Past AIST Committee Activities
Current Activities
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) met May 3 during AISTech 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Jim Cole of The Timken Co. opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and asked all the attendees to introduce themselves. Alex Fabijanic volunteered to take the meeting minutes. Mr. Cole read the AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines and asked that everyone abide by them. The minutes from the CATC’s March 4–5 meeting in Cleveland were reviewed and approved as written. Ron Tessendorf of TM GE Automation Systems provided a status update for the Process Systems Specialty Training Conference, which is scheduled for Feb. 21–24, 2011, in Orlando, Fla., and will be co-located with Cold Rolling Fundamentals — A Practical Training Seminar. The CATC elected their officers for the 2010–2011 term as: Patrick Gallagher of Management Science Associates, chair; Ray Hiznay of HP, vice chair; and Jim Hendrickson of ArcelorMittal, papers chair. The CATC mission statement was reviewed and accepted without changes as: “To promote the understanding and advancement of appropriate computer applications, architectures and technologies for the processing of steel, by providing forums to: learn about best practices, new and current technologies; enable the exchange of problem solving ideas within the metals processing industry, and with potential suppliers; network with associated disciplines in academia, government and research.” The CATC agreed to continue regular Webinars, and Osvaldo Bascur of OSIsoft volunteered to be the coordinator. The Computer Applications Best Paper Award was presented to Gordon Irons and Ho Yong Hwang for their paper entitled, “Experimental and Mathematical Studies of Impinging Gas Jets on Liquid Surfaces.” The next meeting is to be determined.
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) joined the Sensor Systems Subcommittee of the Electrical Applications Technology Committee for presentations by ArcelorMittal Cleveland’s systems and automation specialists about the upgraded hot-dip galvanizing line and a subsequent tour of the facility on March 4, 2010, in Cleveland, Ohio. The CATC wishes to thank the mill personnel for their hospitality and time. The CATC had their committee meeting on March 5, 2010, in Independence, Ohio. Jim Cole of The Timken Co. opened the meeting and thanked everyone for taking time to attend. The AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines were reviewed, and everyone agreed to abide by them. Mike Dudzic of ArcelorMittal Dofasco Inc. agreed to take the meeting minutes. The meeting minutes from Oct. 15–16, 2009, in Merrillville, Ind., were reviewed and approved as written. The 2009 and 2010 Steel Mill Fatality reports were reviewed, leading to a discussion on personal safety in the mill environment. The AISTech 2010 session layouts were reviewed, and the session chairs were reminded of their responsibilities. Patrick Gallagher of MSA spoke on the current status of the next Process Systems Specialty Training Conference, which is scheduled for Feb. 21–24, 2011, in Orlando, Fla., and will coincide with the Cold Rolling Fundamentals Course. The 2011 CATC Call for Abstracts was finalized to be: “New and existing uses of computers to control, monitor and interface steelmaking processes; impact of human factors in process control (such as users, engineers and support personnel); manufacturing execution systems; network/wireless communications; the application of advanced process modeling and control; emerging trends in hardware and software related to process control as well as business systems, including operating systems, software products, novel application of vision systems, security; automation planning and software development methodologies; database, data warehousing and data mining systems; remediation of legacy automation systems.” The CATC nominated Jim Hendrickson of ArcelorMittal as the incoming papers chair. The official election will take place during their next meeting on May 3, 2010, at AISTech.
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) met Oct. 16, 2009, in Merrillville, Ind. The committee chair, Jim Cole of The Timken Co., welcomed everyone to the meeting. Tom Carr of Siemens Industry Inc. volunteered to take the meeting minutes. The AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines were reviewed and agreed to. The previous meeting minutes were reviewed and approved as written. The 2009 Steel Mill Fatality Report was reviewed. The committee chose abstracts for AISTech 2010 and arranged them into sessions. Laura Maxwell volunteered to chair the subcommittee that will review the CATC best-of-session papers from AISTech 2009 and nominate the winner for the Computer Applications Best Paper Award. The other subcommittee members are: Mr. Cole, Joe Franz of Concept2 Solutions, Pat Gallagher of Management Science Associates, and Perry Zalevsky of SAP. The committee reviewed the plans for the next Process Control Specialty Training Conference, which is preliminarily scheduled for February 2011. The CATC had a joint tour with the Electrical Applications Technology Committee of Purdue Calumet’s Visualization Lab and ArcelorMittal Research and Development Center. The committee thanks Professor Chenn Zhou for hosting the committee at Purdue Calumet and Mike Masleid of ArcelorMittal for hosting the committee at the R&D Center. The next CATC meeting is scheduled for March 4–5, 2010, with a tour of ArcelorMittal’s recently converted galvanizing line in the Cleveland works.
