Primetals sees steelmaking as metals orchestra and digital unity
The Metals Orchestra concept reflects today’s requirements for a fully digitalized facility in the metals industry. There are striking parallels between the players in an orchestra and the units in a metals-production plant. In an orchestra, all musicians need to be able to play perfectly just by themselves as well as alongside each other.
The same is true for a steel plant, where each production unit has to be highly optimized in itself but is also required to flawlessly work together with all other facilities of the production chain. To achieve a high-quality production, great flexibility, and exceptional productivity, all units within the complete production chain need to be in harmony.
“Instruments for the digital era of steel” is the slogan that Primetals Technologies has created to mirror the concept behind its new and future-proof equipment-integration approach. It is based on the notion that all components need to be ready to meet future challenges, and it is driven by three goals: First, the production quality of a steel plant should be as reliable and consistent as possible. Second, the production chain should be adaptable to respond to specific customer requests, changes in raw materials, and other factors. And third, it tends to be on the wish list of literally any steel producer worldwide to lower production costs and increase output.
THE PLAYERS OF THE ORCHESTRA …
All plant components can be thought of as “players in the orchestra,” which need to be enabled to cooperate with one another in several ways. So-called “smart” sensors are constantly providing information where necessary. Sophisticated process optimization provides adaptable control of all local processes, and automatic functions lessen the overall workload.
Condition monitoring provides transparency and minimizes the maintenance efforts, and advanced connectivity features lead to a highly efficient use of the information available within the separate plant facilities. All together, these technologies make the lives of plant personnel significantly easier and allow for everyday work to become “smarter,” thanks to the support of the Metals Orchestra system.
… AND ITS CONDUCTORS
The orchestration of the plant components is performed by three “conductors” which form the digital unity: a Production Management System (PMS), Maintenance Asset Technology (MAT), and a process quality optimization package that Primetals Technologies calls “Through-Process Optimization” (TPO).
These conductors ensure that all facilities are properly synchronized and achieve their full potential.
