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by Lauren Gibbons Paul, Contributing Editor Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:04:20 PM   | Abstract: | Australian-based Smorgon Steel discards pen and paper in favor of software that automates the monitoring of plant downtime. |
Like any makers of commodity products, steel producers are behind the eight ball, profit-wise. Because they sit at the beginning of the supply chain, providing raw steel for others to turn into finished goods, opportunities for revenue enhancement are few, and margins are tight. Therefore, steel manufacturers must do whatever they can to maximize the performance of their costly plant equipment. With an overall corporate directive to become the lowest-cost steel producer in Australia, $2.4 billion Smorgon Steel Group Ltd. knew it would need to minimize production downtime if it were to meet that goal. In 2002, the company decided to automate the tracking of downtime at its Laverton mill, which contains a rod and bar mill and a meltshop. Plant operators had always recorded the start and finish times of such events on paper, then entered that data into disparate systems. Those records were notoriously inaccurate and did not give management timely insight into the causes or possible prevention of the downtime. Smorgon replaced its manual reporting system with FactoryTalk performance improvement software (formerly RSBizware) from Rockwell Automation Inc. in 2002. The FactoryTalk software falls under the category of enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI), according to Alison Smith, senior research analyst for manufacturing operations at AMR Research. EMI is critically important in "asset-heavy" industries like mining, power generation, and steel and oil production, where raw material is run through a lengthy process and then sold to other manufacturers. [Click to continue] |