IBM > Case Studies > Raising safety, efficiency and quality in steel production with proactive maintenance planning

Raising safety, efficiency and quality in steel production with proactive maintenance planning

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Europe

Country

Sweden

Product

IBM Maximo Asset Management

Tech Stack

IBM Maximo Scheduler tool

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Cost Savings

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Asset Management Systems (EAM)

Applicable Industries

Metals

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Outokumpu is a leading manufacturer of steel products, with its headquarters in Espoo, Finland. The company's mill in Avesta, Sweden is known for the special grades of stainless steel it produces for the offshore oil and gas industry. The mill employs around 700 people, recycling scrap steel into specialized grades of stainless steel products. The products are designed to withstand corrosive saltwater and extreme weather conditions, making them ideal for use in the offshore oil and gas industries. The mill's production processes need to be efficient and uninterrupted to meet the expectations of its demanding clients, whose multi-million dollar offshore construction projects depend on Outokumpu’s ability to deliver the right materials at the right time.

The Challenge

Outokumpu, a leading manufacturer of steel products, realized that by moving from reactive to proactive maintenance for its production line machines, it could improve availability, efficiency, quality and safety at its Avesta steel mill. The mill is known for the special grades of stainless steel it produces for the offshore oil and gas industry. Delivering a product that can withstand corrosive saltwater and extreme weather conditions requires very precise control of production processes. At the same time, production needs to be efficient and uninterrupted to meet the expectations of demanding clients, whose multi-million dollar offshore construction projects depend on Outokumpu’s ability to deliver the right materials at the right time. The company's top priority is always to keep all its employees safe while they work in the mill.

The Solution

Outokumpu, working with IBM Business Partner Enfo Framsteg, designed a new maintenance process that treats each machine as an individual, transforming availability and performance. The company has been using IBM Maximo Asset Management software to organize its maintenance processes at Avesta for over 20 years. Enfo Framsteg helped Outokumpu reconfigure its Maximo landscape to take greater advantage of the Maximo Scheduler tool, which proved a vital advantage in re-engineering the company’s maintenance processes. The new process gives Outokumpu a much better ability to plan ahead and get all the right resources in place before starting on a maintenance job. Instead of purchasing and storing spare parts for production line machines on the off-chance that they will be needed, the company can be much smarter about only ordering what it needs, saving considerable costs.

Operational Impact

The new process gives Outokumpu a much better ability to plan ahead and get all the right resources in place before starting on a maintenance job.
The company can be much smarter about only ordering what it needs, saving considerable costs.
The new process also lays down much more rigorous guidelines for capturing appropriate data during each job.
By inputting this data directly into Maximo, the engineers are building up a highly detailed maintenance history of each machine, down to the component level.
Reports from Maximo are now mined on a monthly basis to help the maintenance team gain insight about where their processes are efficient, and where they can be improved.

Quantitative Benefit