12th International Conference on Zinc & Zinc Alloy Coated Steel Sheet - GALVATECH 2021

Product development is an essential factor for steel producers striving to maintain the position of steel in the competitive market for structural materials. Launching new products on the market and improving their properties is a strategy that allows manufacturers to remain competitive and to cope with changing customer requirements. Metallurgical models, automation systems and through-process quality control systems are all essential to product development. Modern simulation tools are able to simulate individual processes of the entire steel production route. Here, both physical and computer simulators are used. Recently, there has been a rapid growth in the significance of the digitalization of metallurgical and production processes. In particular, the systematic collection of data from all production stages and the subsequent application of data analysis, including a self-learning approach and prediction models, also makes it possible to implement rapid product development. Through-Process Optimization (TPO) is a toolbox consisting of IT solutions and know-how packages designed to help steel producers optimize product development in order to achieve guaranteed results in the shortest possible time. This paper describes the product development process, including computer simulation, labor scale simulations, data collection and data analysis using TPO.