SMS group, Jacobs University kick off joint R&D project

SMS group has launched a research and development project on intelligent production planning in cooperation with Jacobs University of Bremen, Germany. The project will cover dynamic reaction to specific production situations, use of artificial intelligence, and autonomous learning of automation systems.

The dynamic planning and optimization processes to be developed during the project will be integrated into the automation environment in place at SMS group customer Big River Steel in Osceola, Ark. The project is intended to provide optimization models for production planning with real product cycle times, yield optimization through smart campaign planning, and reschedule sequences in compact strip production (CSP®) lines after interruption of casting.

Machine learning and pattern recognition techniques will be introduced to predict the timeliness of orders. Another project objective is to develop a planning module based on artificial intelligence that will detect relationships between production parameters and performance indicators on the basis of historic production data. These capabilities are intended to be used, for example, to perform scalable, self-learning order analyses and generate plans that take into account order schedules.