Article: Using simulation to reshape the maintenance systems of caster segments Journal: International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IJISE) 2019 Vol.33 No.1 pp.75 - 96 Abstract: The maintenance of steel mills has a relevant impact on costs and productivity of steel industry. According to the traditional approach, one crew per shift takes care of the maintenance of key components of the slab caster with very limited process control, productivity and long lead-times. This paper introduces a new approach that makes each component move along a line where specific attention has to be paid to shared resources. The methodological approach is based on simulation, which has been applied to a real-life case study, represented by a leading Indian steel mill. Simulation is exploited, first, to point out the effect of the concurrent requirement of resources, demonstrating that a static sizing can lead to wrong designs, then, to properly consider the variance of execution times. Results show that caster maintenance arranged in a line designed according to the proposed methodology remarkably contributes to speed up the maintenance process. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Using simulation to reshape the maintenance systems of caster segments

Authors: Rossella Pozzi; Margherita Pero; Roberto Cigolini; Francesco Zaglio; Tommaso Rossi

Addresses: School of Industrial Engineering, Università Carlo Cattaneo – LIUC, Corso Matteotti 22, 20153 Castellanza, Italy ' Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (DIG), Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy ' Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (DIG), Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy ' Ormis S.p.A., S.S. 510 Loc. Baitello via Iseo n.5, 7, 9, 25045 Castegnato, Italy ' School of Industrial Engineering, Università Carlo Cattaneo – LIUC, Corso Matteotti 22, 20153 Castellanza, Italy

Abstract: The maintenance of steel mills has a relevant impact on costs and productivity of steel industry. According to the traditional approach, one crew per shift takes care of the maintenance of key components of the slab caster with very limited process control, productivity and long lead-times. This paper introduces a new approach that makes each component move along a line where specific attention has to be paid to shared resources. The methodological approach is based on simulation, which has been applied to a real-life case study, represented by a leading Indian steel mill. Simulation is exploited, first, to point out the effect of the concurrent requirement of resources, demonstrating that a static sizing can lead to wrong designs, then, to properly consider the variance of execution times. Results show that caster maintenance arranged in a line designed according to the proposed methodology remarkably contributes to speed up the maintenance process.

Keywords: simulation; maintenance; steel mills; flow line.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2019.102047

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2019 Vol.33 No.1, pp.75 - 96

Received: 22 Feb 2017
Accepted: 21 Jan 2018
Published online: 04 Sep 2019 *

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Title: Using simulation to reshape the maintenance systems of caster segments

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