Cold Strip Mill Introduction

The operation of a modern cold strip mill places demands on people, machinery and information.  Increasing customer requirements for quality, service and delivery, in the face of very competitive market prices, push steel suppliers to continually look for improvements and ways to reduce costs.  Add to that the need for total quality management, quality system compliance, ISO certification and any number of customer required quality assurance programs, and one begins to appreciate the complexity of the automation and information systems vital to support the management of a modern cold mill.

Operators need precise control over their equipment, aided by computer modeling and automation.  Real time information to permit timely, intelligent decisions is key to safety, quality and productivity.  High working ratios come from consistent, non-abusive operating practices, which lengthens equipment life and favorably impacts product quality.  Over-burdened equipment places stresses on mechanical and electrical components, shortening their life, impacting alignment and deteriorating the ability to produce a quality product.

Maintenance personnel need real time diagnostic information to become predictive, rather than reactive to equipment problems.  The ability to predict an equipment problem before a breakdown occurs improves reliability and productivity, by allowing repairs to be scheduled. The availability of detailed information on delays and equipment failures drives improvement by providing sophisticated analysis tools to locate and correct root causes.  Failure Mode Effect Analysis, sometimes referred to as FMEA, is an effective corrective method driven by good information.

Quality assurance requires precise process control, adherence to established standards, and immediate identification and diversion of any out of standard material. Not only is this a common sense approach to quality, but retaining quality compliance certification (such as ISO registration) requires proof of this compliance on a regular basis by an approved independent auditor.  Computer systems that provide for customer quality requirements, manufacturing standards, effective process control, material tracking, and exception reporting, yield a good migration path to implement total quality control.

Management at all levels requires accurate, timely information for good daily control of the individual units and the facility.  Management information is more than just knowing the daily tonnage and delays.  It’s the knowledge necessary to drive decisions and foster corrective actions.  It’s information needed by the operator, maintenance employee, foreman, quality annalist, section manager, and upward.  It’s feedback for upstream manufacturing facilities to drive improvement and downstream processes to bring material back into conformance.  The data is structured to be meaningful and supportive of the intended user.

Total integration of these needs, within and between the cold mill processing areas, suggests a very complex system of computers and human interface at all levels. Complicated setup and scheduling models, sophisticated control systems and feedback sensors, large relational databases, redundant supervisory systems, computer analytical tools, human machine interfaces, information and control networks, exception reporting, quality management, and maintenance diagnostic systems are some of the key components. Successful implementation requires a company with a broad base of experience and understanding.  Not just with respect to the computer and automation, but with backgrounds in mill management, quality, operation and maintenance.  IPACT is such a supplier.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies