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Quad Infotech Inc Quad Mill Operation System Spring, 2000
[QMOS] News
[QMOS]Flat
– Roll Shop Management for Flat Mills
For the past
three years, Quad Infotech has been working with flat rolling
mills to develop [QMOS] to address their needs. Now, [QMOS]Flat
has been successfully implemented at Worthington Steel’s
new cold mill in Decatur, Alabama.
Like the regular
[QMOS] modules, [QMOS]Flat monitors and schedules Roll Shop and
setup shop activity, provides setup information to the mill control
system, and records production results. What makes [QMOS]Flat
different, however, are the adaptations made to manage the flat
rolling process, and the streamlining or automation of many day-to-day
events.
New rolls
are purchased and added to the inventory, and then crowned in
order to be ready for use in the mill. Results from the sophisticated
Waldrich/Siegen grinders are automatically transferred into [QMOS]Flat,
eliminating errors which may occur from manual data entry. These
results include diameters, equipment used, profile, and eddy-current
readings.
Many rolls
are then sent to an outside vendor for chroming. [QMOS]Flat tracks
the rolls through this process, and when they are returned, a
Stand Building work order is automatically created.
When the rolls
are assembled, they are ready for use in the mill. Physical roll
data is transferred directly to the GE Mill Control system, ensuring
correct information for the right rolls is used.
Tonnage and
length rolled are communicated directly from GE to [QMOS]Flat,
and when the rolls are removed from the mill, the Stand Tear Down
work order is automatically produced.
Upon completion
of the tear down process, an automatically created roll grinding
work order begins the cycle all over again.
“The
whole process has been running real slick”, says Tony D’Antonio,
Worthington’s Roll Shop Manager. “We never have any
problems with the automatic work orders. And the sequence of events
that transfers data from the grinders is as sweet as it can be!”
Tony
uses the [QMOS]Flat Roll Grinding Report quite extensively. “I
feel real comfortable with the results, and I use the data to
compare cost per ton and tons rolled.” He says that the
guys in the shop are comfortable enough now, that they come to
him occasionally with their own suggestions on how to enhance
the system.
An important
aspect of flat roll grinding is being able to judge grind wheel
performance. The grind wheel that is used to grind each roll is
directly transferred into [QMOS]Flat.
Tony
says that the grind wheel usage is working out fine, “as
long as we update when the wheel is changed!” He’s
just beginning to use the Grind Wheel Reports to track the use
and performance of each grind wheel.
Quad
is now working on improving and streamlining the scheduling features
of [QMOS]Flat. Changes to the roll set
concept are also underway to better reflect practices in the flat
rolling industry. These major improvements are expected to be
released before the summer of 2000.
As the word
is spreading, Tony has gotten direct inquiries from other flat
mills, which is only good news for Quad Infotech and the entire
[QMOS] team.
[QMOS] Development
[PSC]
Helps Improve Mill Operation at Birmingham Steel
After several
years of extensive research and planning, the new [QMOS] Production
Scheduling and Control module [PSC] was installed at Birmingham
Steel in Seattle, WA in August, 1999.
[PSC] is a
module that provides the necessary tools for management and operations
personnel to easily plan and schedule the production of the mill
on a monthly, weekly and day-to-day basis, and to monitor the
results.
[PSC]
begins with the sales order, and prepares the production demand
and Long Term Plan. The Short Term Schedule then is derived from
this plan, which manages the production for a shorter period.
The allocation of the most economical billet size to the orders
enables the mill managers and Quality assurance personnel to order
the best length of the billets from the melt shop.
[PSC] is completely
integratable with the rest of the existing [QMOS] modules. Thus,
the scheduled and assigned billets can then be monitored throughout
the process from the Caster to the Billet Yard, Reheat Furnace,
Hot Shear,
Cold Shear,
Bundling and Scale Stations.
Jeff Janson,
Quality Control Supervisor with Birmingham Steel, was a main contributor
to the design of the module. There were a number of key objectives
he hoped to realize with [PSC].
