Nippon Steel DX Specific Initiatives
Innovation of all steel business processes
| Categories | Categories Business activities |
|---|---|
| Production planning DX | Linkage with each DX measure based on integration and acceleration of performance management and integrated production planning |
| Marketing DX | Strengthening of supply chain linkage, acceleration and sophistication of marketing policy decisions |
| Manufacturing and maintenance DX | Remote management, prediction monitoring and automation of operation and equipment maintenance through use of IoT and AI |
| Quality control DX | Design of optimal quality conditions based on big data and advancement of quality control |
| Engineering DX | Design advancement and remote trial running using MR (VR + AR) and wireless technology |
| Research DX | Promotion of R&D utilizing digital technologies |
| Procurement DX | Optimal operation relating to raw material supply and demand and production plan changes |
| Finance DX | Enhancement of response to management environment changes through reinforcement of data infrastructure |
Promotion of smarter manufacturing (manufacturing and maintenance DX)
The use of wireless IoT sensors is essential to expand the monitoring of the status of a wide range of manufacturing sites extending over several kilometers. Nippon Steel is working to enhance its system for centralized management of data from each remote manufacturing site by using LPWA (low power wide area wireless communication) and cloud technology. Going forward, we will promote the application of this technology with a view to expanding it to all of our manufacturing bases and Group companies.
We are promoting “Cyber Physical Production (CPP)” to realize the sophistication of manufacturing by combining such elements as real time analysis of big data collected from IoT equipment, in addition to digital twins which simulate the production and equipment conditions of manufacturing sites in a digital space. We are using CPP to detect operational changes at an early stage, predict equipment aging and deterioration, and otherwise enhance our strength in maneuvering data, thereby promoting smart manufacturing to achieve advanced stability in production.
Cyber Physical Production（CPP）
Company-wide integrated planning and optimization of steel works and product-specific planning (Production Planning DX)
We will build an integrated production planning platform by integrating the actual production data, efficiency results and detailed order specification information for each process accumulated by each steel works. We will use this platform to unify company-wide information and introduce an integrated production planning simulator that can accurately respond to customer orders and changes in the raw material procurement environment. With this initiative, we aim to significantly reduce the workload at each steel works through the sophistication of production planning operations and strengthen optimal production control throughout the company. We started applying the prototype in FY2021 and will proceed to implement it through agile development.
[production planning DX]
![Integrated production planning platform [production planning DX]](/en/company/common_2021/images_2021/company/dx/specific/specific_figure_03.jpg)
Promotion of ICT education
Nippon Steel defines DX human resources as “people who can identify and solve business problems based on data.” By 2030, we will promote the development of DX human resources by promoting DX strategy and providing ICT education as well as learning of various skills to all office staff and engineers. Of particular importance is the development of data scientists who can make advanced use of data in their work and who can plan and implement innovations.
We have started data science education with the aim of training about 20% of all office staff and engineers (more than 1,000 people) as data scientists by 2025. In addition, we will provide digital management education according to position and rank so that employees in operational divisions can promote business process innovation by acquiring management knowledge to utilize digital technologies.
DX promotion organization
With the Digital Innovation Division at the core, the operational divisions and the research and development divisions will work together to strengthen business competitiveness by promoting DX mainly through integrated responses to company-wide cross-sectional issues and data management. Furthermore, we will continue to take on the challenge of advanced initiatives in cooperation with external organizations and with the collective strength of the Nippon Steel Group, including NS Solutions Corporation and Nippon Steel Texeng Co., Ltd.
We have established the Business Innovation and DX Promotion Committee, chaired by the Executive Vice President in charge of business innovation and DX promotion. It is discussing company-wide policies and strategies and promoting related activities based on both the business innovations we have been working on and the promotion of DX.
