STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 04/2019 EXTRACT

74 | STEEL PROCESSING
Dillinger makes your plates talk to you
Plate processing à la carte – via smartphone
Dillinger is working at full throttle on the digitalisation of its value chain. The company is backing design-thinking
processes in innovation management to meet its customers’ needs as efficiently as possible. The first fruit of
this development method is the E-Connect app, which provides customers with immediate, plate-specific
information at the swipe of a barcode. The user can interlink this data on the with a large range of services and
calculation tools available on the higher-level E-Service platform.
Working with Dillinger has never
been as convenient as now: at
the push of a button, the customer
is given valuable information, around the
clock - with no waiting times, and anywhere
in the world. This steel producer, a
global quality and technology leader, is
unceasingly searching for new and better
them in selecting the best grade of steel
for their needs. Feasibility checks and
notes concerning possible additional
requirements, such as ultrasonic inspections,
thus transform the extensive delivery
range into a tailor-made program. In addition
to their delivery history, customers
also have all relevant order data, such as
of top-quality Dillinger steels. The benefits
of this platform, which can also be
accessed while travelling, using a smartphone
or a tablet, for marketing/sales
teams, stockholders and steel users are
readily apparent: thanks to access to their
own individual, continuously refreshed
data, irrespective of time and location,
they are always up-to-date. In the case of
orders, for instance, divergences such as
delays – and also pre-deadline completion!
– thus make communications and planning
changes possible at an early stage. In addition,
time-consuming searches for the
information needed, followed by printing-out
and copying of documents, are
now a thing of the past. This relieves
employees of tiresome administrative
tasks, accelerates implementation and
minimises the risk of transmission errors.
For steel users, not only the planability of
warehousing and production processes,
but also productivity, are boosted.
Groundbreaking connection
between plate and smartphone
Customers of Dillinger receive specific data from the original certificate (as a PDF file)
via scans of the barcode (Picture: Dillinger)
solutions, to proactively fulfil customers’
expectations. For this reason, the company
consistently exploits the potentials of digitalisation,
always aiming to optimise cooperation
using new services. The basis and
central element in this is the E-Service customer
information platform, which is also
configured for mobile terminal devices.
This intuitive tool on the Dillinger website
gives steel stockholders and users immediate
access to all the relevant data on all
aspects of their orders – in German, English
or French. A Product Finder assists
invoices, inspection documents and certificates
at their disposal for download at any
time. Thanks to the simple-to-use search
and sort functions, material analyses,
standards, specifications and all approvals
can be found here quickly and easily.
The E-Service platform’s service package
is rounded off by a series of high-performance
calculation tools for welding
characteristics: carbon equivalent, preheat
temperature, hardness in the heat-affected
zone during welding, etc., can thus be
obtained directly for working and welding
Dillinger has now expanded this useful
E-Service kit with another module: the
E-Connect app now also immediately provides
the customer with a plethora of
plate-specific information. When the customer
scans the barcode on the plate in
front of him using a Smartphone, he
receives not only the specific data from the
original certificate (as a PDF file) for that
plate, but also general order information,
the results of the inspections and tests performed,
and the chemical analysis data.
The customer can then export this data in
machine-readable formats, such as CSV,
XML and JSON, or use the link provided to
connect it to the tools available on the
E-Service portal. The immediate availability
of this data, of great relevance for the entire
goods-reception and production process-
STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 1 (2019) No. 4