Sep 19 2008
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies installs an integrated Manufacturing Execution System (MES) in the Cherepovets production complex of the Russian steel producer CherMK OAO Severstal.
Severstal will thus have its own platform for plant-wide production planning and monitoring – an essential prerequisite not only for quality assurance but also for optimizing operating costs and stock levels. The system, which is based on the Simetal MES solution for industry, provides plant operators with an overview of material flows and production processes at all times. With the help of key performance indicators (KPIs), processes can be evaluated and the entire value chain in the plant can be improved specifically. The order is worth more than ten million euros and implementation of the MES solution is scheduled for completion in summer 2011.
Steel producers have to constantly lower their production costs while at the same time precisely adhering to quality and production standards. A precondition for this – apart from flexible and highly available production equipment – is integral information and data management between processes, plant and management. The transparency thus created can help to optimize the entire value chain together with all the production, logistics and ancillary processes. To this end, Siemens offers its Simatic IT solution, a standardized product platform in accordance the international MES standard, ISA S95, and also offers Simetal MES, an industry-specific solution based on this standard for the entire production process.
Having produced 11.9 million metric tons of steel in 2006, Severstal is one of the leading producers in Russia and the number 5 worldwide. At its main production facility in Cherepovets in north-west Russia, the integrated iron and steel producer makes a wide variety of long and flat products, including hot and cold-rolled steels, coated steels, hot-rolled profiles, steel sections, structural steel and pipes. In Cherepovets, Severstal has an extensive range of facilities, including a converter steelmaking plant, an electric-furnace steelmaking plant, an open-hearth steel plant, six continuous slab casters and a billet caster, two hot-rolling mills, a plate mill, three section mills, two cold-rolling mills as well as one processing, one coating and one galvanizing line each, and a forge for pipes and sections. In order to maintain a high level of product quality and to optimize the operating costs at the same time, smooth interaction of all this equipment is an essential prerequisite.
Simetal MES enables a continuous flow of all process data both in a vertical direction from the actual production process to the management level as well as in a horizontal direction from the raw material to the melt-down units, continuous caster and the finished product. The system manages all melting sequences of the steelworks, starting from the orders for slabs, billets or strips. It can react flexibly to chronological or situational deviations from the norm that potentially endanger the continuation of production. In order to draw up a plausible production schedule, all the resources that are used and are available are taken into account in production control.
These include the actual production equipment such as melting furnaces, secondary metallurgy, casters and rolling/processing lines, as well as ladles, segment and roll management systems, and the ancillary equipment. A quality assurance system not only evaluates the quality of the material but also carries out appropriate measures to prevent any quality deficits. This is based on rule-based checkpoints at significant places in the production process. It also enables immediate modification of target parameters, such as re-processing by means of additional work procedures. In this context, Simetal MES uses predefined rules that can be easily adapted to the respective requirements.