Steel mill gets performance in

a portal
A web portal-based manufacturing
Solutions execution system (MES) solution
Manufacturing execution system (MES) from Rockwell Automation provides
solution comprised
Smorgon Steel with a new set of
RSBizWare MES suite of
modular, scaleable solutions, eyes for plant performance
including monitoring, plus an extra set of
RS FactoryTalk Data Model
hands for its plant floor personnel.
Web portal founded on
Microsoft ASP.net web access
technology
RSBizWare functionality was
integrated with existing SCADA
software.
MES logs delays to the fraction of
a second

Results
The RSBizWare MES solution
improved overall plant performance
analysis by providing
Widely available plant
performance data
Reporting on demand
Automatic logging of
production uptime and
downtime

This has allowed Smorgon Steel to

Monitor mill performance per day

or per shift
Identify and counteract major Performance, in a nutshell, is manufacturings bottom line. But how is it
measured and defined? Optimisation of plant performancemanifested as
plant operational issues
throughput, product quality, machine availability and efficiencyis only
Head towards OEE monitoring truly achievable if the base data is available in the first place. Accurate
acquisition and analysis of this operational datain real timebecomes
Save manpowerup to one hour the primary challenge.
per shift in data entry
 Smorgon Steel project electrical superintendent, Wayne Pearse (right), discusses rod mill delay statistics generated by the new MES system.

