Gang Wang, vice chief engineer of CISDI Chongqing Information Technology Co., Ltd.

BPR-based intelligent manufacturing is driving us forward

Almost all the stands at METEC showcased their intelligent expertise for steel manufacturing.

CISDI’s intelligent manufacturing solution based on BPR (business process re-engineering) was a welcome addition, judging by the response from visitors and partners.

Today’s world faces new challenges when it comes to resources, renewable energy and environment, and intelligent manufacturing has become crucial to steel upgrading.

Industry 4.0, the internet of things, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence have been developing rapidly, which is creating unprecedented opportunities for conventional manufacturing sectors.

Yet intelligent manufacturing is not as simple as installing a robot, a set of information-based management systems or a mathematical model for working procedures.

It involves the revolutionary, systematic engineering that integrates and coordinates production, management, technology and organisation. In other words, intelligent manufacturing entails an entire transformation of technology, management, organisation and finally the manufacturing mode.

By virtue of our 61 years of experience in steel engineering and our research and development results, CISDI has taken the lead in putting into operation the automation, big data, industrial internet, artificial intelligence and internet of things at the steelworks in a centralised way.

By December 2018, Baowu Shaogang, a pioneer of the world steel industry, had built an intelligent integrated control centre for its upstream blast furnace procedures. 

The centre is a consolidation of the plant’s original 42 central control rooms and can implement a large-scale, long-distance (more than 5 km) and intelligent control.

The  350,000 items of data collected support the working of over 100 smart models and as a result, over 400 workers no longer have to work in risky conditions.

The intelligent centre has changed the traditional methods of production and decision-making. This has streamlined 60 per cent of production areas and reduced working posts by nearly 40 per cent.

It has re-engineered Shaogang, transforming it into a flat, leaner, more flexible and efficient organisation. 

CISDI is now designing Shaogang’s downstream intelligent integrated centre for steelmaking and rolling.

The world’s first intelligent integrated control centre - Baowu Shaogang’s upstream-BF centralised control centre

A screen at  Shaogang, showing the centralised control platform

A CISDI engineer explains to METEC visitors how the intelligent control centre functions