The cause for the modernisation is the unification of the planning solutions in the stainless steel plants in Germany, the USA and China. In particular, the IT investments for the ThyssenKrupp Stainless production plant to be built in Alabama in the USA are to be assured by the system proven at the German sites of Bochum and Krefeld. The systems have been operating to the customer’s complete satisfaction since May.

The scheduling of the daily smelting process at the steel plants is supported by the PSImetals functions for advanced line sequencing. Based on the needs of the cold rolling plants, a continuous supply of the steel mill with smelting orders is achieved. PSImetals functions such as rescheduling of a heat in case of analysis deviations, the re-feeding following the interruption of a caster sequence or the re-sorting of heats in a sequence or entire sequences in the program allow for quick reactions to short-term directives or disruptions in the steel mill operations. If needed, a simulation mode also secures the current planning status with online changes.

With the modernisation of the existing planning solution to the current version of PSImetals, ThyssenKrupp Nirosta would also like to take advantage of the standard functions such as multilingualism and configurability of planning rules. In the future plant-specific adjustments can be operated flexibly by the key users. The user know-how and the experiences gained at the German plants will also simplify the implementation in the American plant.

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta belongs to the division Stainless Global in the ThyssenKrupp AG and is, as the largest company in this segment, one of the world’s leading producers of rust-, acid- and heat-resistant stainless steel products.

ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA is an independent subsidiary within the Stainless Group and is currently constructing a new, integrated plant for non-corroding stainless steel flat products in Calvert, Alabama. In August 2008, PSI was awarded with the delivery and implementation of PSImetals as the system for the optimisation of the production processes in the steel mill and cold rolling mill.

PSI AG develops and integrates complete solutions, on the basis of its own software products, for the management of energy networks (electricity, gas, oil, heat, water), cross-company production management (metals, automotive, mechanical and plant engineering, logistics) and infrastructure management for telecommunications, transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and employs 1,400 persons in the group. www.psi.de