From 15 down to 6 moves, at most, to build a load in the yard

−60%

in the maximum number of moves to build a load, from 15 to 6

1 move

is enough to build half of the loads; before, up to 5 were needed

87%

of loads built with up to 2 moves; before, 11%

Zero

stacking operations outside the safety rules

The yard connects production to the customer. Material leaves continuous casting, goes through an intermediate yard with a controlled-cooling area, moves on to rolling, and arrives at the shipping yard, from where it is dispatched by road or rail. Overhead cranes, container stackers, transfer cars, and trains compete for the same space and the same time.

When stock is poorly positioned, every load is expensive:

• Excess moves. To reach the right piece, others on top of it have to be removed.
• Unpredictable shipping. Loads take a long time to build, and trucks and railcars wait.
• Safety risk. Incorrect stacking led to violations of the safety rules.

With Enacom’s Planning Digital Twin, every yard move is now planned, from real time up to three days ahead, to serve the rolling mill and external customers:

1. Plans loads for the rolling mill

   up to three days ahead, matching rolling demand against the stock in each yard to maximize shipments.

2. Indicates the ideal move in real time

   for overhead cranes, stackers, transfer cars, and rail, seeking the lowest total number of moves.

3. Continuously reorganizes stock

   distributing material among yards according to cutting, finishing, and cooling needs, so that upcoming loads need fewer moves.

The yard team executes the plan, and the stacking rules enter as a constraint, not as a check afterward.

Load building moved to a new level. With manual planning, half of the loads needed up to 5 removal moves, and only 11% left with up to 2. With optimized planning, half of the loads are now built with 1 move, and 87% with up to 2. Loads that needed more than 4 moves fell from 58% to 2%, and the worst case went from 15 to 6 moves.

Stacking outside the safety rules was eliminated.

With fewer moves per load, the mill maximized its shipping capacity, gained predictability, and reduced the cost of shipping wait time.

• More shipping with the same equipment. Fewer moves per load free up cranes and stackers for what generates dispatch.
• Predictable shipping. With loads built in few moves, shipping capacity becomes predictable, and trucks and railcars wait less.
• Safety as a rule of the plan. Stacking rules enter the planning and do not depend on checking afterward.
• A yard connected to production, from the exit of continuous casting to dispatch, in a solution that coexists with the ERP, MES, WMS, and TMS already in use.

• Your yard serves rolling and shipping at the same time, with several handling machines.
• Building a load requires removing pieces stacked on top.
• Shipping by truck or train suffers from waiting and low predictability.

We start from your data: we customize the twin, validate the result in scenarios and a pilot, and only then scale. The results in this case reflect the conditions of that mill.