reference examples

Value creation happens when you get your hands dirty

Our Work

Our passion is to contribute to the future of the metals industry

The focus of our work are customer-centered solutions. Our knowledge and experience guide our cooperation with customers from various areas of the metallurgical industry. For us, there are no geographical boundaries or company sizes – every customer is important to us.

We are not afraid to question the current status quo, and we look forward to solving complex challenges. We can take a wide range of perspectives and want to open up completely new insights for our customers. Challenge us and let us jointly create an innovative, sustainable and future-oriented metals industry. Let us share our passion for the metals industry, as we did in our projects listed below …

 

Automatic Tracking of Scrap Handling and Charging

Intelligent Sensors | Optimization of the Entire Raw Material Handling

Automatic and unmanned product tracking and process supervision – a goal of all production supervisors. Together with our customer, who is running Austria’s most efficient steel plant producing rebar steel, we are accomplishing a comprehensive solution to automatically track the scrap handling and charging process. Our intelligent solution tracks all movements: from the moment the scrap arrives in the plant up to the charging in the electric arc furnace.

The centerpiece of this solution are our intelligent, camera-based sensors called qurve, featuring automatic image and object detection and data processing in a completely embedded solution. Our qurves are installed at different locations along the production process to fulfill the following objectives:

  • Detection of number and position of scrap railway wagons
  • Detection of the exact position of the two scrap charging cranes in the bay by an unprecedented camera-based positioning solution

Linking our qurves in a comprehensive software solution together with further signals from the scrap charging cranes and the scrap bucket transfer cars we achieve a complete tracking and reporting of all scrap charging operations. The results of this project help the customer in

  • achieving full transparency of the scrap handling process
  • optimizing the EAF process
  • optimize the supply chain management

in a completely automatic solution.

 

Optimization of the Processes for the Production of Ferro-Alloys

Requirement Engineering | Software Solution to Monitor, Control and Optimization

The primary goal of this project is the optimization of the production of ferro-alloys with the help of a software solution that monitors, controls and optimizes the processes. For this purpose, several workshops were carried out with this Austrian customer in order to systematically record the requirements for such a system. The traceability of all activities and process steps as well as the monitoring and control of material additions, quality control and the analysis of production performance are fundamental requirements. The potential of a holistic process model was the centerpiece of this requirement engineering project to optimize and control the entire production process.

 

Engineering and Supply of Mechanical Auxiliary Machines

Superior Engineering | New Manufacturing and Assembling Possibilities

In forming new friendships, forget not old friends.

It is a great confirmation of our qoncept path that a partner, who we would by now call an old friend, supplying consumables to the metals industry, has commissioned us with the engineering and supply of mechanical auxiliary devices for his consumables. Running a small batch series for producing these devices, the qoncept team is exploring new manufacturing and assembling possibilities to reduce the per-piece costs yet keeping the required quality level.

All relevant completion steps for final assembly, quality control, FAT, packing and shipping of the goods are run from our own dedicated workshop.

 

Improvement of a Secondary Metallurgy Unit

Consulting | Conceptual Mechanical Engineering Study

Improving existing equipment to achieve higher productivity and process stability is the daily challenge of production. Pairing this challenge with limited investment budgets requires for a structured and profound analysis of the equipment and possible improvement suggestions.

In this project, qoncept was commissioned with a conceptual mechanical engineering study to investigate the possibilities of improving the process stability and reducing the production related costs of a secondary metallurgical unit in the steel industry. Due to the very specific design and age of the production unit, the different improvement suggestions had to consider numerous factors and complex plant surroundings. qoncept conceptual engineering study was then taken as the basis for tendering the revamping project.

 

Digitalization of a Foundry’s Melt Shop

With the help of an integrated Level 2 and 3 software solution, process know-how was standardized and optimized, material supply security was ensured and resource efficiency was increased.

  • Business Unit

    Software and Hardware

    We digitize where it gets too hot for others: software by metallurgists for metallurgists. The starting point for our various solutions is our software framework qontrol. Due to its modular and microservices-based architecture, qontrol can be easily and quickly adapted to specific customer requirements.

