AISTech 2019 — Proceedings of the Iron & Steel Technology Conference

6–9 May 2019, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

DOI 10.1000.377.167

Holistic Approach of Real-Time Product Quality Management at New Integrated Steel Plant,
Shandong Iron & Steel, Rizhao, China

Wolfgang Spies1, Ingo Schuster2, Xiangyang Chen

1
SMS group GmbH Wiesenstraße 30, 57271 Hilchenbach, Germany
Phone: +49 2733 29 2028
Email: Wolfgang.Spies@sms-group.com
2
METCon Metallurgical Plant & Process Consulting GmbH
Ivo-Beucker-Straße 43, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
Phone: +49 211 881 4496
Email: Ingo.Schuster@metcon-gmbh.de

SDIS Rizhao Co. Ltd.

No. 600 Binhai Road, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China

Keywords: Product quality, flat steel rolling, process stability, PQA®, new integrated steel plant, PLTCM, sigh CVC® mill,
quality rules, automatic product release, artificial intelligence

INTRODUCTION
Shandong Iron & Steel Group Rizhao, China, has built a new complex for high quality flat steel production. Main supply
origins from SMS group consisting of plant equipment, electrical and automation system and process technology. The latter
one also comprises a holistic product quality monitoring spanning the entire facility from steelmaking to the finished coil
after galvanizing.
In 2017, the high performance hot strip mill with a capacity of 4.8 Mio. t/a was commissioned. Main components are slab
sizing press, two reversing roughing mills, crop shear and seven CVC® plus finishing stands. After laminar strip cooling,
three high performance coilers serve as supplier for the subsequent cold rolling complex.
In early 2018, the coupled pickling tandem cold rolling mill (PLTCM) was started. The PLTCM designed for 2 Mio. t/a
comprises a two pay off real entry section, followed by a laser welding system and turbulence pickling section.
The five stand six high CVC® plus cold mill is followed by a high speed shear and carousel coiler. Maximum width is
1,900 mm and minimum thickness 0.3 mm.
Later in 2018, two continuous annealing lines (CAL) came into operation with ultra-fast cooling system for HSLA
automotive grades. 400,000 t/a can be put to heat treatment and high precision galvanizing in the continuous galvanizing
line (CGL) for automotive exposed quality.
This complete new flat steel production line was commissioned and tuned to high quality parallel to the implementation of
the SMS group PQA® (Product Quality Analyzer) system. In turn, this system significantly supported the fast improvement
of the quality by providing all relevant quality data at each process operator desk and to the technology team. Immediate
feedback of quality issues of a downstream line could be introduced for improvements in upstream equipment and processes
on a coil to coil basis.
Hurdles between responsibility of different plant areas could not be established and built up of overall process knowledge for
the new team was enhanced.
Shandong Iron & Steel is now in a position of fast and comprehensive control of the quality not only for the finished coil but
also for the entire stability and technological performance of the process. Each piece of material is identified, logged and
ready to be looked on at a fingertip.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1615

 Figure 1: Integrated steel plant Shandong/Rizhao, China

DISCUSSION
®
1. PQA System and Functionality
From the beginning of the process chain from steelmaking up to the surface-finished cold strip or coated strip, PQA®
monitors, documents and safeguards process and product quality. Therefore, all relevant production and process data are
recorded and analyzed by rules in a continuous manner.
Process data are monitored on pre-defined rules and in case of deviations, instructions for actions are issued in order to record
potential short comings during the production process and to respond with countermeasures in due time. Expert rules ensure
that semi-final products are assessed according to their suitability for various applications.
PQA® perfectly combines profound process know-how with a powerful quality execution software solution into a high-
performance quality assurance system for the metals industry.

1.1 Main purpose of PQA®

PQA® provides quality decision support over the whole production and process chain with clear recommendations of actions.

