MMK Shares Its Digital Transformation Experience at Steelmakers' IT Forum
Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works' delegation included representatives of MMK and MMK-Informservice (part of MMK Group). They delivered reports and took part in panel discussions and sessions on import substitution of IT technologies and software development, digital production and robotisation, data management and wireless networks. The Company's representatives spoke about MMK's digitalisation projects and the results achieved through the use of innovative technologies and business process automation.
"MMK already has a high level of process automation, including through proprietary solutions, and the company's IT landscape continues to improve as part of the implementation of the Company's key digitalisation strategy. We are working on ensuring the reliability and performance of the software solutions that we are using or currently implementing, as well as their roll-out across MMK's divisions," said Vadim Feoktistov, Director of MMK-Informservice.
Dmitriy Shnaider, Head of the Centre of Mathematical Modeling Competencies and Advanced Analytics at MMK-Informservice, presented a report titled "Optimal Iron – an Integrated System of Raising Efficiency in MMK's First Stage of Production", where he talked about the automated information system created for the optimal planning and model-driven control of sintering and coke-blast production. Presenting the Company’s Optimal Iron Automated Information System (AIS), he outlined its key modules, including those for optimising supply and consumption of coal and iron ore raw materials, calculating the effect of various factors on the modes of blast furnaces, assessing technical conditions of the equipment, optimising pig iron production volumes, as well as budgeting and costing. In addition, he presented models developed by MMK for forecasting stock exchange prices for raw iron ore, hot-rolled coils, metal scrap and demand for finished products.
The expert noted that the system can take into account both universal parameters and multipliers of various indicators, as well as individual ones specific to a particular furnace, which are refined during operation using machine-learning methods. The Optimal Iron AIS provides overall optimisation based on cost, including calculation of the actual impact of various indicators and operating parameters on the efficiency of the blast furnace process, calculation of the production plan and the variable component of the cost of pig iron. The functions of the system also include weekly model-driven management of the blast furnace shop load, which helps to ensure fulfilment of the production plan by factoring in the current operating conditions of the blast furnaces.
The economic benefit from the operation of select modules of the system amounted to about RUB 100 million in 2021. The system is currently in the testing phase and is being prepared to launch for pilot production in August of this year.
Mikhail Verisov, Director of the Next Robotics Technology Centre (a company created on the basis of MMK-Informservice), which is supervising the implementation of RPA systems across MMK Group, said that MMK is a leader in this area. Today, the Company's RPA robots already cover more than 250 business processes and perform a wide range of tasks, from raw material procurement to planning labour productivity. They ensure a 3- to 100-fold increase in operational speed as well as reducing risk, increasing the loyalty of both employees and customers, ensuring compliance with regulations and increasing overall efficiency.
Dmitry Ganaev, Head of Data Management at MMK-Informservice, noted in his presentation that the key areas of digitalisation at MMK Group include the development of basic solutions (ERP, production planning systems, EDI), development and unification of MES systems, integration of solutions into the digital ecosystem, and development and support of IT infrastructure and data management. In this context, the development of data management and corporate storage is intended to provide a single point of entry for analysts and a single storage model for data downloaded from various sources, as well as the storage of historical data. All this will reduce server and system load when generating reports and will provide a single resource for developing consolidated analytical reports that integrate different systems.
At the fifth session at the end of the forum's first day, Stanislav Gordeev, Head of the IT Infrastructure Support and Operation Department at MMK-Informservice, spoke about building the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) infrastructure at MMK Group on the basis of the Private LTE and LoRaWAN backbone networks. He noted that a comprehensive set of IIoT technologies makes it possible to create an information transmission environment and thereby ensure maximum readiness of IT infrastructure to accelerate the implementation of various digital projects (including digital twins, unmanned transport, autonomous robots, and computer vision).
The main tasks solved by IIoT systems include data collection from various devices and sensors and their transmission and exchange; positioning of personnel, equipment, machines and units indoors and outdoors; as well as highly specialised tasks in predictive analytics, pattern recognition and more. MMK has already prepared the basic infrastructure largely based on Russian technologies and solutions. These, among other things, make it possible to diagnose malfunctions by vibration, magnetic field and temperature, as well as anticipate the occurrence and development of defects in propulsion systems.
To date, MMK is planning, on the basis of IIoT and wireless data transfer technologies, to implement system cases for monitoring the efficiency of cooling towers of the reverse cycle of the turbine section of the central heating and distribution plant; visualisation of the railway contact network with the application system; energy management; systems of hyperlocal monitoring of the thermal condition of blast furnaces; warehouse management systems; and an information system for inbound control of scrap metal supplies.
On the second day of the forum, Alexander Fomichev, Senior Manager for Operational and Calendar Planning at MMK, spoke about the development of a production planning system at the plant. This work was based on an analysis of bottlenecks that have a negative impact on production efficiency, and aims to increase asset turnover, reduce production costs and improve the quality of the Company’s products and services.
The plan for the development and implementation of the operational and calendar planning system included six major stages, covering MMK's main production workshops, starting with the steelmaking facility. As a result, the automated system has become a key tool for monitoring and managing production at the plant, which records the timeliness of delivery and orders’ completion status (via a current OTIF [On-Time-in-Full] indicator by shop), as well as the dynamics of key performance indicators. The successful implementation of this digital product enables it to be scaled up to other enterprises within MMK Group.
Today, digital transformation spans across all of MMK's business processes, from sinter and coke production to interaction with customers and consumers. MMK's digitalisation strategy is based on some 200 projects, and their implementation guarantees the safety of employees, increases labour productivity and improves product quality.