RAMON’s First Automatic Stop Rod Control System

In the early 1990s, Chinese steel plants were no longer satisfied with constant mold level control. To improve billet quality, there was an urgent need for automatic stop rod control systems to achieve constant mold level and constant casting speed control.

Recognizing the promising market potential of automatic stop rod control technology, President Tian Lu made the decisive choice to independently develop RAMON’s own stop rod control system.

In 2000, invited by Ye Feng, the Technical Director of Shanghai Steel Plant No.5, President Tian Lu and engineer Du Kaifa came to Shanghai Steel Plant No.5 and began the research and development of the automatic stop rod control system.

At that time, Director Ye not only provided them with a free testing environment but also assigned engineer Tian Guanqing from the technical department to assist the project.

Every week, Engineer Tian would follow up on the project progress and frequently encouraged President Tian Lu, giving the team confidence and motivation.

Due to limited funding, President Tian Lu and engineer Du Kaifa stayed in a relatively spacious semi-basement guesthouse to facilitate their experiments.

During the day, they carried electric cylinders, instruments, and cables into the factory early in the morning for debugging together with engineer Tian Guanqing.

At night, after factory workers left, they returned to the basement to modify programs based on the day’s test results.

From electric cylinder design and PLC programming to equipment selection, President Tian Lu and engineer Du Kaifa worked tirelessly for an entire year.

Although they encountered numerous challenges during the debugging process, they overcame every obstacle through continuous effort.

One year later, RAMON successfully developed its own automatic stop rod control system.

A Turning Point From Weakness to Strength

In 2001, Chongqing Iron & Steel Design Institute organized what was then China’s largest stop rod control system bidding project.

The tender covered 13 casting strands from Xinyu Steel Plant and Shaoguan Steel Plant.

As this project was closely related to Chongqing Design Institute’s transformation into EPC contracting, it was regarded internally as “the first turnkey project.”

The institute attached great importance to the project and invited leading suppliers from China and overseas to participate in the bidding.

After receiving the bidding documents, President Tian Lu traveled to Chongqing with Tian Li, Song Tao, Du Kaifa, and other sales and technical team members.

When the technical staff at Chongqing Design Institute learned that RAMON was participating in the bidding, they advised President Tian:

“We have basically decided to use another company’s product. They have already visited us three times for technical exchanges and four times for inspections. Your participation is basically just to accompany the bidding.”

President Tian Lu asked:

“Then how much chance do you think we still have?”

The other party replied honestly:

“Maybe 1%.”

Hearing this, President Tian Lu confidently replied:

“As long as there is a 1% chance, we will make 100% effort.”

From then on, every day at Chongqing Design Institute, President Tian Lu, Vice President Tian Li, and Song Tao could be seen introducing the technical advantages of RAMON’s automatic stop rod control system to different departments.

Day after day, they persisted for an entire month, explaining their technology to everyone they met.

As the technical staff at Chongqing Design Institute gained a deeper understanding of RAMON’s products, more and more people began supporting RAMON.

During the final two days of the bidding process, President Yu Weijiang sent representatives to Chengdu Seamless Steel Pipe Plant for an on-site evaluation.

After the inspection, President Yu immediately announced:

“RAMON wins the bid!”

In RAMON’s 20-year development history, this project became the turning point that transformed the company from weakness to strength.

Since then, RAMON’s stop rod control systems began expanding across steel plants nationwide.

Several years later, RAMON grew from a small company with an annual output value of one million RMB into an internationally recognized enterprise with annual revenue exceeding hundreds of millions of RMB.

Stories From Our Journey

Ye Feng

Former Technical Director of Shanghai Steel Plant No.5

At that time, Shanghai Steel Plant No.5 wanted to achieve localization of mold level control technology, and RAMON happened to be developing this technology as well.

Due to limited investment, we hoped to “borrow” a system for testing, so I invited Tian Lu to our plant.

I still remember that we only received 15,000 RMB in research funding at that time, while Tian Lu and his team used only 5,000 RMB.

The conditions were extremely difficult, and Tian Lu worked together with our technical staff at Plant No.5 for a full year.

More than 20 years have passed since RAMON was founded. I hope RAMON will continue to play a greater role in continuous casting measurement and control technology and make greater contributions to China’s continuous casting industry.

Yu Weijiang

Former Vice President of Chongqing Iron & Steel Design Institute

“RAMON employees are incredibly dedicated and hardworking!”

At that time, companies as dedicated as RAMON were rare.

To be honest, we originally planned to use another company’s products. However, even when RAMON knew the possibility was very small, they continued to fight for the opportunity.

This demonstrated two things:

First, they had great confidence in their own technology.

Second, RAMON’s leadership understood the importance of persistence.

A person who knows how to persist can overcome any challenge.

Therefore, we decided to award the project to RAMON, and I felt more confident about the decision.

More than 20 years have passed in the blink of an eye. I sincerely wish RAMON continued success.

May RAMON become one of the preferred technology service providers in the steel industry!