Thoughts on the Intelligent Transformation and Upgrading of Steel Enterprises

1 The Current Status of Intelligent Manufacturing in Steel Manufacturing Enterprises

With the rapid development of steel enterprises, the integration of industrialization and informatization in steel enterprises is deepening, and the demand for strengthening their own informatization construction is becoming increasingly urgent. Currently, new generation information technologies represented by the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, and blockchain are evolving rapidly, and a new round of intelligent manufacturing revolution will have a significant and far-reaching impact on the development of the steel industry. The steel industry has certain advantageous conditions for implementing intelligent manufacturing: first, it is a traditional industry that urgently needs transformation and upgrading, with pressing internal driving forces; second, it is a typical industry for the generation and application of big data, with feasibility for realization; third, the production process of the steel industry belongs to a continuous manufacturing industry with standardized process flows, which has wide replicability for implementation; fourth, the steel industry has a good foundation in automation and informatization in the field of industrial production, making it the industry most urgent for transformation and upgrading to intelligent manufacturing, and also the closest to intelligent manufacturing. Currently, intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry is in its initial stage, and there are still the following main issues.

1.1 The Foundation of Intelligent Manufacturing Needs Improvement

The foundation of intelligent manufacturing is digitalization and informatization. After years of development, the steel industry has made significant improvements in aspects such as automation of basic equipment, automation of production processes, and enterprise management systems, providing a good foundation for intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry. However, the steel industry is a typical process manufacturing industry, and its business processes are much more complex than those of discrete manufacturing industries. As the informatization foundation for the transformation and upgrading of enterprises to intelligent manufacturing, there is still much room for improvement and enhancement. For example, the adaptability of the smelting intelligent control system model to changes in external factors needs to be improved, and it cannot form a closed-loop control; the level of full-process planning and scheduling needs to be strengthened, as most production control requires manual intervention, and has not expanded from sub-factories to the entire process. The dynamic collaborative scheduling of upstream and downstream, production-energy-logistics, etc., needs to be enhanced; dynamic and closed-loop quality control throughout the lifecycle is yet to be formed, and there is a significant gap in achieving supply chain collaboration that integrates information, resources, business, and market. The enterprise informatization system lacks information integration and functional integration, and the level of integrated control needs to be improved.

Research shows that most steel enterprises have not yet achieved innovation in management systems during the intelligent manufacturing and control processes, and have not built modern databases. As a result, enterprises face increased difficulty in consumer management, making it hard for steel enterprises to meet the diverse needs of customers. In the future development process, steel enterprises should start from customer needs, enhance internal information sharing capabilities, and build an informatization information sharing platform to implement informatization technology in mining production, thus achieving reasonable allocation of various resources.

1.2 The Development Level of Intelligent Manufacturing is Uneven

According to the analysis of the intelligent manufacturing capability maturity model, there is a significant disparity in the level of intelligent manufacturing among steel enterprises. Some advanced steel enterprises have a high level of intelligent manufacturing development, but there are still many steel enterprises with low levels of integration between industrialization and informatization. The informatization framework only reaches the L3 level, and the operational management and data decision-making that combine production and operation are blank, with intelligent applications at a primary stage. Although some enterprises with relatively good levels of intelligence have begun to establish data middle platforms or data centers, the interconnection between data sources and various application systems lacks standardization, leading to data gaps between systems, and inconsistencies in data sources for the same indicator, which greatly diminishes the business value of information systems.

1.3 The Level of Intelligent Manufacturing Solution Providers Needs Improvement

Currently, there are many intelligent manufacturing solution providers in the steel industry, but those capable of delivering mature intelligent manufacturing solutions specifically for the steel industry are rare. There is a lack of common technology research and promotion for intelligent manufacturing, and there are few leading service organizations with strong professional service capabilities that can effectively support the development of intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry.

1.4 The Complete Intelligent Manufacturing Standard System is Lacking

"Intelligent manufacturing, standards first"; standardization work is an important technical foundation for achieving intelligent manufacturing and other major strategic choices. The construction of an intelligent manufacturing standard system must be strengthened. New generation information technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet have been applied to varying degrees in the steel industry. However, due to the ongoing improvement of the intelligent manufacturing standardization system in the steel field, there is a lack of a complete set of industry intelligent manufacturing standard systems to lead and guide, resulting in a lack of a clear path for the development of intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry.

1.5 The Level of Intelligent Decision-Making Needs Improvement

The core of intelligent manufacturing in steel enterprises is the efficient development of information resources, improving the overall utilization rate of resources, achieving data flow throughout the entire process, and making intelligent decisions based on business data analysis. Data, as a new type of production material, is a key element for achieving intelligent decision-making in enterprises. However, many enterprises focus too much on the construction of business systems, lacking integration of data and insufficient exploration of the application value of data. They have not truly realized the application value of data, merely collecting data without in-depth analysis and mining, resulting in data not reaching its maximum application value. Although some steel enterprises have established comprehensive control platforms for data visualization, they have only achieved multi-dimensional display of data, reaching a digital level without uncovering the deeper value behind each piece of business data, thus failing to leverage data to assist enterprises in their intelligent transformation.

