Increasing the speed of information transfer and operational decision-making in metallurgical industry through an industrial bot

Abstract

In the production of non-ferrous metals, it is difficult to monitor technological parameters and to account for the material balance of the main and auxiliary components which leads to significant losses of raw materials and electricity. The metals industry is characterised by the need to account for, reduce and recycle large volumes of technogenic emissions. With global digitalisation and increased automation, the lack of a dedicated system for analysing and controlling shop floor data reduces the efficiency of environmentally hazardous operations with large quantities of material flows making them uncompetitive and environmentally damaging. Existing software-based material flow monitoring and control systems have a large import dependency. In pyrometallurgical and electrochemical production with multiple material streams the issue of data systematisation for effective control via a process control system needs to be addressed. As an adaptable example, this paper considers the feasibility of dedicated automated systems for accounting for material balances and generating appropriate process control actions through chatbots in metallurgical silicon production. Given the acute shortage of digital platforms for the implementation of MES-like production management systems, the use of application software interfaces chat-bots gaining popularity in services and education is promising. The paper presents a generic architecture of an industrial chatbot developed for the production of metallurgical silicon, describes the interaction of the application with the process control system, as well as an analysis of the results obtained and expected from the implementation. The system can be adapted to similar production facilities of non-ferrous metallurgy.