Production planning and control in the integrated iron and steel mill of Eko Stahl GmbH

Objective. The reorganisation of Eko Stahl GmbH into an integrated iron and steel mill has also required new concepts and tools to plan and control production. The aim has been to create an integrated production planning and control (PPC) system that helps the new production-related potentials to be used in the best possible way. Summary. The new production planning and control system of Eko Stahl is a powerful planning tool encompassing in one homogeneous system all functions of capacity planning and time scheduling, material requirements planning and order allocation as well as order sequencing at the production lines. It enables order processing in a unified manner for all production steps from pig iron production via steelmaking, casting, hot rolling in the new mill up to finishing in the cold strip plant. The integration of the functions of production management and control supports the enforcement of the production schedules as far as possible by flexible, adequate response to operational disturbances. The new PPC plays an important role in the improvement of logistic performance in terms of lower level of stocks, reduced lead times, just in time delivery, good capacity usage and high yield.