Broner Metals Solutions

Broner Metals Solutions, the world’s leading provider of supply chain planning, scheduling and manufacturing execution systems, specifically for the Metals Industry, has announced that it has successfully implemented Phase 1 of the Production Scheduler Enhancements project for Corus Strip Products in Llanwern, UK.

New enhancements were developed in order to respond to opportunities identified in the process of implementing Production Scheduler (PS) at Corus, and will further improve scheduling capabilities. Some of the new functions include:

‘Feeder groups’, which enables the use of non-first choice material to fill gaps in the schedule
‘Minimum batching’, which allows the specification of a rule which will try to complete a minimum batch of material limited by user-defined characteristics once started, and highlight a sharing violation if that’s not possible
‘Violation limits’, which enables the definition of violations
Improved scheduling information around specific areas of production.

From the time when Corus started using the new improved Production Scheduler, significant improvements in the scheduling process have been recorded. For instance, the ‘feeder group’ function helped prevent an average of 50% of schedule violations.

The Phase 2 of the PS enhancement project will go live shortly and will add extra capabilities to Production Scheduler:

Improved scheduling information, particularly around coils scheduling
‘Conserve and Consume’ functionality, which allows users to define a scheduling strategy for using material which is in short supply and needed for more than one position in the schedule.

Shirley Solomon, Project Executive at Corus Strip Products, stated that the Phase 1 functionality together with support of the Project team, namely Gareth Philips, Project Manager and Andrew Leonard, Planning Manager, is helping the plant to generate more automated and accurate schedules, with a reduced amount of editing, which removes the potential for errors and inconsistencies.

About Corus

Corus is an international company, providing steel and aluminium products and services to customers worldwide. With an annual turnover of over £9 billion, the company is comprised of four Divisions, Strip Products, Long Products and Distribution & Building Systems.

Corus Strip Products UK is part of the Strip Products Division and produces Hot rolled steel strip and cold rolled and metallic coated steel.

Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, the world’s fifth largest and second most global steel producer. With a combined presence in nearly 50 countries, Tata Steel has 84,000 employees across five continents and crude steel production of 27 million tonnes in 2007.