EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

Hans Peintinger Managing Director QuinLogic GmbH, Aachen Smart factory, high flexibility, short time to market & efficiency in industrial scale are key words of Industry 4.0. The growing quality requirements in high end products are same time an enormous challenge, which are very often in competition with efficiency targets and market driven cost cutting measures. This paper describes the implementation experience of ExpertShell system and the achieved benefits of an innovative new Industry 4.0 technology. It opens the chance for a new way of using all the available experience inside a mill to improve the work flow and increase efficiency in a new dimension. This technology helps in principle all production lines in all grades but has the highest impact in challenging grades like ultra-high strength specialty steel, electric steel and especially automotive applications. The new solution has an embedded automatic improvement cycle, which is making sure that needed modifications and adaptations to new market requirements are taken care instantly. Speed of adaptation and reliability in delivered quality will be the differentiator of the upcoming years. Interestingly the investment in proactive quality assurance not only improves competitive position in quality, but has proven return of invests figures below one year.