Production-management systems for steel plants should ideally cover the entire metals production process from iron- and steelmaking to rolling and processing to shipping of the final product. The production-management solution offered by Primetals Technologies is based on PSImetals, a comprehensive software suite that provides a large number of modules specifically tailored to the metals industry. It is a system that has already proven its merits in numerous steel-production plants worldwide. PSImetals was created and is continually developed and adapted by PSI, a German-based company. Primetals Technologies forged a partnership with PSI in the summer of 2016. As a result of this cooperation, customers receive perfectly matched, complete solutions from a single source—consisting of equipment, basic automation, and process automation from Primetals Technologies, as well as a production management system that combines the deep metallurgical know-how of Primetals Technologies with the PSImetals software solution of PSI.
At the core of production management systems lies the capability to evaluate whether it is feasible to manufacture a given product with the available plant equipment, and to determine exactly how the production process will be executed. To enable this kind of sophisticated assessment, production management systems requires extensive knowledge about the explicit and implicit processes taking place at every step of the steel-production chain. It needs to incorporate detailed information about both the production process with all associated equipment, and the transformation that the product itself undergoes until it is finalized.
Production and Material Tracking
In order for production management systems to work effectively, it is crucial to define rules that allow for a dynamic translation of customer orders into concrete instructions for production execution. The system has to be able to guide and track raw materials and products over the course of their complete manufacturing route, through different facilities, and up to the point of the final product being shipped.
Since production management systems handle products at various stages of completion—in other words, since they handle “intermediate products”—the system design must be programmed to know precisely what the targets are at any step of the production chain. Also, instructions for testing and sampling need to be correctly set to reflect both pre-established standards and end-customer requirements.
Production management systems can schedule orders according to plant utilization, and consider machine capabilities and throughputs, as well as planned maintenance efforts and temporary equipment deficiencies. This approach allows steel producers to dynamically enforce a strategy of highly customizable end-products, and they no longer need to restrict themselves—or their customers—to a static product portfolio. The steel producer’s sales team also profits immensely from production management systems, as the system makes it easy to determine what products can be delivered within what time frame. In the end, the ultimate beneficiary is, of course, the producer’s end customer, who profits from faster order fulfillment and a greater degree of freedom in choosing optimal product specifications.
