Digital Twin and IIoT in Optimizing Manufacturing Process and Quality Management
coated and finished before being released as products . Please refer to Fig . 2-1 and Fig . 2-2 for graphical illustrations 5 of primary and secondary production processes , respectively and additional steelmaking information thither in the footnote reference .
Fig . 2-1 : Steelmaking primary production processes .
Further complexity in Steelmaking arises from that each of the major production processes may consist many subprocesses , each of which may be supported by various production lines that employ many large and sophisticated equipment with complex upstream and downstream supply chain relationship , as in part illustrated in Fig . 2-1 and Fig . 2-2 . In the primary processes , steelmaking is largely continuous process . However , it becomes increasingly discrete process in nature in its secondary production processes .
Moreover , production process parameters in the upstream processes have strong influence over the downstream processes . The production process of high-end special steel is even more complicated involving more processes and sub-processes . Another rather unique aspect in steelmaking is that its products in process subject not only to mechanical but also chemical changes , making its quality monitoring and tacking more challenging . The making of special steel tends to consist of small batches of large varieties of products . At the same time , because special steels are used in important equipment of various industries that has higher reliability and safety requirements , and in turn the requirements for quality are more demanding and refined .
5 https :// www . steel . org / steel-technology / steel-production /
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