In October, 2005 the rolling mill installation of the [QMOS] Level 2 system from Quad Infotech Inc. at the Nucor minimill in Norfolk, Nebraska was completed. This follows the successful commissioning of the original roll shop modules in both rolling mills in July 2002, The Mill Tracking, Billet Yard, Bundling and the Analysis modules were commissioned in September and October 2002.
The [QMOS] system will seamlessly co-ordinate an impressive network of production operations from the rolling mill to the bundling and shipping of finished product, while at the same time imposing all internal and external processing specifications. [QMOS] also provides a flexible definition methodology for product quality control and testing specifications (e.g. work centre specific specifications).
Installation highlights:
- Rolling Mill:
- A billet inventory comprising data from both rolling mills
- A roll inventory comprising data from both rolling mills
- Integration of existing inventory, production and quality data into [QMOS] to provide historical data continuity from the past to the future
- Incorporation of reversing stands into rolling recipes;
- Product family trees based on stands, rolls and passes;
- Billet or heat specific capability for assignment to work orders
- Hold codes at the heat, billet and bundle levels
- Full 24/7 on-site training and technical support during installation
Nucor Steel Nebraska, a division of Nucor Bar Mill Group, is located in Norfolk, Nebraska capable of producing over 200 grades of steel with special emphasis on SBQ products. Nucor-NE has two rolling mills aptly named NN1, and NN2, which are capable of rolling several different shapes including squares, rounds, angles, unequal leg angles, flats, bar channel, structural channel, and hexagons. Nucor-NE furnishes material for cold heading, extruding, automotive, agriculture, industrial chains, hand tools, REOA flats, and many other critical applications.
Quad Mill Operation System, [QMOS], has been selected as the Level 2 automation and Rolling Mill operation system to manage the production of rolled steel products at Nucor’s Nebraska division.[QMOS] was chosen for its integrated capability that manages all production information from billet production through bundle production. A function of [QMOS] highly valued by Nucor-NE is the ability to capture actual mill setup data for setup optimization analysis in order to establish a Master Setup for each product, thereby reducing downtime and improving yield.
Quad Infotech Inc. is a software engineering and design company that specializes in the development of industrial computer software for the steel industry. Quad’s unique combination of steel making and rolling process knowledge, combined with computer software design expertise, renders Quad’s Level-2 and Level-3 software products unique in the global steel minimill market.[QMOS] has been operating in numerous steel plants throughout North America and Europe since 1994.
Nucor Corporation is the largest steel producer in the United States and had net sales of $12.7 billion in 2005. Nucor is the nation’s largest recycler. In 2004, Nucor recycled approximately 17 million tons of scrap steel, with 5 million of those tons being automobiles.
Nucor has operating facilities in 17 states. Products produced are: carbon and alloy steel in bars, beams, sheet, and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; and light gauge steel framing. The Nebraska facility produces carbon steel in special bar quality; merchant bar quality; and reinforcing products in the following shapes: angles, channels, flats, and rounds.