Automation for steel manufacturing: prevent the unplanned trip

Sound familiar

What steel plant leaders tell us

"A caster bearing failed unplanned and took the line down for a shift."

An unplanned stop on a caster is among the most expensive events in the plant, and the vibration trend that predicted it went unwatched.

"Peak energy charges hit because load was not managed against tariff."

Energy is one of your largest costs. Running heavy load into a peak-tariff window, when it could have been shifted, is margin handed away.

"Equipment and refractory health is tracked in spreadsheets, after the fact."

Condition lives in side files updated after inspections. The event that something is degrading arrives too late to act cheaply.

Where to start

The events worth automating first

We do not boil the ocean. We pick the single event with the highest avoidable cost and build the full chain for it, then move to the next.

Furnace and caster failure prediction

Vibration, temperature, and load patterns flag equipment trending toward failure, so it is serviced on a planned slot instead of tripping the line.

Energy load and tariff optimisation

Energy-intensive operations are scheduled against tariff and demand events, so peak charges and avoidable load stop eroding margin.

Vibration and bearing health

Rotating equipment is scored from live vibration data, so a failing bearing is caught and swapped before it stops production.

Refractory and wear tracking

Wear is tracked from process data rather than spreadsheets, so relines and replacements are planned, not forced.

A worked event

One event, run end to end

Event

Caster bearing vibration rising past threshold

Intelligence

Failure 64% probable within 96 hours

Decision

Planned swap versus unplanned trip, downtime cost

Action

Schedule maintenance, stage spares, assign crew

Outcome

Unplanned trip avoided, shift protected

Reliability and energy, on one accelerator

Steel runs on Asset Intelligence for equipment reliability, paired with Energy Intelligence for load management and the Control Tower for operational flow. The same six-layer architecture that runs in production today, configured for your furnaces, casters, and tariffs.

Built on your MES, ERP, and quality systems

Human approval gates where the floor needs them

Full audit trail on every decision and action

Explore the accelerator

Operational risk view showing predictive equipment scoring

Seven screens from the build

Each screen maps to a layer. You pick the ones you need.

Modular by design. Start with the screens the first event needs, add the rest as you grow. What follows are real screens from a build we ran inside a client's systems, not a subscription product.

Live Events

Real-time ingestion and normalisation of every operational event.

Event

Asset Registry

The master ledger of assets with full lifecycle history in one place.

Event

Network Map

Geospatial view with live telemetry across the whole estate.

Intelligence

Risk Accelerator

Predictive scoring with AI explanation chips and confidence ratings.

Decision

Interventions

Cost of action versus inaction, then approve and execute in one place.

Workflow

Automations

IF, AND, THEN rules running thousands of executions at high success.

Action

Simulation Accelerator

What-if scenarios across six domains, with pre-emptive actions ranked.

Outcome

Add what you need

Analytics, compliance and audit, system health, and integrations hub round out the set.

An unplanned furnace trip costs more than a month of monitoring.

What steel plant leaders tell us

The events worth automating first

Furnace and caster failure prediction

Energy load and tariff optimisation

Vibration and bearing health

Refractory and wear tracking

One event, run end to end

Reliability and energy, on one accelerator

Each screen maps to a layer. You pick the ones you need.

Live Events

Asset Registry

Network Map

Risk Accelerator

Interventions

Automations

Simulation Accelerator

Add what you need

Which piece of equipment cannot afford to trip unplanned?