The hype around digitalization seen in the last decade has passed, but digital processes will be crucial to support the steel industry's transition to electric arc furnace steelmaking, as well as to ensure the quality of scrap and closed-loop systems. Transparency of data exchange will be crucial. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence will play an increasingly important role in process automation, but the human factor will remain indispensable.
This is what Kurt Herzog, head of Industrial digitalization at Primetals Technologies, said during an exclusive interview with Kallanish at the technology supplier's headquarters in Linz.
Europe knows a lot about digitalization
There was a time when people believed that big data would solve many problems in manufacturing, but how to use this data is the next important step to making the industry more efficient.
European metallurgists have been implementing digital processes in production for decades, but their software, often created specifically for them, is aging, and the people who developed it are retiring. "So software maintenance is a huge challenge," Herzog said.
Compared to China, whose approach is to create a huge data processing infrastructure, collect data, and then "start thinking about what to do with this data," Europe says, "There are already many[of data available]. How can we expand this and how can we quickly benefit from everything we do?" he asked.
Digital processes support competitiveness, but investments in software fluctuate.
In the current conditions of low profitability of the steel industry, digitalization can support the competitiveness of steel enterprises and reduce the cost per ton.
"How often is a slab made with a defect that is not detected or accounted for, but it still goes through the rest of the production process, and eventually the final product must be disposed of? It takes a huge amount of energy and other costs to refine this product, although I know that the stove is not very good," said Herzog.
Digital tools can be used to carry out retaliatory actions, for example, to repair a product, transfer a stove to another consumer, or dispose of a stove if it is deemed unusable.
Intralogistics is another important lever of digitalization. This may "seem rather boring," but digital processes can help to find a "compromise" between factories that want to ensure short delivery times, but therefore need large quantities.
