ALZ
ALZ: Using InSite to Improve ROI
ALZ NV, a Belgium-based producer of coils, sheets and plates in hot- and cold-rolled stainless steel, deployed Camstar's InSite solution in an effort to improve production efficiencies and the bottom line.
Collaborative Manufacturing Translates to Substantial Savings
"At ALZ's current annual production levels of 600,000 tons, the new system will realize savings of approximately $7.5 million per year over a static recipe model," said Dr. Paul Vanvuchelen, ALZ's manager of integrated production systems.
Vanvuchelen continues, "InSite was the key to our implementation because its architecture facilitates the integration of the other software into what our operators can now view as a single system." This single system, the heart of InSite's value to global manufacturers, allows companies such as ALZ to use live information for very detailed process and business improvements.
In addition to the $7.5 million savings resulting from the mathematically-modeled optimization of the production processes, ALZ is already seeing a reduction of $300,000 in the cost of electricity used in melting.
Tap-to-tap time, the time it takes to melt a batch, has been reduced by as much as 15%, resulting in potential extra production capacity of 90,000 tons annually. "We fully expect these savings to increase as we move closer to our target of 1.1 million tons," said Vanvuchelen.
InSite as Information Hub to Varied Business Software Systems
ALZ is part of the ARBED Group, the world's third-largest steel maker. As part of a decision to increase production to 1.1 million tons within two years, ALZ has deployed InSite to create an integrated manufacturing systems infrastructure that enables dynamic responses to variations in raw material market rates.
Using live manufacturing information, InSite:
- Tracks and manages all production flow
- Serves as information hub and collaborative engine for the integrated systems
- Provides multi-directional information flow between software layers
- Communicates changes in plant floor conditions to the optimization and scheduling software in real-time
- Transmits changes in recipes and casting sequences back to the plant floor
Production Savings Speed Ambitious Growth Plans
ALZ's aggressive growth plan stems from more efficient use of manufacturing resources already in place, as well as through new capital equipment investments. ALZ's current plan includes extending the InSite implementation to its cold rolling and finishing lines in Genk starting in January of 2002, followed by rollout to other European finishing lines in Austria, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.
"Now that we have the new InSite-based systems in place at Genk, we'll be able to easily incorporate new equipment when it comes online," said Vanvuchelen. "Also, with the increased stability of this new backbone, far fewer of our IT resources are required for software maintenance, which reduces our total cost of ownership."
In addition to immediate cost savings, Vanvuchelen anticipates long-term gain. "This cost savings allows us to work on new projects that will affect a variety of processes throughout our supply chain, such as the automation of our scrap yard operation and the logistics associated with our handling of raw materials, electrodes, and refractory materials. We envision using InSite in all of those areas as well."
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