The first success of engineer Phuong is replacing fluorite made in China by fluorite made in Vietnam in E7018 blend to produce E7018 F3,2 soldering stick, coating drug for pressed waste (J420 and J421) and replacing entire of imported burning ilmenite by domestic burning ilmenite to produce J420 soldering stick, ensuring the product quality and the initiative in materials for production.

In the process of soldering stick production, especially in coating drug production area, solid waste (being spilled during the process of grinding materials, screening, mixing and blending ... in the form of dust emissions) not only causes environmental pollution and affects the health of workers but also causes waste if there are no measures to collect and recycle to become raw materials for production. Previously, the company had to discard those coating drugs and collected dust in the rubbish dump.

In late 2005, Phuong suggested the company recover those coating drugs and started researching a new blend suitable for the production of certain types of welding rods. Since then, he has researched the blend based on recovered coating drugs and added some neccessary materials to meet the technical criteria that the product required.

With the knowledge and over 10 years of experience, after 3 months of research and experimentation, he has successfully built the process of recycling waste materials based on soldering stick coating drug to produce N38 - N45 and VD – VD soldering sticks which could weld steel with the average duration of 430-500 N/mm2, meeting the production standards of the company (the company's N45 welding rod was certified by Quacert).

In particular, the handling of metal components in coating drugs which have been oxidized in the state of waste is neccessary to meet the quality standards of materials. Using materials made from waste instead of new materials has significantly decreased the product price, improved thecompetitiveness of the company and created more jobs and income for workers. Also, the reuse of waste materials has contributed to reducing solid waste discharged into the environment, creating green, clean and beautiful environment and protecting the health of workers .

Also by applying this solution, the company has gained initiative in materials for production. After more than a year of applying this solution, the welding rod manufacturing workshop has consumed 57.7 tons of coating drug to produce N38 and N45 welding rods; economic benefits are very clear: the price difference between 1 ton of coating drug made from up-to-standard materials and 1 ton of coating drug made from recycled waste materials is 2.345 million dong. The blend which is used to produce N45 - N38 and VD - VD soldering sticks has 76% of recovered waste. If there were no solutions to recover and recycle, the company would have to pay the collection fee for Environmental hygiene company which would be 320,000 VND per ton of waste.

After a year of application, the company has saved about VND 150 million. The solution "Researching kinds of dust in vacuum cleaner and coating drug manufacturing area to produce N38 - N45 and VD - VD welding rods which can weld steel with the  average duration of 430-500 N/mm2" of Mr Nguyen Dinh Phuong won the 3rd prize at the 9th National Technical Creation Competition  (2006-2007) and was granted the Creative Labour Certificate of Vietnam Labor General Federation.

By Minh Duc