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- Advancing Steel Manufacturing: NLMK USA Attends Steel Consortium Meeting at Purdue Northwest
Advancing Steel Manufacturing: NLMK USA Attends Steel Consortium Meeting at Purdue Northwest
Purdue University Northwest recently hosted its biannual Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC) meeting. The group's vision is to develop and implement innovative solutions through advanced computer simulation and visualization technologies to ensure a competitive advantage for U.S. steel manufacturing. NLMK-USA is a consortium member.
Steve Ryan, Manager of Process Technology, explained our relationship this way. “NLMK, along with other companies, pay a membership fee, which funds research. The member companies then have access to their findings. This is the steel industry pulling its expertise together to build tools to better understand the model and simulate the steel-making processes.”
The consortium's areas of focus include workplace and process safety, workforce development, energy efficiency, environmental impacts, reliability and maintenance, operational efficiency, smart manufacturing, and raw materials utilization.
According to Ryan, one of the group’s main focus has been reducing CO2 emissions. “The companies have decided CO2 emissions are a high priority right now. But they may say at a later point it’s time to move onto another technology,” and the research focus changes.
The group has also been working on smart ladle technology programming to select ladle ship temperatures based on current operating conditions, such as the number of heats, temperature grades, and external temperature, among other factors. Ryan said, "The model is not as good as the best operators yet, but it’s better than the average.”
Roberto Costa, General Manager of Benchmarking, has participated since November 2022. “It’s amazing to see the great teamwork and all the progress made with the simulations and visualizations during this time. It’s been helping steel plants improve processes and develop new products, and these models can also be used as a training tool. It’s a true working consortium, where all the efforts between Purdue Northwest and NLMK are helping our company overcome challenges and become more competitive.”
About NLMK Group
NLMK Group is a vertically integrated steelmaking company, the largest in Russia and one of the most efficient steel producers in the world.
NLMK operates production facilities in Russia, Europe and the United States. The Company’s steel production capacity exceeds 14.3 million tonnes per year.
For more information on NLMK Group, please visit our website.
For NLMK Group’s photos and corporate videos, please visit our media library.
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