The acceleration of digital transformation in the steel industry has become an industry consensus, and the highlights and achievements of transformation are constantly emerging. However, there are significant differences in levels among different enterprises, and there is no unified direction for transformation paths. There is still room for improvement in the overall level. Industry insiders believe that the digital transformation of the steel industry is a systematic project, and all parties in the industry need to further gather consensus, communicate with each other, and explore a digital transformation path that is in line with China's actual situation.
The digital transformation of the steel industry is timely
Digital technology is a key element in transforming and enhancing traditional industries, cultivating and developing new productive forces. Only through deep integration with the real economy can digital technology demonstrate value and creativity. As one of the main battlefields for the digital transformation of traditional industries, accelerating the digital transformation of the steel industry has also become an industry consensus.
Wang Guodong, an academician of the CAE Member, believes that the digital transformation of the iron and steel industry is just in time. On the one hand, the iron and steel industry is a large-scale complex process industry, and the whole process process is a "black box". The product quality, efficiency, cost, stability and consistency problems exist for a long time, so the iron and steel industry can provide the best scenario for the application of digital technology and digital transformation; On the other hand, the advanced automation control systems and research and development facilities in the steel industry can provide a large amount of data, which contains all the rules in the production process of enterprises. They are valuable resources and key elements required by digital technology.
"China's steel industry has established a complete information network infrastructure, accumulated a massive amount of industrial data, and has rich industrial application scenarios, laying a good foundation for digital transformation and intelligent development." Li Yiren, Deputy General Manager of Hebei Iron and Steel Group, said that under the promotion of new generation digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, the production methods, business models, and management methods of the steel industry are undergoing profound changes. The deep integration of digital technology and steel manufacturing has become an effective means to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency, and has become a necessary path to cultivate and develop new productive forces and achieve high-quality development.
Jiang Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President and Secretary General of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, believes that in the context of accelerated global economic development and competitive landscape, digital transformation has become a key path for the steel industry to improve its core competitiveness and seize the future industry high ground. In recent years, the digital transformation of China's steel industry has been continuously deepening, moving from primary construction of MES, ERP and other systems and equipment to four levels of product innovation, production technology innovation, industrial model innovation, and manufacturing system integration innovation. How to achieve digital transformation of the real economy is related to China's high-quality development, overcoming the middle-income trap, and achieving the transfer to new quality productivity.
Coexistence of effectiveness and challenges
Jiang Wei introduced that with the gradual concentration of steel production lines, the level of automation and informatization continues to improve, industrial interconnection 5G technology is widely used, robots are widely used in production lines, and related equipment and facilities are interconnected and operated digitally. The digital transformation of the steel industry has taken the lead in China's industrial field.
The Evaluation Report on Digital Transformation of the Steel Industry (2023) shows that the investment of participating enterprises in digital transformation has increased, with an average of 38.5 yuan per ton of steel, an increase of 23.9% compared to the previous year; The application of industrial robots is becoming increasingly common, with a density of 54 robots per 10000 people, an increase of 50% compared to the previous year; Big data models have become a hot application topic, with 79.6% of enterprises conducting pilot applications of big data models and 18.4% of enterprises implementing local AI applications; 79.6% and 57.1% of enterprises used industrial Internet technology to achieve intelligent production process control and intelligent enterprise operation management, up 7.3 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points respectively from the previous year; Enterprises with a scale of over 5 million tons have basically achieved control linkage, integrated production and sales, and seamless business and finance.
"With the joint efforts of the entire industry, the digital transformation of the steel industry is steadily advancing, and a series of innovative achievements have emerged. Central state-owned enterprises such as Baosteel, Hegang, and Shougang, as well as private steel enterprises such as Jianlong and Jingang, have been selected as pilot demonstration projects by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, covering multiple typical application scenarios such as intelligent factories, intelligent equipment, intelligent operations, and intelligent logistics, providing rich templates for enterprises in the entire industry to promote intelligent manufacturing." Jiang Wei said.
