Cel
To significantly improve the efficiency of their production chains, European steel producers need a global optimisation strategy that allows the incorporation of factory-wide systems to predict and control the evolution and influences in terms of quality through the different processing stages.
LINECOP develops line-coordinated strip-quality assessment, monitoring and optimisation systems for cold rolling and hot-dip galvanising (incl. continuous annealing and temper rolling), based on an integrated model for the whole processing route. The new through-process optimiser predictively adapts the downstream processes to prevent transfer/final product-quality degradation and reduces maintenance effort and re-work.
The project will provide a valuable contribution for European steel producers to increase plant availability and product quality facing the trend towards products with tighter tolerances and more uniform strip quality over strip length and width, as well as minimise zinc-layer "safety margins", and thus reduce material/energy and production costs. The benefits of the project will be demonstrated at ACERALIA's, and EKO STAHL's strip production lines.