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Broner Solution Helps NSSC Implement Due-Date Based Customer Focus
07/13/2009 - Broner implements its Production Planner module for Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp., which is now using it to improve customer service and reduce inventory.
Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp., Japan, is now using Broner Metals Solutions’ Production Planner module to improve customer service and reduce inventory.
The Broner Production Planner provides comprehensive scheduling that optimizes and balances the flow of material through the supply chain based on a range of factors, including actual and forecast orders; inventories; equipment capacity; production campaigns; order grouping; and process restrictions. Based on actual and planned demand, the module creates a forecast of equipment utilization, inventories and on-time delivery for the short- to medium-term horizon.
At Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel, production starts with slabs from the slab-yard, which pass through the reheat furnace then the hot rolling mill where they are rolled into plates measuring approximately 5 meters wide and 20 meters long. After rough cutting, the plates are shot blasted before passing through the roughing mill then laminating, ultrasound and many other finishing and cutting processes.
Before the Broner solution was implemented, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel required large stocks of inventory in front of each piece of equipment to ensure that there was always sufficient feedstock available for each production process. In addition to requiring high inventory levels, the old set-up resulted in a lack of visibility of slabs and plates, which made it difficult to improve customer service. Pieces could not easily be traced, making it difficult to expedite orders. In addition, the overall throughput of the plant was considered to be low.
Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel’s objective for implementing the module was to change the plant to a customer-focused, ‘due-date-oriented’ operation by implementing advanced decision support tools. The new system would allow the plant to be driven by a new core business KPI, which is to measure adherence to the plan, of actual production compared with the plan dates. This KPI, which is now providing improved control of production and material flow, has been key to improving on-time delivery.
The project was called ‘PLanning Adhered New System (PLANS) for Production Management’ and uses the Broner Production Planner to produce a production plan for all orders. The plan considers all of the plant’s inventory, resources and constraints and provides planned dates for each slab or plate for each production process.
These data help to provide visibility of the plan dates to operatives on the shop floor throughout the plant.
Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel (NSSC) is a joint company formed in 2003 between Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. It is the largest specialty manufacturer of stainless steel products in Japan with a one-third market share. NSSC has three plants, producing 1.1 million tonnes per year of cold rolled stainless steel sheets & coils, stainless steel plates & sheets and stainless steel bars & wire rods.
Broner Metals Solutions specializes exclusively in delivering value to the Steel and Aluminum industries. Broner provides Supply Chain Planning, Scheduling and Manufacturing Execution Systems and Consultancy with solutions that have been developed specifically for the Metals industry. MES solutions are designed to the ISA95 standards and include tracking and data management & analysis.
The Broner Metals Solutions team has 30 years experience in improving the performance of metals supply chains worldwide. Broner solutions are widely used by some of the world’s top steel companies, such as: ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest, and only global, steel company; Nippon Steel; JFE; Tata Steel, and Gerdau Group, together with metals customers such as: Corus, CSN, Essar Steel, Norandal, OMK, Severstal, Taiyuan Steel (TISCO), TMK, ThyssenKrupp Steel and Usiminas.
Broner Metals Solutions is part of Hyperion Systems Engineering Ltd.
