August 15, 2011. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) recently launched the first portion of the upgraded automated control system called ‘Operative Production Management’ that facilitates efficient organization of production processes.

The system has been developed by MMK’s daughter enterprise MMK-Informservis and provides solutions for planning and executing the tasks of the entire portfolio of sheet-rolling shops 4, 3, 10, 5, 11, and 8 as well as of the coating department. This system is part of monitoring the completion of orders for the section comprising the oxygen converter shop and sheet-rolling shop 10.

All the data regarding the portfolio (orders for strip plate, for melting and casting of steel, and for the delivery of slabs to the warehouse next to hot roll Mills 2000 and 2500) are assembled through the control room. The dispatcher then uses the information to compile the timetable for placing the metal into the furnaces; the timetable is then transferred to the furnace and Mills 2000 and 2500 control panels, so it actually determines the production timetable and the deadlines for completing the orders in the other processing divisions.

The first version of the automated control system Operative Production Management was introduced at MMK as early as fifteen years ago. Over these years, the system’s drawbacks were detected and eliminated, changes were made, and the increasingly advanced production process and the growing demands called for an even more profound upgrade. In May 2011, the Production Administration asked the experts of MMK-Informservis to upgrade the system. By now, the first section of the upgraded system has entered the operation and maintenance phase, MMK PR Department reports.