Chemtech: Automation processes for metallurgical industry discussed at seminar

According to the ABM (Brazilian Metallurgy and Materials Industry Association), of the 32 million tons of steel produced in Brazil in 2005, 55% were allocated to 26 consumer industries of the domestic market and 45% were exported to 100 countries.  “Automation has been one of the key factors to help our industry face commercial competition”, declared ABM executive director Horacídio Leal Filho.

 

Major companies of the mining-metallurgical industry got together in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from October 4 to 6, in the X Seminário de Automação de Processos (10th Seminar on Process Automation) where technological innovations that help improve the quality and performance of products, services, and processes of the industry were presented.

 

Chemtech, besides being the host company, presented the following projects “Belgo MES Laminação – Enfornamento/Desenfornamento Automático e Integração com Defetcomat, no TL2, da Usina João Monlevade” (Belgo MES Lamination – Automatic Furnacing/Defurnacing and Integration with the Defetcomat, at TL2, of the João Monlevade Plant), “Gestão de performance da aplicação MES da CSN” (MES Application Performance Management at CSN) , “O Sistema MES das trefilarias da Belgo-Arcelor Brasil” (MES System of the Belgo-Arcelor Brasil Wiring Plants) , and “Segurança da informação em ambientes de automação” (Information Security in Automation Environments).

 

Present on the first day of the Seminar was the Minas Gerais state secretary for Mining-Metallurgical Development and Energy Policy, Fernando Lages de Melo, who highlighted the importance of the company – academy – government trivet. “Events such as this one promoted by ABM help stimulate partnerships in the science and technology area: the companies provide the demands; the Government provides the financial and organizational resources; and the academy has the opportunity to find a practical application to the knowledge it produces”.

 

Chemtech has an active participation in the metallurgical industry, with clients such as CSN, MBR, CVRD, Belgo-Mineira, among many others.

 

Here is a brief description of the projects presented by Chemtech during the seminar:

 

 

РBelgo MES Lamination РAutomatic Furnacing/Defurnacing and Integration with the Defetcomat, at TL2, of the Jọo Monlevade Plant

This project deals with the utilization of the Belgo PIMS, InfoPlus.21, installed at the João Monlevade steel plant, as a single interface with the plant-floor systems, enabling the implementation of MES Lamination solution functionalities: automatic furnacing/defurnacing of dowels and integration of the results of the superficial analysis of the wire-machine performed by the Defectomat, of lamination train 2.  Besides PIMS, the IBM Message Queue was also used in this solution.

 

– MES Application Performance Management at CSN

Focused on how to improve, maintain, and control the performance of a critical system covering the entire MES layer of the Presidente Vargas plant, in Volta Redonda, state of Rio de Janeiro, and of the Araucária plant, in the state of Paraná.  These systems have around 3 thousand users, and over 50 thousand messages/day exchanged with the ERP SAP R/3 and the plant floor (PROCOMs), and process more than 60 thousand production commands a month.

 

– MES System of the Belgo-Arcelor Brasil Wiring Plants

Presents the MES system developed for the Belgo Mineira Wiring Plants. This project is a continuation of the MES project, and its purpose is to standardize the technology and functionalities of all MES-features systems currently used at Belgo Mineira.  The areas of Reduction, Steel, Lamination, and Wiring of all the group’s plants throughout Brazil are involved in this project.

 

– Information Security in Automation Environments

Showed the trends in the still incipient theme of information security for industrial systems.  Based in the typical architectures of the environments adopted by information technology (IT) and automation technology (AT) groups one presents processes, actions, and generic controls to ensure the security of the information circulating in these networks.

 

About Chemtech

 

Chemtech (www.chemtech-siemens.com) was founded by three chemical engineers, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1989.  It is specialized in services and IT solutions for process industries (oil & gas, petrochemical and chemical, metals and mining, paper & pulp) and food & beverages.  In March 2001, the company became a member of the Siemens group and it is now part of the IP (Industrial Plants) division of the I&S (Industrial Solutions and Services) group. Since then, Chemtech has started to interact with other Siemens divisions and to offer more complete and sophisticated solutions to its clients.

 

Chemtech has its head office in Rio de Janeiro and support offices in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Manaus, and Houston.

 

Among Chemtech clients are Exxon Mobil, Saudi Aramco, and Petrobras.  It also works with the 10 largest companies in the petrochemical and chemical industry in Brazil, with the 5 largest paper companies, the 4 largest mining companies, 3 of the 5 largest steel companies, and 4 of the 6 largest consumer product companies, according to the ranking of Exame magazine.

 

In 2006, Chemtech was chosen the 3rd best company to work at in Brazil, ranked among the 30 best companies for women, and among the three best in companionship by the Great Place to Work Institute and by Revista Epoca.  It was also ranked, for the third consecutive year, among the 150 best companies according to Guia Exame – Você S/A, which also chose Chemtech as the 3rd best company in technology.