog. Come back soon for more stuffs.
This your यार, मित्र, friend, दोस्त, ami, amicus, amigo signing out,
This is your friend Pappu Blogwalla. First of
all I’m sorry for not blogging for so many days. My exams were on. But I’m here
after the bloody carnage of the exams field. This time I’m going to share my
experience with you about a trek I did some days ago. Actually, a lot of days
ago. This trek was at Mt. Kalsubai (Maharashtra’s Heights Peak – 1646 meters
from Mean Sea Level). I and five of my friends did the trek on 7/April/2012.
Although you might be thinking that why this chap went in the burning heat of
April, but let me tell you the trek is awesome in any season. Me my friends
were tired of the college stuff and were planning for a trek from a long time.
We all wanted to do scale the Mt. Kalsubai and so the thought began. Here is a video i made (sorry for the low quality of video)
First we
were thinking of a night trek to avoid the brutal April heat. But after reading
some experiences online we got to know that there may be some treats from
monkeys. So we decided to go for a day trek. So finally we decided to go on
Saturday so that we could do the trek on Saturday and Rest for the coming
Sunday to be all ready for Mondays work. And so was 7th of April
finalized.
We
decided to start from Pune at night. So all of us assembled at Shivaji Nagar at
9:30 pm so that we could get a bus at 10 pm to 11 pm. We all met and met as if
we meeting after 10 years :P . We all time passed for the next half hour. We
got a bus of Satana which was leaving at 11:30 pm. So we boarded the bus and it
started. We were still in the mischief mode at had to hear from many of the
passengers. The driver drove the bus as if he was a fighter pilot and we
reached Sangamner bus stand by 2:30 am. We got to know that the bus to Baari
village was at 6am. So we had no options to do time pass till 6am. We had tea
and came back to bus stand and tried to sleep but couldn’t. Somehow we passed
the time till 5am. At 5am the public toilets were opened and we went to attend
nature’s call. At 6am the bus to Igatpuri was at platform and we boarded it. We
thought that it would take us just one hour to Baari but the bus left us only
at 8:30am. We had some bhajjis and wada-pav at Bhandardhara. Those were also like a
drop of amrut to us after starving
for so long. After getting down at Baari we got to known that there were two
Baari villages - one upper and one lower. Both were not even 500meters apart.
At the Base
A view of Mt Kalsubai from the base
Another view of Mt Kalsubai from the base
Filling our bottles at Baari
Humble Baari village
Baari Village
"THE" click
A view of Baari while on our way up
Can you see the ladders
I guess you can see it know :P
Be carefull here - 2nd ladder
When we thought we were lost
And we were almost there
A view from top
And one more
Kalsubai Goddesss
Actually the highest point
And we strated on our way back
The temple at Baari village
"THE" tree
Adieu Mt. Kalsubai
Adieu Baari
So
we were at the upper Baari village at around 8:45am. We filled our bottles at
the hand up here. We were still hungry so we enquired for breakfast. But then
thought, that we could come back and take lunch as we had some dates packets to
help us gain energy when going up. So we paid `100/-
advance money for lunch and then started our trek at 9am. I am an avid
photographer so I was happy to get clear shots of the view around. While going
up we missed a path and were on wrong way. But that was too fun. We met a
village old-lady when we were going wrong and she told us how to go. Trust me
guys don’t try to waste your thinking as it is just a straight path. After
waking for some time we came to the right path. We had some dates over here. We
could see the first and second ladder from here. These had 80 and 152 steps
respectively. The second ladders was a bit threatening as it was corroded and
if it broke we were to land directly into Baari village. After walking for some
more time we could see the third ladder. All of us thought that we are just 5
minutes now from the peak. But after scaling this ladder of 20 steps we saw
that we were to go more and did not know how much. We had a halt at place where
a villager was selling lemonade. We had lemonade here and he told us that it
would be one hour to reach the peak. So after paying `25/- per lemonade (costliest
lemonade of my life) we started our journey up.
After walking for around fifteen minutes we saw the peak. There was a small hut
and a cistern in front of it. The water was not so potable but we filled our
emptied bottles just in case of emergency. After walking for 30 minutes we were
at the foot of the last ladder which had 60 steps at this point we all climbed
up as if we were not tired at all. We climbed up and there we were at the Mt.
Everest of Maharashtra. It was almost 12:30The top palace is not even 40 feet *
50feet but the satisfaction you get of climbing so high is priceless. After
viewing the scenic views of Mt.Alang, Mt. Madan, Mt.
Kulang, Rajmachi, Dhak Bahiri we started on our way back to the base at
1:30pm.
All were
in Nirvana mode. Descending was easy than climbing up. All of us were at Baari
at 4pm. We had lunch at 4:30 pm and started back on our journey to Pune. We
were thinking of going from Igatpuri side this time by train as we were told by
the villagers that the transportation to Sangamner was not so frequent. But we
came to the shady bus stand and got a ST bus for Akole (on the way to
Sangamner). We got down at Akole at 6pm. We got a bus to Sangamner at 6:30 pm.
I think it was the last bus so was fully loaded by passengers. Came to
Sangamner at 7:30pm. As soon as we got down at Sangamner we got the same Satana
bus to Pune. We were back at Shivaji Nagar bus stand at 11pm. And thus ended
our tour.
Some
piece of advice:
If
possible take your vehicle.
If in
summer try for a night trek. As I read of monkey trouble there wasn’t any. We
met some kids returning back from top while we started from the base. If it’s a
full moon day its even good.
Carry
lots of water from base itself.
Lunch is
for `50/-
per person. You could also stay for a night in the village.
Try to
collect information for your return journey if you are relying on bus.
By my
rating Mt. Kalsubai is as hard as Mt. Sinhagarh i.e. it’s damn easy. If in
months of monsoon you will surely get some awesome view. There are many
windmills in the opposite hill. Try to catch its awesome views. I will rate the
difficulty level of this trek as 2/5 and masti rating as 5/5. Surely a trek
that one should do once in his/her lifetime.
So that’s it folks from my side. Do tell me your views and any queries if any.
Next blog is for the folks who
travel to Baramati from Pune. J
So till then this your यार, मित्र, friend, दोस्त, ami, amicus, amigo, signing out,
