Siemens Install Integrated Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to ...

Tag : structural steels
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies installs an integrated Manufacturing Execution System (MES) in theCherepovets production complex of the Russian steel producer CherMKOAO Severstal.

Severstal will thus have its own platform for plant-wide productionplanning and monitoring – an essential prerequisite not onlyfor quality assurance but also for optimizing operating costs andstock levels. The system, which is based on the Simetal MESsolution for industry, provides plant operators with an overview ofmaterial flows and production processes at all times. With the helpof key performance indicators (KPIs), processes can be evaluatedand the entire value chain in the plant can be improvedspecifically. The order is worth more than ten million euros andimplementation of the MES solution is scheduled for completion insummer 2011.

Steel producers have to constantly lower their production costswhile at the same time precisely adhering to quality and productionstandards. A precondition for this – apart from flexible andhighly available production equipment – is integralinformation and data management between processes, plant andmanagement. The transparency thus created can help to optimize theentire value chain together with all the production, logistics andancillary processes. To this end, Siemens offers its Simatic ITsolution, a standardized product platform in accordance theinternational MES standard, ISA S95, and also offers Simetal MES,an industry-specific solution based on this standard for the entireproduction process.
Having produced 11.9 million metric tons of steel in 2006,Severstal is one of the leading producers in Russia and the number5 worldwide. At its main production facility in Cherepovets innorth-west Russia, the integrated iron and steel producer makes awide variety of long and flat products, including hot andcold-rolled steels, coated steels, hot-rolled profiles, steelsections, structural steel and pipes. In Cherepovets, Severstal hasan extensive range of facilities, including a converter steelmakingplant, an electric-furnace steelmaking plant, an open-hearth steelplant, six continuous slab casters and a billet caster, twohot-rolling mills, a plate mill, three section mills, twocold-rolling mills as well as one processing, one coating and onegalvanizing line each, and a forge for pipes and sections. In orderto maintain a high level of product quality and to optimize theoperating costs at the same time, smooth interaction of all thisequipment is an essential prerequisite.
Simetal MES enables a continuous flow of all process data both in avertical direction from the actual production process to themanagement level as well as in a horizontal direction from the rawmaterial to the melt-down units, continuous caster and the finishedproduct. The system manages all melting sequences of thesteelworks, starting from the orders for slabs, billets or strips.It can react flexibly to chronological or situational deviationsfrom the norm that potentially endanger the continuation ofproduction. In order to draw up a plausible production schedule,all the resources that are used and are available are taken intoaccount in production control.

These include the actual production equipment such as meltingfurnaces, secondary metallurgy, casters and rolling/processinglines, as well as ladles, segment and roll management systems, andthe ancillary equipment. A quality assurance system not onlyevaluates the quality of the material but also carries outappropriate measures to prevent any quality deficits. This is basedon rule-based checkpoints at significant places in the productionprocess. It also enables immediate modification of targetparameters, such as re-processing by means of additional workprocedures. In this context, Simetal MES uses predefined rules thatcan be easily adapted to the respective requirements.

Posted September 19th, 2008