ProductTecnomatix

Business challengesImprove development of complex steelmaking equipmentProvide early proof of conceptReduce time needed for commissioning

Keys to successLeverage support by Siemens simulation partnerUse digital twin created in Tecnomatix Plant Simulation for design verification and salesProvide customers with user interface to try out simulated scenarios

ResultsCompleted feasibility study for steel mill retrofit within two monthsProvided proof of concept to plant operatorsBoosted readiness to place plant ordersAccelerated control software implementation

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Siemens solution enables Inteco to enhance customer confidence and boost readiness to accept plant orders

Full custom steelmaking equipmentSteel is an integral part of the global economy and one of the most common manmade materials in the world, with more than 1.6 billion tons produced annu-ally. Although iron is quite ductile, removing impurities and adding small amounts of elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium, carbon and vanadium as hardening agents turns it into steel. In primary steelmaking, liquid iron and steel scrap are turned into steel in LD Converters or electric arc furnaces. In secondary metallurgy, alloying agents are added, dissolved gases in the steel are lowered,

Industrial machinery

Inteco Manufacturer uses Tecnomatix to complete feasibility study for steel mill retrofit within two months

and inclusions are removed or altered chemically to ensure high-quality steel production.

When it comes to production equipment for stainless steel, leading steelmakers around the world rely on plants designed and developed by Inteco melting and casting technologies GmbH (Inteco). Located in an area rich in steelmaking tradition in Bruck an der Mur, Austria, Inteco has been a supplier and partner to the steel and general melting industry since 1973. The group is the world’s only supplier of plants covering the entire steel and superalloys manufactur-ing process chain downstream of the blast furnace. Inteco’s product portfolio also includes rolling mill solutions and industrial furnaces as well as plants specifically for producing titanium and manufacturing metal powders for additive manufacturing.

Inteco provides plants covering the entire steel and super-alloys manufacturing process chain downstream the blast furnace.

With a workforce of 200 in Austria as well as another 200 spread across subsidiaries in Brazil, China, India, Italy and the United States, Inteco offers highly automated solutions for individual plant sections as well as complete plants tailored to custom-ers’ requirements. What sets the plant creators apart is their know-how and experience not only comprise mechanical, electrical and process engineering, but also metallurgy. “All that customers need to specify is exactly what steel grade they plan to produce,” says Herwig Brauneis-Weber, head of quality management, Inteco. “That is all we need to determine the optimal plant design.” Although other plant creators have a limited choice of plant section sizes, Inteco’s flexibility allows full custom plant design.

In pursuit of the digital twinThe Inteco experts engineer the secondary and special metallurgy equipment from scratch every time, including mechanical, electrical and software design. They use dedicated software solutions for the vari-ous tasks, including mechanical and electrical computer-aided design (ECAD). They use COMOS software from Siemens AG for computer-aided engineering (CAE) as well as operating and maintaining process plants they create.

“In the CAD environment, the simulations only included the parts of the plants we created,” says Bernhard Köller, quality management and simulation expert at Inteco. “Ruling out collisions worked well but we were unable to include external factors such as the buildings.”

“Although steelmaking is a very conservative industry, there is no alternative to digitalization on the path into the future.” Herwig Brauneis-Weber Head of Quality Management Inteco

“From our initial one-day meet-ing with HATEC, we returned with a complete draft concept. Within only two months, this turned into a full-blown logis-tics and feasibility study.”

Herwig Brauneis-Weber Head of Quality Management Inteco

A steelmaker intending to refurbish an aged steel mill required a logistics study with an as-is analysis as well as a feasibility study for the investment.

For project management work and produc-tion engineering, the Inteco experts used to work with spreadsheet software as well as visualization and presentation office software. “This was less than satisfactory because it did not support coordination with customers,” says Brauneis-Weber. “Beyond a certain size and complexity of a project, it was really difficult to keep track of all the information.” No wonder they had nicknamed the extensive spreadsheets “shrouds.”

At the same time, customers more frequently demanded studies such as a ladle swapping time analysis, which goes beyond what is practically feasible using spreadsheets. “A major U.S steelmaker intending to refurbish an aged steel mill required a logistics study with an as-is analysis as well as a feasibility study, including a monetary proposal for the investment,” says Köller. “This prompted us to look for a more appropriate solution.”

Tecnomatix for plant simulationThe steelworks experts found the simula-tion solution they had been looking for in the form of the Tecnomatix® portfolio, a comprehensive group of software solu-tions from Siemens Digital Industries Software for the digital factory. Tecnomatix can be used to cover all aspects of production, from process defini-tion, planning and simulation to verifying all production steps and using the digital twin in subsequent operations. To facili-tate an easy information exchange with other product data sources, Tecnomatix uses the Teamcenter® software manufac-turing backbone as a foundation for product lifecycle management (PLM). This allows seamless transition of information from product design to manufacturing to logistics.

