Broner Metals Solutions, worldwide specialist provider of integrated MES, supply chain and scheduling solutions for metals, has been selected by CSN to implement a new Caster and Hot Mill Scheduling solution for integration with Broner's existing planning and scheduling modules.
In 2010, Broner conducted a Benefits Study at CSN to identify areas for improvement. The study revealed potential multi-million dollar savings by improving slab reallocation and reducing the quantity of tundishes used, improving synchronization problems due to breaks in sequences in the Melt Shop, and reducing the time between slabs released out of the furnace in the Hot Strip Mill.
The new project consists of integrating Broner's Caster Scheduler (CS), Hot Mill Scheduler (HS) and Melt Shop Control Centre (MSCC) modules to work together to generate synchronized schedules. The synchronisation between the Caster Scheduler and the Hot Mill Scheduler will enable the solution to support and continue the current CSN practise of achieving average temperatures, and provide the opportunity to increase production targets.
The synchronisation between the Caster Scheduler and the Hot Mill Scheduler will enable the solution to consider the whole order book and cooling times as a result of the schedule. This will aim to achieve up to 30% hot connect, dependent upon manufacturing conditions and the content of the order book.
The Scheduling process at CSN has been designed to be easily configured to reflect the bottleneck processes:
- Hot mill driven subordinate casting and steel making to optimise re-heating and rolling
- Caster Driven optimise caster productivity and subordinate rolling and steel making
- Steel Plant optimise use of hot metal.
The key benefits expected from this implementation include:
- Increased scheduling efficiency
- Increased conformance of schedule to plan/customer delivery requirements
- Improved order application to liquid steel
- Multi-user capabilities allowing multiple users to plan / schedule interactively
David Mushin, Broner's Chief Executive said "Broner has a valued and long standing relationship with CSN. It's a pleasure to provide an integrated scheduling solution which is flexible and can be easily adapted to requirements due to market or operational changes".
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