“We
wanted to get rid of all of the paper we used to deal with, and
eliminate duplicate data entry”, he says. “We need
real time access to information, and to be able to generate production
and inventory reports easier.”
Growth and
Expansion of the [QMOS] Family
Quad Infotech
recently reached agreement with North Star Steel to install the
[BTC] module, (Bundle Tag Control), in five of their plants. The
Michigan Division has been using [BTC] for quite some time, and
this will now bring the other North Star mills up to the same
point. Candi Wallace of North Star Steel says that after seeing
[BTC] in Michigan, their other divisions wanted it to close the
loop and be able to track each billet through to the bundle it
ends up in.
This follows
closely on the heels of Birmingham Steel’s Seattle Division’s
implementation of [BTC] last year. Dan Gallagher of Birmingham
Steel is relieved to now have accurate yield calculations available
instantly.
The new QMOS
Saw & Shear Blade Inventory module [SBI], was installed into
two mills as part of the version 6 release in September, 1999.
This module monitors the inventory of saw blades and shear blades,
tracks their use real time in the mill, and records maintenance
of the blades. North Star Steel’s seamless pipe mill in
Youngstown, Ohio uses large saws to cut the hot billets and finished
pipe. Birmingham Steel in Seattle uses [SBI] to track usage and
inventory of blades from their three hot shears and their cold
shear.
Co-Steel Lasco
in Whitby, Ontario recently became the first [QMOS] user operating
with a SyBase® version. Currently
operating for just the structural mill, Lasco’s Roll Shop
installation has been designed for multi-mill production. Installation
of the bar mill is due for mid-2000.
Has [PSC]
helped? Jeff says that it certainly has made the roll shop operation
more efficient because the production schedule is already done
for them. Eliminating the duplication of work has been important
for Roll Shop Supervisor Mike Halberg.
“We’re
also very happy with the Long and Short-Term Planning functions,
as well as with Cut Sheets,” Jeff adds.
“We
still need to improve the speed of scheduling the Charge Reports.
Our lab technicians are very busy, and need more time to do the
rest of their job. That will be a huge advantage when it’s
fixed up.”
Next
on the horizon is the integration of the Billet Yard Management
portion of [PSC] with the Bundling System [BTC]. This will give
Jeff complete billet inventory tracking, so that he’ll know
the exact number of tons and value in inventory at any time.
Quad Infotech
is very pleased with the progress of the project. There have been
several inquiries from other customers, and there is a lot of
excitement about the future of [PSC].
quadinfotech.com
Have
you ever visited the Quad Infotech web site? If you haven’t,
you might be surprised at what you’ll find.
Descriptions
of the entire family of all [QMOS] products are available. Information
is obtainable on Roll Shop Planner, Shift Management, and Production
Scheduling. Also covered is [QMOS] for Flat Rolling, and for Kocks®
Precision Rolling.
You’re
interested in [QMOS] training? News about upcoming class schedules,
complete with course descriptions is all as close as your mouse
at the Quad Infotech web site.
If you’ve
perhaps attended a [QMOS] presentation at an A.I.S.E. convention,
or read a published article in a trade magazine, maybe you’d
like a transcript. It’s all available for you to read.
Latest
[QMOS] implementation and development news, and even employment
opportunities with Quad Infotech can all be examined.
Quad Infotech
has future plans to enhance it’s internet presence. The
[QMOS] Task List will soon be available on the
web. Customers will be able to use this to record their enhancement
requests directly on-line, track the progress of their items,
and see what other mills are requesting.
Also in the
works is enabling customers to access their own mill production
status and reporting features. What mill
manager wouldn’t love to be able to check up-to-the-moment
mill performance 24 hours a day from the comfort of their own
home?
[QMOS]
News
[QMOS]
Version 6: Improvements in RSP, New GSP
Quad
Partnership
Quad Infotech
is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement with Sheffield
Forgemasters Limited, (SFR), to market [QMOS].
