A recent news report on ABB's smart factory initiatives is instructive for many companies in the Indian manufacturing sector on the types of avenues available for both energy and manufacturing efficiency.
Its ABB Ability Smart Melt Shop is the first smart factory digital application for the metals industry which is designed to increase melt shop productivity, save energy and improve employee safety - the company claims a payback within six months for this solution.
The thermal engine function uses ladle thermal history from the tracking engine and forecasted heat movement from scheduling engines to predict the thermal loss during ladle transfer and predicts the correct lift temperature at the ladle furnace which results in better superheat compliance at the caster, eliminating caster slowdowns, hence increasing productivity. This application enables an increase in superheat compliance to enable 4-5% higher casting speeds to improve productivity and reduce arcing by 5 degrees Celsius per heat in ladle furnaces for improved energy and cost-efficiency. The overall concept used perhaps be extrapolated to provide benefits for many other manufacturing setups.
