Influence of the natural aluminium oxide layer on ... - ALU-WEB.DE

MEASURING & CONTROL
Optimized raw material usage driven by dynamic alloying
State-<strong>of</strong>-<strong>the</strong>-art casthouse production management
Dieter Deutz, PSI Metals Non Ferrous GmbH
Increasing raw material and scrap prices
in <strong>the</strong> non-ferrous industry are leading
to a continually rising portion <strong>of</strong> material
costs in overall production costs. The
effect <strong>of</strong> optimized raw material usage
is getting more and more important to
manage production costs and to ensure
competitive advantages. PSImetals, <strong>the</strong>
production management solution specialized
for <strong>the</strong> needs <strong>of</strong> non ferrous metals
producers, takes this into account by recalculating
<strong>the</strong> charging for all scheduled
melt batches giving an overall optimized
decision support for <strong>the</strong> responsible persons.
The PSI system supports all aspects <strong>of</strong> production
management. This includes a knowledge
based order dressing component to manage
<strong>the</strong> highest value <strong>of</strong> production know-how.
The sales and operational planning, due date
quoting and order related production planning
processes are covered as well as scheduling
and execution. All components are directly
integrated in one common factory model. This
makes it possible to combine <strong>the</strong> as-is-situation
<strong>the</strong> short term and even <strong>the</strong> long term
decision model.
On executing level starting with <strong>the</strong> goods
receipt, all material flows are not only tracked
but controlled. Excavators, wheel loaders
and fork-lift trucks and its weighing systems
are integrated by mobile computers. Melting,
holding, casting and all o<strong>the</strong>r equipments are
directly conducted by level 2 integration and
pdc terminals. So all production processes are
guided and every time online transparent.
PSImetals with its simple and intuitive human
interface is leading to short term implementation
and direct acceptance. The real time connection
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> actual analysis measurement
during melting for <strong>the</strong> optimization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
batch composition and <strong>the</strong> subsequent alloy
takes into account <strong>the</strong> furnace sump, lumpiness
and many o<strong>the</strong>r aspects leads to highest
quality with lowest material costs. Each material
unit is tracked from <strong>the</strong> ingredients to <strong>the</strong>
final product.
The PSI System delivers <strong>the</strong> current stocks,
and knows <strong>the</strong> planned scrap inflow. The
proactive control <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> composition optimization
uses this knowledge to form follow-up
charges, and thus achieve significantly lower
usage <strong>of</strong> new material and at <strong>the</strong> same time
lower scrap stocks at lower costs.
The tracking and optimizing <strong>of</strong> energy consumption
as basis for smarter energy procurement
is also already possible.
This text gives an overview <strong>of</strong> how to optimize
material flows within <strong>aluminium</strong> casthouses
by using a holistic production management
system.
Casthouse production management
Main cost drivers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> production costs in
an <strong>aluminium</strong> casthouse are raw material and
energy costs. Both topics are addressed by
PSImetals Production Management System
(PMS).
To reach targets like
Minimize material and energy costs
• Optimize scrap usage by integrated
alloying
• Control number <strong>of</strong> alloying steps
• Track and plan energy consumption
Secure and optimize production processes,
especially alloying
• Integrated testing device and alloying
recalculation
• Control deviation handling by customer
managed workflows
• Tool management
Real time transparency & material genealogy
• Tracking <strong>of</strong> all relevant events
• Tracking <strong>of</strong> all material items
• Tracking <strong>of</strong> material genealogy
first <strong>of</strong> all real time transparency is needed by
driving and supporting <strong>the</strong> production processes.
Step 1 – material management
and material flow control
The fur<strong>the</strong>r approaches are explained based
on a casthouse example which is shown in
Fig. 1:
Fig. 1: Areas <strong>of</strong> production within a casthouse
Beginning with a scrap and metal stockyard
<strong>the</strong> casthouse examples consist <strong>of</strong> melting
furnaces, casting, sawing, homogenization and
scalping devices. PSImetals covers all types
<strong>of</strong> casthouses. The example should point out
high complexity in different alloys and dimensions
especially when casting ingots and billets
is not limited.
Tracking <strong>of</strong> all types <strong>of</strong> materials is essential
for <strong>the</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>r steps. The starting point is
<strong>the</strong> material input in <strong>the</strong> factory. On basis <strong>of</strong>
notifications and purchase orders <strong>the</strong> input is
booked and <strong>the</strong> material is ready for fur<strong>the</strong>r
qualification and/or preparation steps. Each
movement is driven by PSImetals to ensure
that every material is a <strong>the</strong> right position in
accordance to <strong>the</strong> schedules. At each workplace
<strong>the</strong> corresponding schedule gives <strong>the</strong>
workers <strong>the</strong>ir program for <strong>the</strong> shift. By activating
<strong>the</strong> next task related transport orders
for forklifts, cranes or fully automatic handling
devices are generated.
This principle <strong>of</strong> controlling and driving
<strong>the</strong> material movements, tracking <strong>the</strong> location
and <strong>the</strong> as-is values <strong>of</strong> each material unit is
not only valid for raw materials (RM), but
also for work in process (WIP), semi-finished
goods (SFG) and finished goods (FG).
PSImetals provides all needed customizing
functionality to make all adoptions to <strong>the</strong> customer
situation as easy as possible. As an example
<strong>the</strong> built in editor for <strong>the</strong> yard topology
is mentioned. With this editor <strong>the</strong> customer
can change his structure directly without any
programming. This is in <strong>the</strong> casthouse area
used to change <strong>the</strong> structure <strong>of</strong> boxes in according
to <strong>the</strong> product mix and <strong>the</strong> procurement
strategy.
Step 2 – integrated dynamic alloying
Based on <strong>the</strong> sufficient transparency <strong>the</strong> real
benefits are achieved by using <strong>the</strong> built-in al-
26 ALUMINIUM · EAC CONGRESS 2011