SFR is one
of the largest roll manufacturers in the world, producing cast
and forged rolls in the UK for all types of rolling mills. Seventy
percent of their production is exported with significant markets
in Europe, North and South America, and the Far East.
It is believed
that through this partnership, improved service can be offered
by providing leading edge software to manage customers’
roll inventories and roll shops.
SFR is a member
of the Atchison Castings Corporation, which supplies a broad range
of highly engineered iron, steel, and non-ferrous castings to
a wide range of industries. With 20 locations in the US, Canada,
and Europe, Atchison Castings applies the latest foundry technology
to the manufacturing and machining of complex products.
[QMOS] Version
6, released in the fall of 1999, includes several major enhancements
designed to make roll analysis and setup activity easier.
Roll Analysis
in the RSP module, allows roll shop managers to quickly view the
status of all passes on rolls , and to easily make decisions on
which rolls need to be turned first. Similarly, rolls can be analyzed
based on their overall wear, and rolls nearing scrap can be effortlessly
re-ordered.
Roll Hardness Analysis is another new [QMOS] feature. Roll hardness
is recorded as rolls are dressed, and the readings can be graphed
to help spot trends among suppliers, roll material, or even between
specific rolls.
The [QMOS]
Business Plan lets mills look back on previous production, and
easily determine which products are the most economical, and which
yield the greatest profit. Products selected can be directly transferred
to the [QMOS] schedule if desired.
Comparison
of past production rates is now available, providing past tons
per hour calculations for any product or product range. This helps
users to schedule the mill and support activities more accurately.
Guide Shop
Planner [GSP], has been completely redesigned. Guide builders
have on-line access to setup information for upcoming production,
and can build guides needed for a specific product and stand.
Guide tear down can be handled separately, or tracked instantaneously
as guides are re-built.
The new and
improved [GSP] can be completely operated only using the computer’s
mouse, mak-ing it practical for use in a typical setup shop environment.
The
next [QMOS] upgrade is due for release in June of 2000, and as
usual will be influenced mainly by customers’ requests.
[QMOS]
Training
[QMOS]2 – Advanced Analysis & Troubleshooting
Quad Infotech
has always provided general [QMOS] training suitable for daily
system users and supervisors, either on-site or at Quad’s
offices. In November of 1999, the first course of [QMOS]2, Advanced
Mill Analysis & Troubleshooting was taught in Toronto.
The main highlight
of the course is the use of a new and powerful computerized report
writing tool – Infomaker®. Participants from six different
steel plants were given the opportunity to perform very detailed
analysis to suit the needs of their own operation.
The ten attendees
were able to work through real examples in class, each using data
from their own mill. Class comments praised Infomaker® and
the course materials provided, and everyone benefited from being
able to use their own data.
The course
also featured a tour of the more advanced [QMOS] analytical tools.
Newer techniques and capabilities of functions such as Production
Analysis, Delay Analysis, and easier manipulation of the Delay
Structure were covered. One participant noted that he would be
able to make comprehensive use of the Delay Analysis feature,
since he now had a better understanding of the feature and the
extent of its sorting and filtering abilities.
Use and operation
of some of the newer [QMOS] features was learned, including Production
Forecasting, analysis of past production rates, Business Plan,
and Roll Analysis for roll re-ordering and roll turning. Shift
Inspector, the new shift balancing and shift closing function
was studied. The new GSP (Guide Shop) module was reviewed, and
met with much enthusiasm.
A section
on data modeling was taught. Participants were shown how a relational
database is designed and then built, creating an appropriate table
structure, with logical relationships between entities.
Everyone enjoy-ed
the opportunity to compare experiences with personnel from other
plants, and acquired more understanding of how [QMOS] could be
used to improve their own operations. By the end of the 4-day
course, the class agreed that they had certainly gained a great
deal of insight into the more advanced capabilities of [QMOS].
Food
For Thought
Who is Using [QMOS]?
North Star Steel
Birmingham Steel – Seattle
Co-Steel Lasco
Gerdau-Courtice
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