1616 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

Signal Meaning Consequence
Blocked
• Product quality not achieved • Downgrade material to lower quality
• Decisive quality parameter out of
tolerance

Reviewed
• Minor quality or process deviations • Advice the downstream process to counteract
quality deviations
• Downgrade to orders with suitable requirements

Approved
• All relevant quality parameters within • Forward the material to the next internal or
the limits external process

Figure 2: PQA® controls the quality under consideration of all relevant process data and expert know-how

1.2 PQA® relevant data

• Continuous measurements
o Dimensions
o Temperatures
o Atmospheres
o Shape
• Observations
o Process disturbances
• Laboratory data
o Chemical analysis
o Mechanical properties
o Surface properties
o Behavior
• Periodical measurements
o Quality of used agents

1.3 Main benefits of PQA®

Considering the entire production and process chain, PQA® is beneficial in various ways as quality is developing along the
whole manufacturing chain.

Save processing costs

Processing of substandard material is prevented as a result of early detection of quality issues and the subsequent actions.
Furthermore, inventory of disqualified material and rework is reduced as well as the work load of the personnel due to more
guidance by experts.

Transparent production process

Optimization processes are supported by making the production process more transparent by material tracking and remote
access by web-based reports.

Increase yield and improve quality at every process step

At every process step, yield will be increased due to reallocations at early stage or repair recommendations for next process
step.

Generate trust at the end customers

The transparent and quality-oriented production process ensures that customers always receive stable quality. To prove that,
all quality relevant data at every process step are documented and can be shown immediately if required.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1617

 1.4 Main view of PQA® QualityMonitor

Coil description
Details about the  Additional views on 
selected coil details
Example surface; 
different views available

CSP® QualityMonitor

Defect maps
Top and bottom

Coil list
Color show result of 
Selected defects
quality evaluation

Defect image

Quality result
Result for different 
fields of observation

Ruleset
Overview of the 
applied ruleset

Defect density

Figure 3: CSP® QualityMonitor

1.5 PQA® modules
PQA® is applying modular software architecture, which is essential for highest computational power and the capability to
map a customized process chain.

Material tracking and genealogy

• Projection of all measured product data on the same reference length
• Product traceability over all production stages
• Upstream & downstream measurement data gets mapped onto the current product information
• Quality issue investigation reveals whether defects are consequential or not
• Potential quality issues are forwarded from upstream to downstream units

1618 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 Figure 4: Material tracking and genealogy

Figure 5: Long term data storage

1.6 Quality rules
Quality rules are set considering expert knowledge of the relevant influences over the complete process chain. The most
important key quality parameters are prescribed in the product specification, it is rather easy to evaluate a finished product.
Evaluating the quality influence of process incidents during earlier or even final production stages is much more difficult.
These characteristics can often not directly be measured during production and they can only be detected under laboratory
tests.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1619

The product quality can only be secured if besides reliable production procedures and repeatable production routes also the
technical quality is verified at relevant intermediate quality gates.
This explains why a comprehensive quality survey along the entire route is crucial. PQA® guarantees product quality along
the entire production route.
It is important to apply quality rules based on longstanding experience in an early production stage to avoid adding value to
already defective semi-finished products which will finally lead to defective finished products.
The final characteristics that are needed consist of product standards and specifications. Nevertheless, there are much more
aspects required for specific final applications of material groups. That’s why quality rules are a solid basis behind PQA® to
meet these requirements.

Rule Examples
Issue Solution Benefit
Logical rule Thickness in hot strip mill Feed forward expert advice to Secure thickness-tolerance in
with up-trend, but still in the cold rolling mill: “Reduce cold rolling mill
tolerance rolling speed to allow
connection at mill stand”
Metallurgical rule Carbon content of the melt too “Lower dewpoint in the Melt saved and reprocessing
low galvanizing furnace to avoid for order avoided
further decarbonizing”
Empirical rule Too much entrapped slag at “Lower cleanliness status of Early identification of quality
tap melt and assign to lower issues and assignment of melt
applications” to maximum appropriate
application
Pro-active production In skin pass mil roughness Early warning “new work Trend stopped before damage
supervision rule shows decreasing trend rolls in skin pass mill done
required”
Figure 6: The production know-how is deposited in PQA® in the form of rules, which can be differentiated into logical,
metallurgical and empirical rules as well as pro-active production supervision rules.

Figure 7: The dewpoint rule evaluates defect relevance for the next process steps and created advice.

