Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

From a humble beginning at Hisar, where OP Jindal set-up the first plant in 1970, Jindal Stainless (JSL) has become Indias largest integrated stainless steel manufacturer with a global presence in over thirty countries. The group also has a Ferro Alloy plant at Vishakhapatnam and is constructing the worlds largest greenfield integrated stainless steel complex in Kalinga Nagar, Orissa.

One of the core beliefs of JSL has been to break barriers between plant floor systems and enterprise systems by implementing the best available technologywhether it is for manufacturing processes or for organizational management.

We have been running SAP since 2002. The plant manufacturing system was not integrated with the ERP while process control was running separately, says Ajay Dhir, group CIO, JSL.

Challenges
With the growth in capacity and growing number of plant systems at each manufacturing location, JSL was looking to integrate all plant systems with business system, ie, SAP ERP. The lack of visibility of real-time information across locations was proving to be costly as there was no holistic view of operations. Dealing with multiple products across locations and different partners, suppliers and dealers only added to information chaos. A robust database coupled with streamlined processes, connecting all locations was the answer.

Ajay Dhir, group CIO, Jindal Stainless

Enabled global expansion and real time integration with JSLs manufacturing systems, eliminating inefficiencies and reducing costs Enabled global operation managers to plan proactively with real-time online monitoring of manufacturing processes

Before the SAP MII deployment, information about sensors and devices used to be carried through PLCs and enabled local visualization. However, this deployment enabled process information to be transferred to a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) server, which was further connected to a technical database, and then fed into the integrator. Therefore, process information was integrated with business data giving a complete view of operations.

This essentially implies that sitting anywhere in the network, any customer query can be answered easily. Responding to queries used to take at least a week, which can now be done in a single day, says Dhir. At about $150,000, the project was executed in four months and went live in May 2008.

Returns Accruing
The SAP MII solution has provided an integrated platform for doing business with speed, flexibility and a customer-centric approach. Deploying the state-of-the-art technology has enabled global expansion and real time integration with JSLs manufacturing systems, eliminating inefficiencies and reducing costs, he says.

Whether it is monitoring and control of process deviations or tracking the source of defect to analyze customer complaints, the deployment has enabled JSL to address business growth in a 360 degree manner. Ultimately the company has achieved a high level of plant intelligence, giving it a significant competitive edge.

The deployment has also enabled operation managers to plan proactively with real-time online monitoring of manufacturing processes. Therefore the planning cycle has been made online instead of the hybrid model used earlier. Post deployment, operations staff can now better understand the process parameters and compare them with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), thereby enabling them to improve quality standards.

The deployment has also enabled real-time monitoring of manufacturing processes, and quality and efficiency analysis based on plant data repository. Buoyed by the success of SAP MII, JSL now plans to integrate this with coil tracking system (used for tracking the coils lying in warehouses).

Stuti Das
stutid@cybermedia.co.in

Page(s)   1