The MELTSHOPPING open house event organized by BM Group Polytec in November welcomed over twenty italian steelmakers interested in 4.0 solutions for Meltshop. Robotics, Tracking systems, Automation platforms to upgrade steel plants. Producers had the opportunity to talk and discuss with BM Group Polytec engineers, available to seize new starting points to be developed.
"Why mechatronics is relevant in steelmaking process?" we asked. For more than one reason steel industry is rapidly moving towards 4.0 solutions. Automatic or semi-automatic robotized cells replace operators in dangerous activities keeping them back from risk areas. Furthermore these technologically advanced robots and IIOT platforms are able to collect products' and process objective datas that are essential to understand how to correct or improve operations to obtain more quality and production's efficiency. The so called machine learning starts from data collection and analysis and thanks to them predictive maintenance is today possible. To better understand how to support steel producers in the transition towards lean production, our technical teams participated to a training focused on Meltshop Industrial Process. The group had the opportunity to discuss process critical issues, from scrap yard to ccm, with Maurizio Zanforlin, R&D at ORI Martin Company, a man with a huge experience.
Both Meltshopping event and Meltshop Training Day told us something important about Italian steel industry: Technologies available today are a concrete tool to upgrade industrial processes and increase productivity and most of them are Made in Italy. Despite the economic situation, many Italian steel producers believe in innovation and are investing plants' modernization and digitization projects to be competitive, considering sustainable practices and circular economy as potential to redefine growth with positive sustainable society-wide benefits. There are a lot of success stories in Italian steel industry and we will tell you about them.