1620 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

2. New Shandong Iron & Steel Plant at Rizhao monitored by PQA®

Figure 8: Integrated steel plant monitored by PQA® Shandong/Rizhao, China

For the new Shandong Iron & steel plant at Rizhao, China, SMS group not only supplied the plant equipment and automation
but also a product technology package. This aims to ensure high performance production of enhanced steel grades such as
high strength micro-alloyed grades, hot and cold rolled multi-phase steels as well as several special steel grades for heavy
gauge hot band and plates.
Part of this product technology package is also the supply, installation and configuration of the PQA® system for the entire
production route. Phase I includes flat steel coil production, from steel making down to final processing, phase II comprised
the steel plate production which is currently under construction.
The system collects data from all plant of the various production routes and retrieves data from automation systems not only
from SMS group but also from other suppliers.
Main source of data are the L2 data bases of the plant area specific systems. Additionally, more specific interfaces are used,
some telegram based and other file server based. Also, proprietary data access methods are implemented like EGD and other
basic automation data.
The target to provide a consistent real time product quality data base is reached by the joint cooperation of the participants
and the powerful data access mechanism of the system.
At every point of operation in the production route, PQA® terminals provide unified, feasible and reliable technical data
representing the product quality and the genealogy.
Subsequent process areas are able to forecast impacts from previous processing results and to take proper measures.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1621

 CCM HSM PPPL PLTCM CGL CAL1+2

L2 L2 L2 L2

Fileserver

Fileserver
Telegram

Telegram
E
L3 D
G
D B
D D D
B B B
PQA®

Figure 9: Shandong phase I

additional existing existing existing

Steel Jumbo Steckel/Plate BF and SMP CCM HSM PPPL PLTCM CGL CAL1+2
Making CCM Mill
Complex

L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2 L2
Fileserver

Fileserver
Telegram

Telegram
Telegram

Telegram
Telegram

D D E D
B L3 B G
L3
D B
D D D D
B
B B B
PQA® PQA®
Figure 10: Shandong phase II - final approach
• Complete integration of all quality relevant information in ONE integrated quality analysis tool
• PQA® collects and handles all product grading automatically with minimized actions needed from former quality
engineers
• Highly educated employees are now free and available for further quality improvement steps

3. Quality monitoring for flat steel coil production during commissioning of SMS group
The system was installed and configured during the period of commissioning of the plant area. This allowed the
commissioning specialists for the individual control technologies to verify the feasibility of PQA® data and also benefit of the
information during their tuning work.

1622 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 3.1 Example of detection of quality defect and root cause analysis
During commissioning of the PLTCM, the production quality was achieved relatively fast and also maximum rolling speed of
1,450 m/min. was achieved after only 15 days after stabilizing of the emulsion.
Well proven technological process models and control systems as well as precise instrumentation equipment contributed to
reach excellent flatness results within very short time. Figure 11 to 14 explain the excellent performance ramp up.

Figure 11: PLTCM - Production rate per rolled strip

Figure 12: PLTCM – Development of Minimum Thickness

Figure 13: PLTCM - Thickness and flatness in tolerance performance

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1623

 Max Overall
1600

1400

1200

Strip speed [m/min]

1000

800

600

400

200

0 30.01.2018 00:00

28.02.2018 00:00

31.03.2018 00:00

30.04.2018 00:00

31.05.2018 00:00

30.06.2018 00:00

31.07.2018 00:00

31.08.2018 00:00

30.09.2018 00:00

31.10.2018 00:00

30.11.2018 00:00

31.12.2018 00:00
Figure 14: PLTCM – Development of Mill exit speed
Nevertheless, for one particular thin gauge product Shandong Iron & Steel experienced non conformity to contractual quality.
Visually and by measurement narrow edge waves appeared. Across a width of 30 mm very close to the edge of the strip this
unflatness of approx.15 I-Units appeared in all coils of this particular grade in the latter 200 m of the coil. Figure 16 shows
the defect in iBA chart.

Figure 15: Flatness in 2D visualization

Due to specific type of the flatness defect, the closed loop flatness control actuators could hardly fight the disturbance.
Increasing of roll temperature by reduced emulsion had some positive impact with increase of thermal crown and slightly
higher efficiency of multi-zone cooling system but the defect remained on an inacceptable level. Figure 17 displays the inbar
controller adjustment of the flatness control for this strip.