Li Yiren introduced that Hegang Group has implemented a three-year action to improve the intellectualization of production lines around digital transformation and intelligent development, created an intelligent system integrating "point, line, surface, body and circle", and has formed a series of independent solutions in automatic steelmaking, full life cycle equipment management, whole process quality control, intelligent surface detection, etc. The industrial Internet platform built by Hegang Group has been selected as the national double span industrial Internet platform, four companies including Tangshan Iron and Steel Group, Handan Iron and Steel Group and Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Group have become national intelligent manufacturing demonstration plants, and Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Group has been selected as the first batch of national digital pilot enterprises.
Li Yiren also stated that digital transformation and intelligent development are a systematic project that is always on the road. While fully affirming the achievements, it is also necessary to clearly recognize that the current digital development of the steel industry is very uneven, there are still many challenges to the deep integration of new generation information technologies such as industrial Internet, big data, big models, etc. with steel, and problems such as insufficient supply of key common technologies and standards still exist.
Industry insiders believe that iron and steel enterprises have reached a new height in the construction and application of industrial Internet platforms, improved the application of digital technology in the full cycle management and control of manufacturing and services, and the wide application of big data and artificial intelligence technology has become a new trend in the industry. However, due to differences in product structure and operational models, there is still room for improvement in the overall level. For example, in the application of big data and artificial intelligence technology, many enterprises have started AI applications in some scenarios, but they are still in the early stage, and there is a lack of matching between technology and actual needs.
Multiple parties working together to explore the path of digital transformation
Industry insiders believe that although the digital transformation of the steel industry has become a consensus, there is still a significant gap in investment from different enterprises, and there is no unified direction for the transformation path. All parties in the industry need to further consolidate consensus, communicate with each other, and explore a practical path for the digital transformation of the steel industry.
Recently, the three-year action plan for the digital transformation of the steel industry has been officially launched, and the supporting "Guidelines for the Construction of Digital Transformation Projects in the Steel Industry" have also been released to the public. Jiang Wei introduced that this guide was formed by the Steel Association, which gathered more than ten advanced enterprises and nearly a hundred experts in the industry. It took more than a year and underwent more than ten discussions and revisions. This guide helps steel enterprises promote digital transformation and achieve low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-yield digital transformation through multiple work deployments, including the development of maturity evaluation standards for digital transformation, cultivation of benchmark factories for digital transformation, and collection of sample lists for digital transformation scenarios.
"We plan to form the overall goal of '4321' by the end of 2026, which is to achieve 40 low-cost digital transformation typical scenarios that can be promoted and replicated, 30 reference and replicable digital workshops, 20 replicable digital factories, and 5-10 leading enterprises supporting the industry to achieve digital ecology. We hope to gather industry advantages on a unified platform through the three-year action of digital transformation engineering, discuss and build win-win situations, and improve the economic quality, efficiency, and core competitiveness of steel enterprises." Jiang Wei said.
Wang Guodong believes that the steel industry should build intelligent and comprehensive digital information infrastructure, intelligently transform digital transformation, promote digital brain and model replacement, build generative AI models, and achieve digital transformation at low cost, high efficiency, and zero risk. He suggests promoting innovative breakthroughs in equipment, software, network, and other group connections through deep integration of industry, academia, and research, joint team building, etc., proposing systematic solutions, conducting technical exchanges and promotion work, and promoting the digital promotion and application of advanced steel enterprises; Create a good ecosystem, accelerate the training of digital talents and the development and promotion of key standards in steel enterprises, and build an open source ecosystem for digital transformation.
"In the next five years, the entire industry should build 15-20 fully integrated enterprise digital transformation production lines, and complete the formulation of standards and regulations for the digital transformation of the steel industry. In the next 10 years, the industry will basically complete digital transformation, establish a large model for optimizing management and control in the steel industry, form a national innovation infrastructure system for steel enterprises, and achieve high-quality development of the industry." Wang Guodong said