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‘Rafael Naranjo Awards’ for the best employee ideas in Safety, Environment and Quality in Progress

Monday December 19, 2022 |
General news
The awards, with total prize money amounting to €45,000, recognise the talent and dedication of its employees.

On Friday Acerinox Europa presented the awards to the winning projects of the '2022 Rafael Naranjo' awards in the categories of Safety, Environment and Quality in Progress. With these awards, Acerinox promotes and rewards the best ideas of its employees in the search for safety and its continuous improvement, cost savings and excellence in production processes, as well as the improvement of Environmental and Sustainability aspects.

The jury for the 2022 edition of the "Rafael Naranjo" awards was chaired by the Director of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of Algeciras, Paloma Cubillas Fernández, and consisted of five other members from the Safety, Environment and Sustainability, Technical, Maintenance, Cold Rolling, Melting Shop and Hot Rolling departments, as well as the Chairman of the Work Council.

In the Safety category, with a prize of €10,000, the winning project was "New platforms for segment assembly in the continuous casting of slabs", by Jonatan Domínguez Vélez, from the Melting Shop Department, which proposes a system of platforms from which the segment assembly manoeuvre, which includes a fastening system, can be carried out, thus increasing the safety thereof. This system was implemented during the last shutdown of the melting shop.

In the Environment category, with a prize of €5,000, the winning project was the "Feasibility study of boiler hybridisation at the Acerinox Europa plant", carried out by Francisco Ayala Somé, from the Maintenance Department. This project proposes a system that would preheat the water discharged out of the softeners, reducing gas consumption and therefore saving costs.

In the Quality in Progress category, the first prize of €15,000 was awarded to José Montes Rojas, from the Melting Shop Department, for the project concerning "New starting cones in continuous casting tundishes for billets". Montes proposes changing the design of the cone and its upper cover, as well as the material from which it is made to avoid obstructions that hinder the start-up of the lines.

The second prize in this category, with a prize of €10,000, was awarded to the "New greasing system for column crane rollers and ROTHE-ERDE electric arc furnace Nº2 lubrication protection” project, proposed by Manuel Muñoz Bañón, from the Maintenance Department. This project proposes a new greasing system that will improve productivity and the use of consumables, thus leading to cost savings. The third prize, €5,000, which also focused on cost reductions, was awarded to the project titled "Battery energy storage system", developed by David Grimaldi Franco, also from the Maintenance Department, which presents a large-scale energy storage system.

Recognition of workers’ effort and commitment

Acerinox Europa also awarded other prizes that aimed to highlight the commitment of its workers. This year four employees completed 20 years of Zero Absenteeism, demonstrating their involvement and full commitment to the company. Recognition was also given to the 55 employees who have reached 15 years in the company and to the 37 employees who have been with the company for 25 years.