Australian steel manufacturer, Smorgon manufacturing execution system (MES) reinforcing bar, flats, squares, angles
Steel, conceived the need to improve software technology that would rationalise and parallel flange channels of varying
performance analysis techniques at its disparate manual reporting systems and dimensions. It is imperative that
Victorian North Laverton manufacturing automatically log production delays. changes in heat numbers are clearly
facility in early 2002. Manufacturing Spearheading the project was Smorgon logged into the ERP system, into which
assorted hot-rolled steel rod and bar Steel project electrical superintendent, the production tallies are also entered
products to fulfil specific customer Wayne Pearse, who approached as they come off the line.
demands, the company depends on Rockwell Automation for a possible
optimising its schedule to minimise However, most of the reporting
solution. Wed had a good experience
product changeover downtime, and hot- functionality of this existing Smorgon
with Rockwell Automation during a
rolling billets with nose to tail as close Steel ERP system is targeted at the
drive control system upgrade to the bar
as possible. Performanceand to some commercial enterprise and senior
mill in 1999; and, since most of the
degree profitis ultimately measured management; in order to accurately and
plant is founded on Allen-Bradley
by the raw prime tonnes and percent regularly assess the operational efficiency
control technology, we felt it was a good
yield of product per shift. of the plant, a more widely accessible
place to start, he says.
and flexible system was required in
Keeping track of Smorgon Steels addition. We were using an Access
dynamic production schedule and database to store all production data,
whether its production objectives are Billets to bars which was extracted manually from the
met is essential. For inclusion in the The day-to-day production scheduling, ERP system, says Pearse. The shift
end-of- shift production report, all inventory tracking, customer orders and supervisor would also have to type in all
downtime is logged, prime yield tallied, logistics for Smorgon Steels Laverton production delays as reported by the
product types recorded and rolling rod and bar mills are handled by an operators, who were recording these
efficiency calculated. Smorgon Steel existing enterprise resource planning manually. From this he would generate
management uses this data to assess mill (ERP) system. Every steel billet cast by the production report for that shift.
performance and identify immediate one of the companys four continuous
opportunities for performance casting strands is stamped with a heat Aside from the vast volume of
improvements. number that identifies its exact grade (or paperwork, the main issue with the
composition). All billets with the same database system was that the data was
In order to maximise efficiency and not readily accessible for analysis. Pearse
heat number are progressively charged
accuracy of data collation, the company says that one of the main goals in
into the furnace prior to being hot-rolled
embarked upon a staged project to introducing a new
into different rod or bar sectionssuch
deploy
as rounds,
MES was to make the performance data
more widely available to the operations
existing SCADA for each mill; this System scaled up
allows them to enter details about the During this first phase of the project,
management team, and presented in a delay from drop-down menus.
way that made analysis quick, easy and Pearse and his team monitored the
flexible. The other objective was to RSBizWares powerful structured accuracy of the automatic data logging,
automatically log production downtime databasethe Rockwell Software plus experimented with production data
to gain a more accurate idea of machine FactoryTalk Data Model (FTDM)will analysis and reporting using the in-built
performance, while at the same time replace the Access database used to store RSBizWare QuickWeb interface. The
allowing the operators to focus more on production data. The FTDM is based on manual legacy system was run in
actually running the plant. the widely recognised International parallel for comparison purposes. An
Society for Measurement and Controls Active X screen was also introduced
After preliminary discussions with (ISA) S95 standard for enterprise to for event editingthis provides
Rockwell Automations engineering control system integration, which opportunity for operators, supervisors
group, Smorgon Steel agreed to trial the comprises predefined naming conventions and management to review and edit
Rockwell Software RSBizWare suite of and data flows, and permits virtually comments regarding delays.
modular, scalable MES solutions in early unlimited expansion.
2002. We provided some computers and By the beginning of 2004, Smorgon Steel
Rockwell Automation set up a pilot The FactoryTalk Data Model is an open had identified the path into phase two of
system, which we ran in the background documented system, which means its development. To provide the extra
for about six months, says Pearse. easy to interface with other software functionality they requiredwhich
When we were satisfied that the system systems, says Cahill. This is what included refinements to the reporting and
was logging events correctly, we put a allowed Smorgon to interface it with data analysis capability, plus broader user
basic system into production and got the their existing SCADA. We can put it over access with appropriate security
operators involved. the top of any SCADA system, which Rockwell Automation delivered a web-
makes it very flexible. In this case, the based portal solution founded on
operators are working from the same Microsoft ASP.net web access technology.
Hot metal detected location as they always havefor all Once theyd established how they
According to Rockwell Automation they know, its just another SCADA wanted to use the MES, we sat down and
consulting engineer, Michael Cahill, screen. discussed how to take the system
starting off with a basic MES that can
Dual Ethernet communications cards in further, says Cahill. A lot of the
be scaled up as required is the ideal
the MES server provide independent production information in the database is
approach. In the initial stages, its not
connectivity and in-built security to the not standard for MESits more typical
always easy to predict exactly which
process network (controlling mill of an ERP system. They were already
information is going to be of the most
operations), which permits operator using Crystal Reports, so we integrated
use, he says. Theres not much point
access via the SCADA only, and the this with the web portal, and overlaid it
collecting a whole lot of data that no-
steel mill or office/ management onto
one looks at. We had an idea of what
sort of data would be useful; they had an network respectively.
idea of
what data they wanted. We put that The RSBizWare bar mill production operator screen has been embedded within the
existing SCADA system.
together as the foundation.
The first phase of the RSBizWare MES
solution utilised the RSSql industrial
transaction manager software, in
combination with RSLinx
communications interface software, to
retrieve real-time information from the
plant-floor PLCs. Located before the
first rolling stand, the hot metal
detector is the trigger point in each mill
for logging an event (a delay): if hot
metal is detected, the rolling mill is in
production; if not, production is delayed.
Whereas the operators previously logged
delays manuallyand often inaccurately
the RSBizWare PlantMetrics
component of the MES now
automatically logs delays to the fraction
of a second. On the occasion of such an
event, operators are presented with an
RSBizWare screen embedded within the
RSBizWare, to give them reporting on
demand. The open software means that
Smorgon can now set up any new
reports as they conceive the need.
In addition to the most common shift
report and downtime report screens,
the portal allows new data analysis
flexibility. The portal gives us
functionality from any PC on site, says
Pearse. We can generate reports with
just the click of a button; plus we can
manipulate the data using Excel
PivotTables. It allows us to monitor the
performance of the mills on a per day or
per shift basis, which helps us identify
where our major issues are.
According to Pearse, an interesting
revelation has been the apparent increase
in delays since automatic event logging
began. It has made us realise how
difficult it has been for the operators to
accurately record these events, he says.
In some
The hot metal detector is the RSBizWare trigger point for logging whether the mill is in
production or in a delay.
cases, recurring short delays (of say, one
is a compounded formula that paperwork. Once the ERP data is
or two minutes) have been revealed
identifies how well the plant is automatically transferred, the manpower
where before they may have been
performing. efficiency is likely to increase another
overlooked.
degree.
These might indicate a difficult product Introducing OEE is the main way in
or they might indicate a problem that which the overall impact of the MES on Pearse is well satisfied with the journey
could accumulate into something more actual operations will be measured, to MES empowerment, which has
serious. Now that RSBizWare logs says Pearse. However, in order for OEE involved incremental expansion and
everything in real-time, we can analysis to work, the next phase of MES refinement of the system as needs have
investigate anything that looks development needs to be implemented: been identified. This, says Cahill, is one
suspicious. this will involve the automatic transfer of the strengths of the RSBizWare
of production data from the ERP system offering. There are no hidden obstacles.
to RSBizWare. For the moment, this is All the modules are like building blocks
Tracking time up & still manually entered by the shift you can purchase as few or as many as
down supervisor at the end of shift. you need at a time.
RSBizWare has given Smorgon Steel a If the RSBizWare MES has given Smorgon Steels performance bottom
tool for tracking uptime as well as Smorgon Steel a new set of eyes with line is now on track. And, although it
downtime, says Cahill. They never really which to monitor performance of the may take some time for the data
tracked uptime before. Now they can mills; it has also given the company an accumulated by the MES to reveal all
track what they produce during extra set of hands. The automatic their hidden uses, the potential for early
operation, and whether that tallies with logging of events alone is saving each identification of operational
the expected rate of throughput, in the supervisor up to an hour per shift in inefficiencies is already apparent. As the
same system that tracks why the entering in the data. Both they and the management team grows used to having
machine is stopped. This level of operators can now apply themselves to plant performance in a portal, the
tracking is required to calculate the running the plant instead of getting empowerment can only grow.
ultimate key point indicator of plant buried in
health: overall equipment effectiveness
(OEE). A function of percent availability,
throughput performance and quality,
OEE
Publication METALS-AP001A-EN-P December 2006 Copyright 2006 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in Australia.