  • Client

    voestalpine Gießerei Traisen Gmbh & Co KG

    voestalpine
  • Country

    Austria

    Austria

About the Customer

FlowDiagram

As an international player in the foundry industry, voestalpine Foundry Group, with its sites in Linz, Traisen (Lower Austria) and the joint venture in China, has made a name for itself worldwide. With a broad portfolio of steel castings, including nickel-based alloys, it offers customized solutions in areas ranging from energy production, such as hydro, offshore/wind or oil & gas, to machinery and railroad systems. By using state-of-the-art technologies and increasingly focusing on climate-friendly production processes, voestalpine Foundry Group is the first choice for cast products of the highest quality, in a weight range from a few kilograms to 200 tons.

Project Goal

The goal of the project was to integrate a software solution that closes the gap between the plant automation (level 1) and the ERP system (level 4) in order to

  • track,
  • control and
  • optimize
the entire value chain in the melt shop. All relevant data from different sources has been integrated to provide a holistic view of the processes within the entire operation.

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Transparency and Workflow Optimization

Requirements Engineering | Software for a Finishing Line

The motivation for this project was defined as follows: With the help of a customer-specific software solution, know-how is to be standardized and optimized, product tracking ensured and efficient production achieved.
Together with the customer, we developed the requirements for a software solution that tracks, monitors and controls the entire production. In addition, functionalities were defined that enable production to be optimized. The software solution, which is optimally coordinated for general conditions, should provide answers to the following operationally relevant questions:

  • How can the production be increased while maintaining the required quality at lower costs?
  • How can the availability of the plants be increased and the life cycle optimized?
  • How can plant performance be improved?
  • How can maintenance and operating costs be reduced?
  • How can operational agility be improved?
  • How can adherence to delivery dates be improved?

Another goal of the requirements engineering phase was to define a holistic overview of all processes, whereby all relevant data from different sources must be integrated.

 

Improving the Meltshop’s Productivity

Consulting | Diagnostic Fact-Finding Mission

This customer’s steel plant is located in a historic area for steel production in Europe. The aim of the diagnostic fact-finding mission, which included a one-week onsite visit from 4 of our experts, was to analyze the present performance of the melt shop and give recommendations for improvement measures to substantially improve the melt shop’s productivity with equal or better quality while keeping the number of annual gross production hours constant. The following four areas were covered within this project:

  • Metallurgical production technology melt shop
  • Production technology CC
  • Melt shop state and design
  • Melt shop logistics
 

Stabilization and Improvement of Equipment & Technology

Consulting | Technological Analysis and Service

Located in the north of Italy, this customer produces plates, forged and rolled plates, forged ingots of a maximum annual capacity of 500,000 t. qoncept provided consulting services for this customer’s steel shop with respect to the following:

  • Stabilization and improvement of their present production
  • Required improvements concerning equipment and technology.

Our technological consulting services covered the existing equipment in the melt shop to examine the present situation and give first recommendations regarding future production improvements. The topics addressed during the consulting phase were as follows:

  • Study of the production facilities to discover bottlenecks/deficiencies
  • Analysis of the present technology
  • Recommendation for products and steel grades
 

Digitalization of the Melting and Casting Area

Consulting | Future-Oriented Digital Solution

This Austrian customer is a globally active and reliable supplier of high-quality castings for demanding requirements. Together with the customer we created a technical specification for a software solution that closes the gap between plant automation (Level 1) and the ERP system (Level 4) in order to track, control and optimize the metallurgical processes and all processes regarding data and material flow. The following required features and modules were described in detail:

  • Administration and management of grades, raw materials, operational equipment, treatment instructions and production workflows
  • Order management and sequencing
  • Production preparation including raw material optimization and bucket set-up
  • Operator guidance, process control and optimization of the melting units

In addition to the document with the technical specifications, we provided a tender document in which the content and structure of the offers to be submitted by potential suppliers were described in detail.

 

Software for Product Life Cycle Tracking

Software Engineering | Conceptual Software Design

Based on several workshops, we designed an innovative software platform that supports process transparency and quality optimization of products along their entire lifecycle. Using smart devices, the software platform was designed with the goal of documenting the journey of a product from the manufacturer’s warehouse through shipping and, eventually, to the processing at the end customer. The following advantages and benefits were part of the requirement engineering and solution design:

  • Optimization of product quality through close cooperation with the end customer
  • Transparent and improved complaint management
  • Demand management for just in time deliveries
  • Complete (digital) tracking of the product life cycle

The delivery of this project included the documented results of the requirement engineering as well as interactive mock-ups of a possible software solution.

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