On Tuesday, we went back to tour more of their campus, which is extremely large, about three times the size of the Pitt campus, while only having one-tenth of its student population. This is honestly very nice; it makes the campus feel spacious and gives each student ample space. The tour, as a whole, definitely reinforced my interest in returning here for a semester in the future, especially since I have come to appreciate Korea throughout the trip.
Funnily enough, when we were learning about the steel industry through POSCO, which redefined Pohang much like US Steel in Pittsburgh, we learned that their football team (what we would refer to as soccer in the US) is also called the Steelers.
Afterward, we headed to the company that was at the school’s inception: POSCO, the world’s largest steelmaker and the first in Korea. We learned about their history and the general steel-making process through their company museums. Then we were given a bus tour of their various facilities within the plant, which was very interesting, as we got to see the semi-finished steel and the various rolled steel final products.
During the museum visit, we saw many unique applications of their steel, such as sprayed and textured steel called POSART, which mimics materials like wood or rattan with an extreme degree of detail for home appliance applications. We were also shown this POSART used as a textured painting that could also serve as a speaker system via vibrational audio. Another application of their steel was a flip-dot display, a mechanical display that flips individual tiles to show information. It was revealed that almost the entire building was made with this textured steel, and they see it as part of future construction due to its aesthetic appeal and extreme durability.
As we drove through the factory, we saw cranes and conveyor belts transporting steel through various stages of the process, even to the area where semi-finished products are eventually stored. We eventually reached one of the buildings in which semi-finished steel is pressed into 10 cm-thick sheets, which are commonly used in shipbuilding and pipe applications. It was incredibly cool to witness the powerful machinery move and compress the steel, especially because the temperature change was so noticeable as heated steel passed by on the conveyor belts before compression. Unfortunately, no photos or videos could be taken of this process, and, in fact, the cooling process, which occurred in the same building, was intentionally obscured from our view to maintain secrecy, as it is the most important differentiating process in steel manufacturing. We were then led out of the facility and given some free time for the rest of the day. Some friends and I used this time to explore Pohang’s beaches, which were super nice and a very tranquil end to the day.
Overall, this company visit was my favorite so far, and it felt incredibly cool to see all the big machinery in action, forming the steel. I can’t wait to see what other cool companies we will visit in our last few days here in Korea.