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Quality Tracking

The barcode is printed along the entire coil. It provides information on the production site, manufacturing machine, coil number, material quality, and the exact position on the coil.

Cloud computing, Internet of Things, smart factory – all wrapped up into Industry 4.0. Companies cannot survive nowadays without connectivity along the value chain. It is a hot topic in every industry, and the steel industry is no different. And for those who have not jumped on the bandwagon, it’s high time to do so. A company’s future success rides on it.

Thorsten Grünendick

The technology is a quantum leap. We can provide processing companies with information on the production site, manufacturing machine, coil number, and the exact position on the coil.

Thorsten Grünendick, Quality Management, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe

thyssenkrupp’s Steel division is undergoing a digital transformation. It has an impact on every department and will change the manufacturing and delivery processes. Even customers are more accepting of it and want to start connecting with Steel in order to benefit from the synergies. Thorsten Grünendick from Quality Management at Steel states, “Today we know more about our coils than ever before.”

The barcode, which is printed continuously over the entire length of the coil, makes it possible for steel manufacturers to provide important additional information on the product in order to track the quality of the product meter-by-meter. He adds, “The technology is a quantum leap. We can provide processing companies with information on the production site, manufacturing machine, coil number, and the exact position on the coil.”

Quality Tracking
The barcode will soon be a means to track quality data about each meter of the product.

Improved quality with more data available

The objective is to provide additional quality information with the coil. “This information can help our customers. It’s a means to connect individual coil sections with our quality data and detect the exact position.” thyssenkrupp is one of five steel manufacturers that are cooperating on this digital solution. These companies have banded together under Eurofer, the European steel association, to develop the new technology into a European standard. This will ensure that all barcodes can be scanned by one type of barcode reading system, regardless of the steel manufacturer.

thyssenkrupp has already performed a successful first trial run and delivered the coded coils to several customers. Grünendick explains, “The customers were able to read the barcodes with their scanning devices. It proved accurate to the meter.” This translates into greater reliability on the manufacturing line for customers. They can track defects more precisely, saving a great deal of time in the process.

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