Steel Industry
Plate Mill Capacity Optimisation
Primary Outcome30% Throughput Improvement
Business Challenge
Severe throughput bottlenecks at plate shearing lines and uncoordinated reheating schedules restricted total plant volume.
Client Situation & Operational Bottlenecks:
- •Hot rolling mill starved of reheated slabs due to uncoordinated furnace sequencing
- •Plate shearing line operating as severe constraint bottleneck causing slab cooling delays
- •WIP inventory buildup between billet casting and finishing dispatch yards
- •High energy consumption and furnace thickness changeover downtime
Our Approach
- Executed End-to-End Material Velocity and Bottleneck Capacity Audit
- Applied Theory of Constraints (TOC) to identify physical plant bottlenecks
- Modeled Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) schedule for furnace heating and rolling
- Designed slab sequencing rules to minimize furnace thickness changes
- Standardized shearing bed staging and cooling yard buffer management
Key Improvement Initiatives
- 1Implemented Drum-Buffer-Rope scheduling software cadence for reheating furnaces
- 2Sub-optimized non-bottleneck processes to ensure 100% feeding of hot rolling mill
- 3Established visual buffer management indicators across cooling beds and shearing lines
- 4Rolled out hourly bottleneck output tracking and downtime escalation routines
Before vs. After Operational Metrics
| Metric | Before Transformation | After Transformation | Quantified Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order Lead Time | 14 days | 9.8 days | -30% |
| Mill Bottleneck Utilization | 64% | 91% | +27% |
| Monthly Plate Volume | 42,000 MT | 54,600 MT | +30% |
“
Pinnacle Logic identified hidden capacity in our mill that we didn't know existed. Unlocking 30% additional output without purchasing new machinery saved us crores in Capex.
— General Manager - Operations, Integrated Steel Manufacturer
KEY RESULTS
30%Throughput Uplift
30%Lead Time Compression
27%Spindle Utilization
Services Delivered
- Capacity Improvement
- Theory of Constraints
- Production Planning
- Material Velocity Mapping
- Industrial Engineering
Methodologies Used
Theory of ConstraintsDrum-Buffer-RopeVSMIndustrial EngineeringKaizen
Service Capability
Capacity Improvement
Unlock hidden plant capacity and expand output without expensive machinery Capex.
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