Innovation
We strive to maximize the involvement of innovative technologies and analytical management systems into our activities. Thanks to them, we have succeeded in reducing production and transport costs, improving the quality of products and accelerating the pace of industrial processing. We follow a strict formula of “modernization meaning utility”. Thus, we evaluate the attractiveness of any innovation in practical savings of resources of both the plant and our partners instead of some abstract development trends. In the schematic approximation, each innovation component of Lenmontag Steelworks is considered by us as an element of one of two directions.
Industry and Technology innovations
Robotic complexes for cutting the complex metal configurationsа
We were among the first in Russia to use the full-fledged 3D modeling of technical tasks followed with robotic metal cutting. Engaging the “Roboweld” robo-tech as well as 3D modelling software, Lenmontag Steelworks has automated the manufacturing of round, curved, curly images. Our robotic lines are able to treat details of sophisticated design, form a non-standard cutout landscape at a wide angle of the cutting beam or with additional preparation of compound grooves. Such an opportunity is provided by, among other things, the integration of advanced edges of German and American steel industries into our operations.
Preparing to implement automatic welding portals
The next step on our way towards robotization is planned to be an automatic welding of orthotropic plates and bridge constructions. This is a complex process, which requires tremendous accuracy in the algorithmic setting and appropriate organization within the workspace. Already now our specialists are training to work with the cybernetic infrastructure of welded works. The ultimate goal is to improve and simplify the processing of heavy structures on gantry platforms (portals).
Unified dataspace
The broad infrastructure of the plant, including its logistics, material supply and customer care subdivisions, are united under the informational aegis of Lenmontag Steelworks. Based on the core of classical ERP systems, it is designed to serve the purpose of being an integrated management tool of the company. Its vital ability was called to be an instant information exchange between the working line and the executive body. Administration and expansion of the information environment is delegated to the profile department of information technologies. For many years of existence, it has formed a portfolio of self-owned modifications and service programs.
Management innovations
LEAN
This guy comes from an English term of “lean manufacturing”, which means an effective resource management. This is the concept of continuous operational optimization, born from the ideas of Japanese entrepreneur Taiichi Ohno. Here its essence lies in the separation of the production cycle of Lenmontag Steelworks into independent technological elements, in respect of each a permanent microeconomic analysis is conducted. Following the BDA methods (the “Big Data Analysis”, a machine processing of large data sets), we minimize both our production costs and the financial losses of our customers. For example, reducing the duration of transportation stages of metallurgical blanks or the shelf life of finished products directly affects the final cost of a metal structure. This results from an agile business model that can be changed to suit the current needs of the plant and customers. But such flexibility would not have been possible without LEAN-management systems and technological analytics methods, which we are proud of.
SIX SIGMA (6σ)
This one simultaneously describes quality management strategy and a statistical analysis model. The name “Six Sigma” comes from a mathematical term, in our case illustrating the number of deviations in the characteristics of the products received from the design requirements. It is generally known that the original authors of the concept considered the ideal situation where only four operations out of a million differ from the technical assignment. For our part, we projected this threshold onto the activities of Lenmontag Steelworks. All discrepancies between the project and the result become a subject to statistical. Even the cases we have detected once per history of the plant are included into the scope. We do not just take them into account; we determine the causes and consequences of such deviations, then act to reduce the potential risk of negative changes or to supplement the existing technology with a successful creative finding. Over the years, many individual solutions have been tested for efficiency and introduced into our technological cycle thanks to careful monitoring of operations after the “Six Sigma” pattern.