GE Power (NYSE: GE) and ArcelorMittal recently signed the agreement to launch a joint digital pilot at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Gent, Belgium, by deploying GE’s Motor Fleet Asset Performance Management (APM) solution, powered by Predix, to reduce unplanned downtime and enhance productivity.
Steelmaking is a complicated process that encompasses a large number of power conversion devices. In general, one single processing line can have up to hundreds of motors with their associated drives running conveyor belts or driving rolling mills. These electric machines’ performance is therefore crucial to the plant’s overall productivity, directly affecting steelmakers’ profits and quality of the end products.
“Being at the front of technological innovation, ArcelorMittal’s plant in Gent goes a step further by deploying the Motor Fleet APM. We believe this digital technology will transform the steel plant to achieve new efficiencies that the industry has not seen. By working with GE to adopt data-driven intelligence, we anticipate significant reductions in unplanned downtime and therefore enhanced productivity in our plant,” said Wim Van Gerven, CEO Business Division North, ArcelorMittal.
GE’s Motor Fleet APM will monitor the motors and drives for data collection and analytics. It provides a holistic view of the plant performance. The data is also compared to its perfectly healthy digital twin – a digital replica built on the normal operating profile. By spotting data variations, the software will automatically indicate future potential electrical and mechanical faults. The operator is then warned to take immediate actions to instantly adjust parameters to avoid overloading the equipment and ensure their peak performances.
Unplanned downtime is one of key cost drivers in steel plants. GE’s Motor Fleet APM solution allows the shift from traditional calendar-based repairs to predictive maintenance, significantly reduce downtime and maintenance costs; also allowing operators to plan the repair in conjunction with planned downtime to further reduce unplanned downtime.
“Digitalization has blasted a dose of fresh air through the century-old industry. We believe in its potential to boost productivity, and the launch of this digital pilot represents an important milestone in the digital transformation of the steelmaking industry,” said Azeez Mohammed, president & CEO, GE’s Power Conversion business.