BUSINESS

Steel 4.0 Has Been Running in the Ostrava Steelworks for Over a Year; the Successful Modernization of Projects Is Growing Fast. A thousand engineers work in the Ostrava steelworks, including experts in automation and digitization. Together with the other workers, they are responsible for modernizing, streamlining production and improving the working environment of the Ostrava steelworks. The concept of Steel 4.0, which includes production process automation, the digitization of information about movement, as well as an overall change of approach to modern technologies, runs successfully and already has a number of successful projects. The best thing about this process is the fact that, thanks to the company’s own team of experts, the whole process can be managed “in-house”. One of the successfully completed projects is the replacement of the old control system of the collection stations at the wire-rolling mill. The new system is much more reliable and compatible with the new generation of control systems. “The aim was to replace the old system in a way to keep it the same for the operator and keep the control transparent. The main advantage is a complete modernization of the old system, while keeping the same functionality,” said Martin Dvořák, the Project Manager. Thanks to 3D measurements, customers get customized products Some time ago, ArcelorMittal Ostrava employees introduced a new prototype measuring device at the medium section rolling mill. This allows automatic measurement of the desired product profile instead of manual. The sample is placed manually in the measuring device, but the profile measurement is then fully automated. The innovation has brought more accurate, faster and more efficient profile production. “We managed to create a conceptual design of the device, to design both mechanical and electrical design as well as a mathematical model. All of this has helped us program our measurements so that we can better deliver our products to customers and be more productive. Mainly because there is no manual measuring any more, now it has to be done only at the beginning and then the 28 ǀ POSITIV 4/2018