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) met on May 4 at AISTech 2009 in St. Louis, Mo. Andy Szabo of ArcelorMittal welcomed everyone to the meeting and to the conference. Patrick Gallagher of Management Science Associates agreed to take the meeting minutes. The previous meeting minutes were reviewed and approved as written. The 2008 Computer Applications Best Paper Award was presented to Yongfu Zhao of U. S. Steel Research for his paper entitled, “Using Neural Network Technology for Blast Furnace Slag Viscosity and Liquidus Temperature Calculation.” The CATC reviewed the attendee evaluations from the Process Systems Specialty Training Conference held in February 2009 in Jacksonville, Fla. The attendee evaluations were very positive, and the general consensus was to hold the course again in the spring of 2011. The following CATC officers were voted in: James Cole of The Timken Co. as chair, Mr. Gallagher as vice chair, and Ray Hiznay of EDS as papers chair. The current CATC mission statement was reviewed, and the word “architectures” was added. The committee agreed to the following objectives: (a) establish regular Webinars, with a goal of every 6–8 weeks; (b) continue sponsoring the Process Systems Specialty Conference; (c) continue sponsoring the sessions and papers at AISTech 2010; and (d) continue the monthly conference call. A number of topics were discussed for future meetings, as were various meeting locations that could be tied into plant tours. Mr. Cole presented Mr. Szabo with a plaque for his service as the CATC chair and further recognized him for serving as chair for two years. The next meeting date and location were not finalized during the meeting, but would be established in subsequent conference calls. Visit www.AIST.org for details.
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) met on Feb. 2, prior to the start of the Process Systems Specialty Training Conference in Jacksonville, Fla. Andy Szabo of ArcelorMittal opened the meeting and thanked everyone for participating. The attendees introduced themselves, and the AIST Antitrust Guidelines were reviewed. The Process Systems Specialty Training Conference was discussed, and the consensus was to have a similar conference in the fall of 2010, when the business climate gets better. The AISTech 2009 CATC sessions were then discussed. The CATC will sponsor seven sessions at AISTech 2009, including 37 technical presentations. The paper order and session chairs were reviewed and adjusted as needed. The session chairs were encouraged to contact the authors within their sessions and discuss with them their responsibilities and upcoming deadlines for participation. The committee acknowledged the Steel Industry Systems Association (SISA) for contributing $13,000 to the AIST Foundation. SISA has elected to dissolve their organization and amalgamate its activities with AIST via the Computer Applications Technology Committee. The CATC topic for the AISTech 2010 Call for Papers was reviewed and updated. The committee next discussed topics and the logistics of having a webinar. The CATC plans to present the Computer Applications Best Paper Award during their next meeting, which will take place during AISTech 2009 on May 4.
The Computer Applications Technology Committee (CATC) met in Detroit, Mich., on Oct. 23–24, 2008. The first day included presentations by EDS on IT architecture, server virtualization and applied technology. The day was topped off with a very interesting tour of GM’s OnStar Command Center. The committee wishes to thank Ray Hiznay of EDS for organizing and hosting the tour. The CATC business meeting took place on the second day, with Andy Szabo, committee chair, welcoming everyone to the meeting. Tom Carr of Siemens volunteered to take the meeting minutes. After the attendees introduced themselves, Patrick Gallagher of Management Science Associates led the discussions for selecting and organizing the sessions for AISTech 2009. The Leadership Development Conference was then discussed. Nominations for the CATC Best Paper Award for 2008 were distributed to a subcommittee consisting of Mr. Gallagher, Mike Dudzic of ArcelorMittal, Alek Fabijanic of Nucor, and Dave Renolds of Gallatin Steel for their review. This subcommittee will choose the best paper and report back to the full committee at the next meeting. The award will be presented to the winner during AISTech 2009. Mr. Dudzic then reported on the condition of AIST from his view as the division’s representative on AIST’s board of directors. He reported that the financial health of the association is excellent, with membership well over 10,000. The committee recognizes the need to meet more frequently, but realizes that travel is limited to many of the participants. Mr. Fabijanic volunteered to organize some webinars on a variety of subjects, including process control system security. Visit the CATC area on the www.AIST.org for the schedule and topics of these webinars. The next CATC meeting will be Feb. 2, in conjunction with the Process Systems Specialty Training Conference being held in Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 2–5, 2009. Visit www.AIST.org for current information and details.
The Computer Applications Operating Committee (CAOC) met at AISTech 2008 on May 6. The committee chair, Andy Szabo of ArcelorMittal, welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked each of the participants to introduce themselves. Jim Cole of The Timken Co. volunteered to take the meeting minutes. The committee discussed the AISI/AIST committee integration. The CAOC was renamed the Computer Applications Technology Committee and is included in Technology Division VII: Energy and Control. The status of the Process Control Specialty Training Conference was discussed. The program outline was established, and the subcommittee has begun soliciting presenters for the February 2009 conference in Jacksonville, Fla. This conference is a joint collaboration between the Electrical Applications Technology Committee and the Sensor Systems Subcommittee, with Ron Tessendorf as the chair. The election of officers took place. Mr. Szabo was re-elected as chair, Mr. Cole was elected vice chair, and Patrick Gallagher of Management Science Associates papers chair. The committee reviewed its mission statement and changed it slightly to read, “To promote the understanding and advancement of appropriate computer applications and tecnologies for the processing of steel, by providing forums to: (1) learn about best practices, new and current technologies, (2) enable the exchange of problem-solving ideas within the metals processing industry, and with potential suppliers, (3) network with associated disciplines in academia, government, and research.” The committee presented the 2008 Computer Applications Best Paper Award to Sunday Abraham and Shaojie Chen of SSAB IPSCO for their paper entitled, “EAF Energy and Material Balance Modeling.” Mike Dudzic of ArcelorMittal Dofasco, the division’s board of director representative, along with Mr. Cole, presented Mr. Szabo a plaque for his exceptional service and dedication as committee chair for 2007–2008. The next committee meeting date and location will be finalized during the summer. Look for additional information online at www.aist.org.
