EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

State-of-the-art process control systems are currently utilized with the intention to optimize the production process for certain individual aggregates (e.g. blast furnace, sinter plant, etc.) based on locally and temporally limited information. Following the spirit of Industry 4.0, the idea of holistic optimization models goes one step further by enhancing the performance of a plant through establishing a broader view on the available data. This goal is achieved with a detailed analysis of historical information and/or by connecting information from different aggregates. Primetals considers the holistic ironmaking optimization models as an important step towards the vision of a Smart Factory. In this paper, we present the most recent developments from Primetals Technologies for the Level 2 systems for blast furnaces and sinter plants. Improved decision support and detailed process analysis are two points amongst many, which benefit from our holistic approach. We demonstrate with examples from recent installations how plant operators and process engineers can extract maximum value from the seamless integration of holistic optimization models into the Primetals proven process optimization solution.