1.6 The Level of Supply Chain Collaboration Urgently Needs Improvement

The supply chain in the steel industry can be divided into five links: planning, procurement, production, distribution, and sales. Currently, the five links of the steel industry supply chain have not formed a system integration and have not achieved integration of production and sales. The information flow, capital flow, logistics, and business flow have not achieved organic unity and integration. According to the "Data Map", in 2018, the proportion of enterprises in China's steel industry that achieved integration of production, supply, and sales was 19.8%, and those that achieved integration of the industrial chain was 5.4%. It is evident that there is significant room for improvement in supply chain collaboration among steel enterprises. Steel enterprises can only enhance their "immunity" by effectively integrating the logistics, information flow, and capital flow of the upstream and downstream of the supply chain, achieving interconnectivity throughout the entire chain, and accurately connecting the supply and demand sides.

2 Analysis of Development Strategies for Intelligent Manufacturing in the Steel Industry

To assist the steel industry in achieving intelligent transformation and upgrading in the new era, intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry should focus on improving the intelligent manufacturing standard system, strengthening the foundation of intelligent manufacturing, building intelligent manufacturing platforms, and accelerating talent cultivation.

2.1 The Development of Intelligent Manufacturing Must Be Closely Integrated with Standardization Construction

The overall approach to intelligent manufacturing in steel enterprises should focus on the construction of the intelligent manufacturing standard system and platform, enhancing the digital, networked, and intelligent levels of steel enterprises, and creating intelligent manufacturing solutions for the steel industry. Standard specifications are the foundation for the application of information technology and the development of intelligent manufacturing in enterprises, and they are the driving force for the development of intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry. The construction and promotion of the standardization system will provide strong support for the development of intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry. Existing standards and specifications can no longer fully meet the requirements for the development of intelligent manufacturing; it is necessary to improve the standard system that meets the requirements for the development of intelligent manufacturing, especially to strengthen the construction of standards in cutting-edge fields and fill the gaps in the standardization system. Additionally, it is necessary to advance in the breadth and depth of standardization organization construction, talent cultivation, and standardization implementation to solidify the foundational support system for standardization work.

2.2 Strengthen the Foundation of Intelligent Manufacturing and Promote the Application of Industrial Internet in Steel Manufacturing

Steel enterprises should improve the four-level informatization system based on basic automation systems, production process control systems, manufacturing execution systems, and enterprise management systems, seize the development opportunities of 5G, vigorously develop the "Internet +" model, and promote the integration and application of industrial robots, digital intelligent high-end equipment, intelligent control technology, and flexible manufacturing process technology with the Internet. Actively research the integration paths of steel manufacturing and industrial Internet to provide services for precise manufacturing in steel enterprises.

2.3 Build an intelligent manufacturing platform for the construction industry, integrating intelligent manufacturing into the entire steel process.

Intelligent manufacturing is a system engineering. Digitalization and networking are the foundation, while intelligence is the deep technical area. Based on a complete digital and network foundation, enterprises should adopt a pragmatic attitude to consider comprehensively, plan as a whole, accumulate technology, and implement intelligent manufacturing as needed. Actively explore the comprehensive integration and application of information technologies such as industrial internet, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing in the entire process and industrial chain of product R&D design, energy management, production manufacturing, quality control, sales service, and business management, to build an intelligent manufacturing internet platform for the steel industry that integrates intelligent manufacturing processes, intelligent enterprise decision-making, intelligent production services, and big data applications, gradually establishing a new intelligent production system that is intensive, precise, efficient, high-quality, low-consumption, safe, environmentally friendly, and optimized in real-time, supporting the overall improvement of the manufacturing level and capability of the industry.

2.4 Accelerate talent cultivation and build a public service platform for intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry.

The foundation of the development of the intelligent manufacturing industry is talent. All levels of society should work together to strengthen the cultivation and introduction of talent, establish training bases, and cultivate high-level composite talents who understand steel manufacturing, information technology, and enterprise management, gradually forming a specialized team of intelligent manufacturing talents. Innovate cooperation mechanisms and methods, build a public service platform for intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry, and integrate various resources to provide high-quality and high-level services such as management consulting, technical services, knowledge sharing, and supply chain collaboration for steel enterprises. Guide social resources to gather in the field of intelligent manufacturing in steel, accelerate the output of advanced concepts, share advanced technologies, and promote mature intelligent manufacturing experience models.

2.5 Promote industrial collaborative applications.

Steel enterprises should connect the raw material supply and product demand of the upstream and downstream industrial chains, utilize big data technology to deeply explore customer needs, and develop new manufacturing models based on the internet, such as personalized customization, through the combined effects of new technologies like big data, cloud computing, mobile internet, and the internet of things. This will form an intelligent manufacturing system based on dynamic perception of consumer demand for R&D manufacturing and industrial organization, achieving remote diagnostic management, intelligent monitoring, and full industrial chain traceability based on new applications of the industrial internet for interconnected and collaborative industrial chains.