Severstal, one of the world's largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies, will spend RUB 9.1 billion on IT and digital projects in 2021.
In 2021, Severstal will significantly change process model of IT in the company and organizational structure. At the moment, the key process change is continuous work with the client to create a joint product. In this connection, in January 2021, four new client teams were created, responsible for the development of Severstal's business in their functional area. The teams focused on generating and developing new initiatives, promoting digital tools in business units, and managing implementation projects that drive additional production growth.
On October 1, Severstal will host a productive launch of the SAP S /4 HANA system, which will replace the current ERP generation - SAP ECC. This is one of the company's largest transformation projects in a decade. In addition, in 2021, Severstal's IT function plans to implement more than 200 implementation projects of various scales. The largest of them traditionally lie in the field of production, sales and logistics. In terms of supply chain management, client models of sales, internal logistics, as well as medium-term planning of production assets will be implemented. Other significant projects include the further development of the online store, the replication of the MES system at the hardware group and the implementation of the engineering data management system.
Within the framework of Severstal Digital, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning was created, which includes a data analysis department and computer vision department, expanded architecture and development team, and implemented 24/7 solution support. In 2021, in the field of digital projects, specialists will continue the trend towards improving the energy efficiency of industrial equipment, as well as increasing the productivity of key units. In particular, a model is currently being tested at Karelsky Okatysh, which will save energy on the roasting machines. In addition, thanks to digital solutions, it is planned to increase production at the 2000 mill of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant (CherMK), as well as significantly accelerate the heating of slabs in the sheet-rolling shop for the production of pipe rolling at CherMK. As a reminder, in 2020, significant success was achieved in the areas of energy efficiency and growth in production volumes, for example, Severstal introduced a solution based on artificial intelligence technology for the continuous pickling unit No. 3 of CherMK, which increased its productivity by more than 6.5%. In addition, a machine learning model was successfully launched for the automatic control of air compressors, which allows more efficient use of electricity.
Severstal maintains leadership in the digitalization of metallurgy. Our team of specialists is one of the largest in the Russian industry. We are consistently introducing a data drive approach, which involves not only the digitalization of production processes, but also the formation of a special digital culture in the company, a culture of trust in these innovative technologies. The Digital Steel educational program, which was launched in 2020, helps us in this: we plan to teach the basic level of the course to all employees of the company in a few years. In addition, projects that have been successfully implemented and have proven their effectiveness make a big contribution to digital culture. In 2020, thanks to digital solutions, Severstal produced more than 150 thousand tons of additional finished products, received 1.4 billion rubles of additional profit, "commented the Deputy CEO for Finance and the economy of Severstal Alexey Kulichenko.
