Industry 4.0 - Smart Factory at ArcelorMittal

At ArcelorMittal's Bremen plant, the networking of IT systems and production facilities, the self-organization of systems and the integration of a scheduling system are increasing the efficiency and flexibility of production.

Customer benefits

A modern architecture of the resulting IT landscape ensures the future viability of the investment. OHB Digital Services provides support in the form of consulting on agile software development as well as development and integration.

Description:

Software development

Customer:

Arcelor Mittal Bremen GmbH

Links:

https://germany.arcelormittal.com

Improving production scheduling with SASKIA

One important step is the introduction of the SASKIA production planning system. For a long time, manually planned campaigns were the order of the day. In future, the scheduling of production facilities will be largely automated. Algorithms will be used to utilize the systems even more efficiently. This will be achieved primarily by linking the physical properties of the materials with production costs and plant restrictions. This results in greater flexibility and efficiency in production. Another advantage of the solution is that it creates a common view for dispatchers as well as for the control center in production. The transparency created in this way makes it possible to make the right decisions together at all times. A high degree of configurability allows the system to be continuously improved and modularly expanded once it has been successfully implemented.

AMBus integration platform

The integration of production planning, material database, scheduling system, production facilities and other systems is carried out using an integration platform specially developed by ArcelorMittal Bremen, the AMBus (ArcelorMittal Bremen Bus). Thanks to the loose coupling of the systems via the AMBus, changes and extensions can be easily implemented. This outstanding expandability has been demonstrated several times by the gradual integration of more and more IT systems and production facilities, such as the packaging line for hot-rolled black coils.

Packaging line for hot-rolled black coils

In order to be able to produce more flexibly in the overall network of all systems, previously separate processes must be consolidated. This can currently be seen in the consolidation of the packaging of hot-rolled black coils in a new system developed specifically for this purpose. In future, these hot coils will be strapped with a thicker packaging strap as part of the HRC logistics project. This will make the entire packaging process safer and greatly reduce the previously high cost of packaging the coils.

Crane automation

The automation of warehouse management also plays a major role in Bremen. Crane movements in particular are to be further automated in the future. The standardization of processes across plant areas also allows ArcelorMittal Bremen to use specially developed software here, which first replaces the existing systems and then allows smarter use of automation tools.