(Team member, Civil engineer)
Visiting Osaka Gas Co. was indeed an overwhelming experience. I was informed about the organization and activities in Toubu (=East) District. The information was focused on distribution of gas for domestic use. However, Osaka Gas Co. is also dealing with things like producing frozen food, they run hotel business, does research and they have a chain of restaurants.
The natural gas originates from Indonesia, Brunei and Australia. At the production plants, two terminals in Senboku and one at Himeji, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) is transformed into natural gas. Then it is distributed to the customers, nearly 5.5 million households (as of August 1992). There are major pipelines all the way up to the Lake Biwa area in the northeastern Kinki District and down to Wakayama in the south. The total length of the pipelines (~49,000 km) is long enough to circle the globe!
The distribution control center works with highly advanced technology. Computers generates daily demand estimations and suggests production plans as a result. I also had the possibility of learning about the computerized mapping system used by Osaka Gas Co. The maps, showing every pipeline in a street, are of utmost importance for the different mobile squad systems working in the field. I was given the possibility of looking at the pipelines in the street, outside my host family's house in Yao city!
The Safety Dispatch Office holds a very important position in the company. Customer's calls are dealt with, using the map system and related information. Dispatch is carried out and reports are made and the files are updated. Toubu District Office, that I had the privilege to visit, seemed to use any imaginable technology available. And still they had something one hardly will come across in the west, a Shinto shrine!
The great Hanshin earthquake, ( January 17, 1995) apart from killing about six thousand people, caused damage for the gas supplying system. 860,000 customers were out of gas, 2,600,000 didn't have any electricity and 1,000,000 were out of water. 6,000 km pipelines were evacuated by the earthquake. The restoration crew consisted of almost l0,000 people. 6,000 of them are employees from Osaka Gas Co. and the rest came from Tokyo Gas and other gas companies across the country. The restoration activities took about three months, due to poor traffic conditions after the quake, the great number of collapsed houses and problem with inflow of water in gas pipes. Imagine having water coming out of the gas tap !
The countermeasures taken by Osaka Gas Co. to decrease damages caused by earthquakes are;
-welded steel pipes
-Polyethylene pipes
-Mechanical joints
The whole service area is divided into 8 "super blocks", that are further divided into 55 "middle blocks". In case of earthquakes, an affected area is isolated from other blocks to prevent secondary disasters while maintaining gas distribution to unaffected areas.
Intelligent meter equipped with micro-computer shuts off gas supply when it detects tremors and gas leaks in housepipes. It is currently installed at 75% of the customers. The goal is to have this "fuse"-equipment in every household.
The company's own wireless communication network has proved reliable. The network enables smooth communication between the emergency headquarters and the field. It can also collect seismic information from seismometers that are installed throughout the service territory.
It is conducted once a year to check the emergency organization and the radio communication systems.
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) used as the fuel for the Nanko Power Station is stored and converted to gaseous state at Senboku Plant of Osaka Gas Co. The gas is distributed via 75-cm diameter pipelines and is sent on to the boilers. Every hour, 1,860 tons of water is evaporated and 100 tons of LNG is consumed. The steam from the boilers generates electricity, but also a lot of heat. The steam temperature is 538ūC! Therefore, a cooling water intake is used in order to cool the steam back into water. Then the seawater is discharged outside the harbor zone. A significant impression of the plant, besides the use of the latest technology, is the emphasis put on amenity. It's not just a power plant generating electricity. Within the premises you'll find both baseball and tennis courts. "El City" Nanko is an information center as well as an amusement area. Here you can take a "Venture trip" to the world of electronics. There is also a mall and a gallery, a restaurant and a multi-purpose hall equipped with the latest projection system. The impressive smokestack, or chimney, rises 200m in the air. It' s also called Nanko Skytower and is a symbol of Osaka' s waterfront. And as such it is illuminated in different colors according to the season. A solar power system supplies the energy for the illumination. Sugoi, desu nee?
Obayashi Gumi--general contractor
On the 8 th floor in Obayashi-building, I was welcomed by 5 gentlemen with important positions in the company. This construction company is regarded as one of the "big five" in Japan. They also have 20 branch offices overseas, in USA, East Asia, China and Cambodia. I was given the opportunity to see departments for architecture and for civil engineering. The use of Auto-CAD and Integraph-system is since long well integrated in daily work. The employees that were working with computer aided design seemed very skillful. The work was done with impressive speed and efficiency. A very interesting technique to repair pillars with the use of carbon fiber was demonstrated. It allows damaged pillars to "live again" and, in fact, become even stronger than before. This has been used to repair houses after the Hanshin earthquake. The use of "soft" steel in parts of constructions is another thing for Japanese engineers to apply when building in quake stricken areas. If some parts of a building consists of "soft" steel, which yields while affected by tremor, then the building becomes more elastic. This has proven to withstand forces better and the building doesn't collapse as easy as before.
Obayashi Gumi was contracted for projects concerning the construction of Kansai International Airport. The amount of concrete used for building the runway was 600 m3/day!
Science fiction has reached this company with the use of a system called ABCS, automatic building construction system. A huge computerized framework builds, without the help of manpower, houses of limited design. An accurate computation of every move is necessary for the robots to function. The robot selects beams and pillars from a storage area. Then the part is placed in the exact position and welded automatically. When one floor is ready, the whole framework rises up on to the position of next floor and continues to work. The working hours are not as limited as for the case with manpower. No coffee nor lunch breaks disturb the pace. And finally when the top floor is done, the frame builds itself into a roof and just stays there!
Back home in Sweden again, of course I was asked many times "How was Japan?". But how do you go about to describe something like this we've just been part of? Five weeks of feeling very privileged...when every door was being opened for you...with every possibility of making new friends and contacts, of learning and experiencing so many new things? To answer my friends and colleagues question, I've tried words like"Fantastic, Overwhelming, Unbelievable". I've been fortunate to give some slide shows and speeches about my trip to Japan. That is something I gladly do. It gives me a good chance to share my experiences with others. It also allows myself to work and sort out the plethora of impressions I have in my head.
I'm very satisfied and grateful for having had this wonderful opportunity. It is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life! Thank you very much Rotary Foundation and all the donors behind that name. Thank you my wonderful host families, the Kawakami-, the Ohtsuki-, the Daimon-, the Miyaura- and the Suda-family. You were magnificent, all of you! You really made your utmost to make my stay such a pleasant one. From each family I have many wonderful memories.
Thank you the Japanese GSE committee for having made this a very successful group study exchange-program! I dare not calculate the time and expenses you all put down in the preparation for our visit. Thank you Mr. Shigeo Matsuoka for being at my side during my vocational studies!
