POSCO Engineering & Construction has changed its corporate name to POSCO E&C (Eco & Challenge).
The change is designed to take off the image of the conventional construction industry and suggest a new vision of eco-friendliness.
For POSCO E&C, which has been struggling with declining profit, public attention is on whether the name change will serve as an opportunity for the company to find new opportunities through eco-friendliness.
The contractor’s new name POSCO E&C stands for eco-friendliness and challenge.
A POSCO E&C official said, “The new company name contains our determination to make a leap forward as an eco-friendly construction company, beyond the conventional construction business, and POSCO E&C plans to step up its standing as an eco-friendly premium brand by reflecting the image of “Green Life With The Sharp” the company has implemented since last year.”
POSCO E&C Wins Green Certification on P-Box Column from MOLIT
POSCO Box-Column (P-Box column), developed jointly by POSCO and POSCO E&C, obtained a green certification from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).
Green certification is a national certification system certifying a green technology or a promising green project to clearly stipulate the object and scope of supporting green investment and concentrate on investment as part of the government’s “Low Carbon Green Growth” Policy.
Green certification winners are determined by a green certification screening committee, consisting of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and seven other ministries following evaluations by evaluation institutions.
POSCO’s new product POSCO-Box Column (P-Box column), along with the P-Box pillar and ledger beam bonding technology received designation as ‘new construction technology #868’ by MOLIT.
The core of the new technology is to connect horizontal reinforced concrete to the P-Box steel pipe column filled with concrete. This POSCO-exclusive technology is likely to innovate the market.
P-Box was created off of HSA600, one of POSCO’s World Top Premium (WTP) products with a guaranteed tensile strength of 600 megapascals (MPa). POSCO is currently the only steelmaker capable of producing hot-rolled steel with that level of tensile strength equipped with seismic performance.
P-Box has been created by first bending HSA600 into square columns – inside the columns were then filled with concrete to boost strength. The conventional pipes are in square shapes, which required welding all four corners.
The multiple welding incurred high costs where high quality wasn’t always reciprocated.
The P-Box reduced the number of welding by folding hot-rolled steel - it only needs one welding in the center.
This simplified manufacture process, and thanks to the stiffening member, constructors can apply 6mm boards instead of the previously used 9mm boards.
The new building technology starts with manufacturing long P-Box columns at factories, then attaching anchors to the columns beforehand. Anchor connects girders to columns.
After that, the connected anchors and P-Box columns are transported to the construction site where reinforced girder is horizontally attached to the anchors.
Because the height of a P-Box is 15 meters, the new technology can erect three floors at one go, instead of one floor, to dramatically save costs and time in constructing a building.
Replacing the conventional columns straight with P-Box columns posed as the main challenge because of the cost. To address the conundrum, POSCO decided to utilize girder, a wider beam that connects columns.
These girders have a wider width than the columns. Since the girder width increased, it could sustain more weight.
This meant constructors could use a smaller number of girders. For example, conventional technology requires two girders whereas the new technology needs only one.
Also, the new technology can do away with beams (smaller version of girders) that connect girders.
Additionally, conventional technology required 1,000mm by 1,000mm columns whereas the P-Box technology can sustain the same weight with just 500mm by 500mm columns. Smaller columns meant added spaces that can be utilized inside a building.
The new technology brings down construction costs by 15% - it’s also a sustainable technology as it reduces carbon emissions.
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