The Heat Planning and Tracking module is designed to plan and track the heats and optimise furnace heats. It automatically acquires consumption data, process parameters, chemical analyses, stoppages and ferrous alloys loaded from the production plants (EAF, LF, AOD, casting wagons, continuous casting).

HEAT PLANNING:

• Automatic import of sales orders and the associated chemical analysis specification and bill of materials to be used as a standard.
• Combining several sales orders in  one heat to optimize the furnace casting capacity.  
• Real-time visibility of the plan of authorised heats at all workstations.
• Visibility of the state of progress of each scheduled heat and status (produced, on hold, in stock, parked, validated by the quality department, etc.).
• Checking of the stock of available raw materials and auxiliary materials (e.g. refractory brick and moulds) for each day in relation to actual stock and weekly requirement processing.

PREPARING CASTING BASKETS AT THE FURNACE:

• Furnace basket master data and tare stored in the system.
• Visibility of daily production plans to casting basket operators.
• Visibility, for each heat, of the list of grades of scrap/raw material to be fed according to order specification. 
• Weight capture for each grade of scrap loaded for each basket and logging of actually loaded quantities by basket on the electronic heat report, highlighting any differences with respect to those stated in the specification.
• Possible analysis of statistical data relating to baskets loaded by  period, heat, article produced, scrap grade, customer, in individual or  aggregate form.

TRACEABILITY BY HEAT:

• Real-time heat traceability throughout the production cycle (EAF, Refinining Furnaces, Vacuum, Casting Pit)  
• Management of diverted heat flows  due to the impossibility to meet the specification.  
• Optimisation of heats at ferroalloy furnaces with formulas and criteria to minimize casting cost.
• Automatic storage of all process, product, consumption, downtimes, and chemical analysis  data acquired from the PLC/SCADA system.
• Automatic acquisition of chemical analyses associated with each heat and storage in the electronic heat registry.
• Advanced analysis tools on heat data statistics for ongoing optimisation.
• Real-time unloading from scrap and ferroalloy warehouses of the quantities actually used.
• Automatic transmission, upon quality validation, of actual consumptions per heat to Management System software for the allocation of actual costs and not standard costs.

• Product and process data travel at the same speed as the metal is cast.  
• Exact costs for each heat as they are determined with actually used quantities and materials and not those envisaged in the nominal recipe standard.
• Real-time sharing between all departments (Planning, Scrap Purchasing, Production, Logistics) of the state of progress of scheduled/executed heats, by eliminating paperwork and delays.
• Reliable data shared in real time not only for production management but also for ongoing process improvement.

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