TMK Made a Profit of Half a Billion Rubles from the Implementation of Digital Twins
The Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) received about half a billion rubles of additional profit from the implementation of digital twins of rolling mills at the Volzhsky (VTZ) and Seversky (STZ) pipe plants. The economic effect was achieved by improving the quality of pipe products, producing pipes from new steel grades and reducing costs.
Digital twins of VTZ and STZ pipe rolling units have been created since 2018. The solution simulates the processes of pipe production on continuous rolling, extracting and sizing and reducing mills. The technology allows you to select and test equipment settings in a virtual environment, and then apply the most efficient option in production.
Thanks to the design of gauge systems for continuous rolling mills with the help of digital twins, it was possible to significantly increase the accuracy of products, to establish the production of new special casing pipes and to receive an additional profit of 70 million rubles. The technology also made it possible to improve the operating modes of the mandrels of the mills in order to increase the service life of the tool, the quality of products and reduce the consumption of metal – this gave about 60 million rubles of additional profit.
A methodology for faster and more accurate tuning of the pipe rolling unit based on non-contact 3D measuring systems was introduced, which made it possible to achieve stable results in the production of high-precision pipes and obtain an economic effect in the amount of more than 120 million rubles. Also, with the help of digital twins, the company mastered the production of pipes from new steel grades and received more than 240 million rubles of additional profit.
“The introduction of digital technologies is one of the key areas of TMK’s transformation, designed to create a new production culture in the company. IT solutions are implemented in all areas of business – from administrative tasks and interaction with customers to production planning and product quality control. We are consistently increasing investments in this area and are already getting impressive results. Thus, the economic effect from the introduction of digital twins has already significantly exceeded the investment in their development. At the moment, we are replicating this solution to other enterprises of the company – Taganrog Metallurgical and Sinarsky Pipe Plants, ”said Vyacheslav Popkov, First Deputy General Director – Chief Engineer of TMK.
The digital twin of the rolling mill created by TMK specialists has no analogues in the world. In 2020, the company’s team – employees of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of the Pipe Industry (RusNITI) in Chelyabinsk, the Scientific and Technical Center (STC) of TMK in the Skolkovo innovation center, as well as VTZ and STZ – was awarded the Russian Government Prize in the field of science and technology for young scientists for the development and implementation of this technology.
