Non-Invasive Machine Monitoring Boosts Production Efficiency at ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Karviná

The history of ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Karviná reaches back to 1918. Its main focus is the manufacture and sale of longitudinally welded thin-walled steel profiles and tubes, as well as open thin-walled profiles, used in projects ranging from the automotive industry to construction. The company’s original name, JÄKL, became - thanks to its manufacturing quality - an acronym for quality steel profiles.

The Challenge

Before our collaboration began, the company relied only on data collected locally by operators on the shop floor, or data that was only available retrospectively. Most machines have a PLC, but none were connected to a network, so the data was never processed. Our task was to obtain basic production-efficiency information from the machines and present it clearly to both management and the internal IT department.

The Solution

For a project in an industrial environment, the CHESTER IoT Hub was the obvious choice. For easier installation we selected the NB-IoT version. Because most of the 20 monitored machines offer a digital output, we used a CHESTER Input configuration with customized firmware.

Data flows through HARDWARIO Cloud into Microsoft Azure, where it is stored in a SQL database, with visualization and reporting handled in Power BI. The internal IT department accesses the data through the HARDWARIO Cloud REST API and shares it into the company’s internal system, available at individual workstations.

Benefits of Our Solution

• CHESTER made it possible to collect machine-performance data without major investment in building infrastructure or any intervention into the machines themselves
• Both management and the workstations now have accurate production data available
• The whole solution could be deployed practically immediately, once the connection method for the selected machines was agreed

Results

ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Karviná moved from fragmented, after-the-fact records to clear, accurate, real-time production data - including OEE metrics - all delivered through non-invasive monitoring that left the existing machines untouched. The result gives the company a reliable basis for improving efficiency across the plant.