BFI HR-Server – Interactive analysis of high-resolution data

Initial situation:

Due to the use of modern measuring systems, increasingly high-resolution (HR) data are collected along the entire process chain during the production of flat steel products. These data are stored in plant-wide quality databases optimized for band-wise access.
In order to reveal systematic problems in production, however, it is not sufficient to consider individual bands. An overlapping view of many bands allows a much faster and more precise search for possible errors.
If, moreover, several process steps are carried out between the actual measurement of the quality variable (for example surface defects) and the causative system, the quality data must first be virtually “rewound” by the production in order to be able to compare them with the system data at all. This step can not be implemented efficiently with existing data models.

Our solution:

The BFI has developed a new concept for the processing of large quantities of data in production, based on a multi-scale data model overlapping the process level. It provides easy and fast access to high-resolution (HR) data and enables in-situ aggregation of millions of quality and process data within seconds. This new concept was implemented at thyssenkrupp Packaging Steel and has already generated considerable benefits for quality engineers from the outset. While a detailed analysis of HR data often took weeks to determine rough results on a few bands, the new concept is capable of producing accurate results over thousands of bands within seconds.
This refinement of the data base opens up a new dimension for the quality data evaluation because it enables an immediate and interactive HR data analysis as soon as a quality problem occurs.

Our portfolio:

The HR server is installed independently of the existing IT infrastructure. Via various import services, HR data from other systems can then be transferred. An existing material tracking can also be taken into account in order to be able to transform data through production.
A browser-based user interface allows easy and quick access to the HR data without further software installation. Accurate filter possibilities of the input data support the user in the error search and enable a quick overview of the entire production spectrum.