Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (DRI),USTB has recently secured the tender for the intelligent centralized control project of the medium plate finishing area at Handan Iron & Steel. Following similar intelligent centralized control projects delivered for Shagang Group, Nanjing Steel Group and Baotou Iron & Steel, this project represents another benchmark intelligent finishing project for medium plates, fully demonstrating the industry’s high recognition of DRI’s comprehensive strengths in technology R&D and engineering delivery. It also marks a landmark achievement from leveraging USTB’s scientific research advantages to deepen the company’s presence in intelligent iron and steel manufacturing.

Addressing Pain Points: Resolving Extensive Production Bottlenecks in Finishing Zones

Medium plate finishing operations across the industry commonly suffer from scattered operation stations, inefficient cross-position coordination, heavy reliance on operator experience for production, disjointed material flow data, disconnected full-process information, excessive labor intensity for frontline staff and elevated overall production costs. Tailored to Handan Iron & Steel’s retrofitting demands for legacy production lines, DRI delivered targeted solutions, constructing a three-in-one technical framework of "automation as the foundation + AI vision matrix + Level 2 control system for intelligent scheduling" to drive quality upgrading of traditional production lines via digitalization.

Three-In-One Technical Architecture: Building a Full-Link Intelligent Production System

01Automation as the Foundation: Consolidating the Operational Base of All Equipment

The full suite of control systems within the finishing zone will undergo precision upgrading, with synchronized iteration of transmission systems and joint automated commissioning to completely eliminate coordination barriers between legacy equipment, enabling closed-loop autonomous control and long-term stable operation of all production line equipment.

02 AI Vision Matrix: Delivering Precise Verification Replacing Manual Labor

An integrated high-precision AI vision inspection system covering the entire site will be deployed, integrating plate number recognition, line entry/exit identification, waste detection, contour scanning and laser dimensional recheck modules. Machine vision will fully replace manual visual inspection to realize full-lifecycle identity tracing and closed-loop dimensional precision verification of steel plates.

03 Level 2 Intelligent Scheduling Brain: Coordinating Full-Domain Production Dispatching

A brand-new Level 2 management and control system for finishing operations will be built to track all material flow from cooling bed feeding to finished product delivery. Combined with AI plate contour inspection and temperature drop models, the system will independently calculate optimal shear process parameters and automatically issue operational instructions to deliver genuine intelligent shearing.

Project Outlook

Upon full commissioning, only six centralized control stations will be required on-site. The overall automated management level and steel plate shearing precision of the production line will be comprehensively upgraded, injecting new momentum for low-carbon, efficient and intelligent advancement of Handan Iron & Steel’s core medium plate production lines. Furthermore, the project will deliver a replicable, deployable complete set of solutions for intelligent retrofitting of medium plate finishing lines, setting a scalable new benchmark for the industry.