NLMK Group implements end-to-end automation of steelmaking management

2024: Transition to MES in steelmaking

NLMK Group switched to a process management information system (MES-system) in steelmaking. It provides planning and control of steel production from iron production to the shipment of slabs to customers or for subsequent processing. The company announced this on February 5, 2024.

With the help of the system, more than a thousand users in a convenient WEB interface control the processing of more than 85 melts on 30 units per day, monitor and optimize more than 100 technological parameters (temperature and chemical composition of the metal, processing time, dosage of materials), analyze more than 50 performance indicators.

The overall economic impact of initiatives using MES digital tools in NLMK's steelmaking industry exceeds 500 million rubles per year due to reduced material consumption, metal losses, optimization of melting time, and increased energy efficiency.

One example of the end-to-end process of the new MES system is the "smart" order of cast iron and scrap for converter melting, which allows you to reduce metal losses. The mathematical model predicts the chemical composition of cast iron coming from blast furnace shops and calculates the type and optimal amount of scrap that needs to be added to the melt to obtain the desired parameters of steel.

Control of scrap and cast iron coming to smelting is carried out using the technologies of automatic radio identification (RFID), machine vision and transmission of several thousand signals per minute from technological equipment to the MES system through NLMK's own IIoT platform and pLTE corporate network .

The use of WEB technologies in the development of MES and the complete coverage of workshops with wireless communication allows you to work with the system not only in stationary workplaces, but also on mobile industrial tablets. The video stream from 200 cameras, displayed in MES, allows you to remotely observe the steelmaking production in real time.

The launch of the MES system in NLMK Hot Steel Shop in the first half of 2024 will complete the end-to-end automation of production management "from quarry to roll," providing dispatching, technology management and product quality along the entire chain from iron ore mining to shipment of rolled products to the client on a single digital platform.