Production Optimization

Large aluminum rolling mill processed material at 12 work centers, with focus on hot, and cold rolling mills. Aluminum slabs were heated before entering a roughing hot rolling mill and forwarded to further rolling, after which they were left to cool off for the cold rolling process. However, the cold rolling process also required a particular temperature of the material so it was not supposed to get too cold. If so, it should be reheated at a special reheating station. The station could handle only a single piece of a material at the time, so it was very important to keep a continuous track of each piece of material exiting the hot rolling process in order to avoid the need for reheating.

This was obtained as a feature of the MES system which recorded exit time from the hot rolling of each piece of material together with its physical dimensions and temperature at exit. By applying the correct formula for each material type and respecting environment temperature, it was possible to make precise estimations of raw material temperature at the future time and schedule it for production in the cold rolling at optimal temperature.