The Tecnomatix software training the Inteco experts took was carried out by HATEC, a Siemens Digital Industries

Software solution partner. Specializing in plant simulation and offline robot programming, the company has been using various products from the Siemens’ Tecnomatix software portfolio since 2002. “This allows the seamless development of production solutions from ideation to simulation to virtual commissioning, saving our customers unpleasant surprises and unpaid expenses,” says Jens Kraiger, chief executive officer (CEO). ”The initial investment in a complete definition and model creation pays off very quickly.” Kraiger’s father had founded the company to promote virtual commissioning because he was weary of spending weeks in half-finished buildings in the middle of nowhere.

“Customers tend to try and rule out risks as much as possible. The ability to ver-ify the feasibility of a multimillion dollar invest-ment up-front greatly boosts the readiness to place the order.”

Bernhard Köller Quality Management and Simulation Expert Inteco

This challenge prompted Inteco engineers to build a digital twin using Tecnomatix. It includes a user interface so the customer can modify parameters to try out various scenarios.

Supporting simulation “During our training, we were pleasantly surprised to see how fast we got the hang of Tecnomatix,” says Köller. “As we were also impressed by HATEC’s enormous expertise and experience, we decided to cooperate with the simulation experts.”

The nature of the cooperation is that Inteco defines the plant and provides the layout data from their CAD software as well as parameters such as material quan-tities, batch sizes and cycle time. HATEC builds the dynamic model and does all the required programming. The first joint project was the feasibility study for the aforementioned American steel mill retro-fit. “From our initial one-day meeting with HATEC we returned with a complete draft concept,” says Brauneis-Weber. “Within only two months this turned into a full-blown logistics and feasibility study.”

Starting with the requirement specification and the findings of the as-is analysis, the study covers all aspects of steel production after the retrofit. Its output formats include

“Without the Tecnomatix based feasibility study, we would likely not have won this and a number of similar orders.” Bernhard Köller Quality Management and Simulation Expert Inteco

Inteco builds digital twins of steelmaking plants in cooperation with Siemens Digital Industries Software solution partner HATEC.

GANTT charts as well as analyses in the shape of Excel spreadsheet software. HATEC supplied the study in a ready-to-use digital form. “It includes a user interface so the customer can modify parameters to try out various scenarios,” adds Brauneis-Weber.

Solutions/ServicesTecnomatix Plant Simulation siemens.com/tecnomatix

Customer’s primary businessA supplier and partner to the steel and general melting industry since 1973, Inteco is the world’s only single source supplier who offers and has already put into operation all production processes for the liquid treatment of steel, tita-nium, ferroalloys and super alloys. The group has about 400 staff worldwide. They gen-erate annual revenues in excess of 110 million Euros.www.inteco.at

Customer locationBruck an der Mur Austria

Solution PartnerHATEC Automatisationsges.mbH www.hatec.co.at/en/

Siemens Digital Industries Software

Americas +1 314 264 8499 Europe +44 (0) 1276 413200 Asia-Pacific +852 2230 3333

© 2020 Siemens. A list of relevant Siemens trademarks can be found here. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. 81416-C6 3/20 Y

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Moving toward digitalizationWithin the large and complex plants the Inteco engineers design and build, the material flow is a key success factor. According to Köller, a main benefit of simulation-based plant engineering using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation is the oppor-tunity to optimize the material flow ahead of the investment. “Customers tend to try and rule out risks as much as possible. The ability to verify the feasibility of a multimil-lion-dollar investment up-front greatly boosts the readiness to place the order,” he says. “Without the Tecnomatix based feasibility study, we would likely not have won this and a number of similar orders.”

Another benefit is that control software development can be accelerated consider-ably if engineers can concentrate on formulating methods and processes proven successful in simulation. This also

helps avoid errors and the extra work for corrections. In turn, this not only reduces development cost but also the time required to implement complex projects and meet ever tighter deadlines.

Although Inteco initially only used Tecnomatix Plant Simulation for feasibility studies and software optimization, their plans for the virtual factory are more far-reaching. “Although steelmaking is a very conservative industry, there is no alternative to digitalization on the path into the future,” says Brauneis-Weber. “Implementing genetic algorithms for self-optimizing plant operations or using the digital twin of a plant for virtual commissioning will enable us to build better steel mills faster, enhancing customer confidence as the foundation for our worldwide success.”

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GANTT charts generated using Tecnomatix data adapt with parameter modifications in the simulation model.