Metalloinvest automates production planning

Metalloinvest (“the Company”), a leading global iron ore and HBI producer and supplier, and one of the regional producers of high-quality steel, has launched a new digital business process transformation project in the form of a production scheduling system. The introduction of this technology is expected to save the Company RUB 90 million per year.

The scheduling system, known as the Master Planning System (MPS), will give Metalloinvest an optimised production plan based on information regarding the Company’s orders and their priority, customer segmentation, technological process flows and supply chains.

The digital tool will have its pilot launch at Management Company Metalloinvest and OEMK in Autumn 2021, after which it will be rolled out to the Company’s other enterprises.

Implementing the digital transformation of processes and the IT framework of the scheduling system will allow Metalloinvest to create a unified IT sales support space, and a consolidated production and transportation chain to improve synergies across the Company.

This will speed up and simplify the process of obtaining information required by employees, while the level of detail in reporting and the timeliness of the provision of information will improve.

Planning processes, distribution, appointments, identifying production capacities, activity synchronisation between plants and processing stages will become more transparent. The system lessens the workload of planning teams, freeing up time for intellectual tasks and creating opportunities to produce different scenarios to make effective management decisions and take remedial actions.

Both qualitative and quantitative indicators will be significantly improved. In particular, the shipping time and the duration of the order production cycle will decrease, while the order fulfilment rate will simultaneously increase.

Most importantly, the system not only supports the relevant regulatory and reference information, but also suggests the most suitable algorithms to form a comprehensive unified plan, taking into account existing opportunities and limitations.

Experts from Management Company Metalloinvest, KonsOM SKS and JSA Group will jointly develop the software, including IT tools of the scheduling system and management of the regulatory and reference information for production.

Accenture has been tasked with creating a new model of the business planning process. The methodology will be updated, while an organisational change programme and relevant required test scenarios will be developed, and methodological support will be introduced.

Source: Metalloinvest, Photo: Fotolia