EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

Evolving market conditions in today’s world – increased variability, volatility and complexity – require more agility than ever for metals supply chains. The bottom line is that future supply chain ROI maximization will not so much be driven by unit cost minimization but by the pro-motion and protection of flow of materials and information. This implies revisiting today’s MRP and ERP systems by introducing new “pull oriented” planning concepts and new KPIs/metrics to measure flow performance. In particular, De-mand Driven MPR (DDMRP) is an emerging innovative approach using a multi-echelon “Po-sition, Protect, and Pull” methodology, to plan and manage decoupling inventory buffers. Additionally, the “Industry 4.0” revolution will drive metals producers and their extended supply chain partners towards increased collaboration and transparency and towards harnessing new digital devices and software platforms to take advantage of Big Data opportunities. The key advantages that the Industrial Internet can bring to foster supply chain agility and flow are: - Real time information on key intelligent ‘objects’ (e.g. a stock buffer) - End-to-end visibility throughout the value chain network through seamless collection and distribution of supply chain data/events Concretely, any software platform supporting planning and shop floor decisions should in-clude a real time, online cockpit, displaying relevant KPI updates and prioritizing human ac-tions to be taken in order to minimize supply chain flow disruptions. It should also support fast benchmarking of “what if” simulations. This paper describes the steps taken by PSI Metals towards this new supply chain paradigm: - A DDMRP slab replenishment study made at PSI Metals customer, demonstrating potential for substantial WIP savings - The PSImetals Tuning Dashboard, allowing for KPI-driven planning optimization - The KPI Assessment methodology, helping steel plant managers in defining the “right” KPIs and providing insight into conflicting objectives