The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) took part in the XVIII Urals Industrial and Economic Week international exhibition and the X International Industrial Forum on “Reconstruction of industrial enterprises – breakthrough technologies in metallurgy and machine building”.
The events took place on April 10-12 at the World Trade Center in Chelyabinsk. As the largest enterprise in the Southern Urals, MMK traditionally presents a wide assortment of metal products on its stand. Representatives from Magnitogorsk participated in the events of the X International Industrial Forum, where there were discussions about the financial support of industrial enterprises, engineering activities in Russia, innovations and import substitution, and the training of personnel for industrial enterprises.
One of the Forum’s main themes was the introduction of digital technologies in enterprises. During the Forum the International Plenary Conference on Digital Technologies in Industry was held, where Siemens AG, Metran, SMS Group GmbH, Paul Wurth S.A., Primetals Technologies and others shared their experiences. MMK’s representatives at the conference were Senior Innovations Expert Danila Tselikanov and Dmitry Schneider, a professor at South Ural State University and head of the Mathematical Modelling and System Analysis research group at MMK’s scientific and technical center. They presented a report entitled “Mathematical modelling and optimization of MMK’s first processing stage according to the criterion of the minimum cost of steel”. The report described MMK’s attempts to optimize the first distribution with the help of mathematical modelling projects. MMK has developed mathematical models for the optimization of the delivery and consumption of coal and iron ore raw materials, and also created an automated information system (AIS) called “Optimal pig iron”. This system ensures the calculation of the optimum quality of coke and the proportion of agglomerate individually for blast furnaces according to the following criteria: maximum production of pig iron, minimum cost of pig iron, minimum cost of steel. The mathematical models discussed in the report have been introduced and successfully used in MMK’s first processing stage, and work on the development of the project continues. This is far from the only example of MMK’s use of advanced digital technologies, as the country’s leading metallurgical enterprise is consistently innovating and employing “Industry 4.0” principles in its production processes. (MMK/Ukrainian metal)