Figure 16: Flatness set curve

Using the information of PQA® gave immediately insight to the particular situation:

1624 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 • Chemistry to be ultra-low carbon
• Strip profile in hot mill always positive but not always stable across the strip length
• Some strip profile in hot mill showed effect of “shoulders”
• No consistent relation between strip profile variation in HSM and edge unflatness in PLTCM
• Temperature finishing rolling temperature in hot mill not fully stable for the first 120 m and lower than target
• Temperature in hot mill across the width shows drop in edge area of >50°C
Figure 17 shows the PQA® display of the strip with flatness defect.
Figure 18 shows the PQA® display of the strip temperatures in hot rolling finishing mill.
Figure 19 shows the PQA® display of the strip profile measurements at hot strip mill exit.
Figure 20 shows the PQA® display of the strip temperature cross profile.

Figure 17: Strip with defect as displays in PQA(R)

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1625

 Figure 18: Strip with flatness defect as displayed in PQA®- temperatures in hot mill

Figure 19: Strip with flatness defect as displayed in PQA® - profile in hot mill

1626 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 Figure 20: Strip with flatness defect as displayed in PQA® – temperature hot mill exit
Taking these facts together, the team could conclude:
• These grades have to be rolled above 900°C in HSM to prevent ferritic transformation but are not
• The strips are partially (esp. in the edge area) transforming in the first 120 m in the while being rolled in the hot
finishing mill
• In case of this grade being rolled ferritic, the transforming resistance decreases instead on increase like other grades
• These parts of the strips are the latter part of the coil in PLTCM and show the flatness defects in edge area because
of the inconsistence in reduction resistance across the width
This analysis could be verified by other methods afterwards.
It is to be notified is this analysis could be achieved by a very small team in 2-3 days, not involving reporting levels of other
areas, not involving various teams in the different areas. All data is very plain and based on valid physical measurement and
completely representing the properties of the product. Much more information is available to analyze every potential impact
on quality. Identification is made easy by the rules which indicate the violation of a limit by the yellow or red color.

4. Production Quality Monitoring of Shandong I&S with PQA®

Intention of Shandong Iron & Steel to install PQA® is to realize the monitoring and quality analyzing of the entire production
and process chain as well as improvement of product quality. Shandong Iron & Steel expects PQA® to support the company’s
ambition to produce products of highest quality and to back a continuous process of improvement. The system supports the
centralization of quality management and improves quality as an overall process. PQA® shall realize the automatic quality
decision of the entire production.
“With the help of the system, we are able to capture all quality key parameter over the whole production process. These key
parameters could be used as data basis for evaluation and optimization purposes.”
“The system helps to save energy, resources and time. Further it supports the operator continuously with information and
advice.”
“PQA® should be very helpful to our production in the future. Currently, we are collecting data to prepare a more accurate
analysis of product performance. In the years to come, PQA® will have a significant influence on our production.”

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1627

 CONCLUSIONS
In an integrated steel plant, the holistic approach of real time product quality monitoring is an essential element for new green
field plant installation to achieve best class product quality on a variety of grades shortly after startup.
Quality deviations are immediately detected and made obvious to the operation team as soon as they appear. Tracing of root
cause becomes very fast, even if the cause in in metallurgical issues in an upstream process and plant. The system provides
the data to any place, so typical organization and boundaries cannot hinder the straight technical analysis and application of
fast and efficient measures.
The installation is also a huge step in digitalization of the plant since each of the products is completely identified and
represented by production and quality data including the full history up to the melt shop.
This is an essential precondition for applying artificial intelligence methods to identify issues which cannot be seen with
classic methods so far.

REFERENCES
1. Helmuth Hartmann, “Digitalization at Big River Steel”, AIST Managing Technology Conference, September 2017,
Memphis / TN, USA.
2. Franck Adjogble, “Holistic approach of high quality flat steel production“, AISTech 2018, May 2018, Philadelphia /
PA, USA.
3. Kempken, J.; Hüper, T., “State of the Art Product Quality Management – Operational Success with Product Quality
Analysis (PQA) Solutions”, ABM Conf. Proc., Rio de Janeiro 2016.

1628 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.