ISSN 1982-985X
MODERN LOGISTICS: CASE STUDY ON JSW CRM2
TOTAL AUTOMATIC YMS AND ASRS*
1
Gajraj Rathore
2
Jagannathan Rajagopalan
3
Mikko Rissanen
Abstract
With the advent of modern HRM ( Hot rolling mills) with capacities beyond 5 Million
tons with corresponding enriched CRM (Cold Rolling Mill) capacities, the throughput
per hour exceeds invariably beyond 50 coils per hour making it possible to manage,
track, handle, transport, store and dispatch inevitably with an automation system
supplemented by corresponding software and hardware. This is true with respect to
the production of Cold rolled Annealed, Galvanized, Continuously Annealed,
Galvalume, CRGO, CRNGO and Colour coated coils which need total care in
handling, tracking and dispatch. Understanding the above needs precisely JSW,
Vijayanagar, India, has rightly gone in for a total automatic Yard management system
and ASRS wherein the coils are handled as much as possible automatically in
cradles without any damage insuring the receipt of coils to the customer as was
produced. This CRM 2 has been commissioned and is operating with maximum
automation with least manpower and max productivity with assured quality and
safety. Pesmel OY Finland had the opportunity to Design, Supply and Commission
this system which is first in the country and this technical paper analyses the above
project as a case study enlisting the sound technical aspects as well as emphasis on
the techno economics with assured ROI (Return on investment) and enhanced
efficiency.
Keywords: JSW; Jindal steel works; YMS: Yard management system; WMS: Ware
house management system; ASRS: Automatic storage and retrieval system.
1
BSc Engineering , Executive Vice President, JSW Steel Ltd. India.
2
MSc Engineering, Managing Director, Pesmel South Asia, India.
3
BSc Industrial Management and Engineering, Area Sales Manager, Pesmel Oy,Finland.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 13
ISSN 1982-985X
1 INTRODUCTION
Conducting advanced simulation study in projects has become the state of the art
technology, today to assess the constraints in material handling and flow in advance
so that the same could be streamlined in real situation basis through simulation to
save on unnecessary buildings, cranes and resources.
Similarly automatic Yard Management System (YMS) with yard mapping has become
the need of the hour when the number of coils to be handled, tracked and processed
per hour increases beyond a value which could be handled manually.
Automatic Storage and Retrieval system (ASRS) insures storing of the coils vertically
in a compact space utilizing the volume so as to store 12 to 14 full coils of >25T in a
compact space of 7 square meter which is the area required to store single coil if it
were to be stored on ground. In addition to be able to store more number of coils in a
given area the in feed and retrieval rate namely the throughput per hour could also
be as high as 50 per hour with the modern high speed vertical stacker cranes utilizing
the Ware House Management system. An added feature on this ASRS is the Rack
Supported Ware House which does not need the building for the storage as the racks
which have the high modulus of rigidity are utilized to support the roof and side
cladding thus avoiding a separate building for storage.
The above three modern tools were used in JSW CRM2 to cope up with their
production and throughput level with least buildings and resources.
2 BACKGROUND
JSW Bellary has been exploring on the possibilities of having automation in their
Cold rolling mills for coil transportation and in CRM1 itself right in the year 2007 and
they attempted to have certain automation but it was late considering the layout and
construction drawings, which were frozen that time.
Figure 1: JSW Bellary Mill
Having understood the benefits of automation on material handling they had planned
the same for the CRM2 and worked towards the same right at the concept stage with
Configuration and Simulation study carried out to find out on the best way of handling
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 14
ISSN 1982-985X
material handling and internal logistics. Having got convinced technically and
operation aspect on the benefits of automation including automatic Yard
Management System and ASRS there were many joint exercises on techno
economics and return on investment which took many revisions of the lay out till the
ideal lay out with best techno economics was achieved.
Upon finding out that with vertical storage they could store 14 coils in the area of
storage for one coil on floor which means more than 3 additional buildings of
approx. 35000 Sq M needing additional crane and many operators and other
resources could be avoided they chose to go in for the ASRS option in place of floor
storage.
Similarly on yard management it was analyzed jointly and found that automatic yard
management system using the four way and two way coil cars could save many
resources and cranes in addition to insuring higher throughputs insuring no damage
to the annealed and coated coils. These technical aspects of the simulation study,
Yard Management and ASRS of this project are discussed in this paper in detail.
3 ADVANCED CONFIGURATION AND SIMULATION STUDY
Material handling is an essential feature in a steel plant wherein the coils are
transported from the Hot rolling mill to cold rolling mill complex and upon receipt and
storage the HR coils are sequentially fed to the Pickling and Tandem cold rolling mill
Line and upon completion of rolling the coils are received and stored and again
distributed to the next operation let it be Galvanizing or Continuous annealing or
direct dispatch as CR full hard material. Similarly at the exit of the process lines the
material is received and routed towards the Recoiling line or Recoiling and tension
leveling line followed by which it is taken in to the automatic packing lines and then to
the delivery storage and dispatch.
Figure 2: Typical option with WIP (Work in Progress) and FG (Finished Goods) ASRS (Automatic
Storage and Retrieval System)
To work out on the automatic cost effective and efficient coil transfer and storage
system in line with the transition planning norms need a thorough study of the
hardware and program (software) requirement zone wise becomes the configuration
of the plant. Thus the configuration study is a preliminary study assuming the through
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 15
ISSN 1982-985X
put requirement and the SKUs ( stock keeping units) so as to arrive at an optimum
solution for sensible material handling without duplicate handling as well as with
minimum bottlenecks.
The configuration study also specifies the automation level for a situation wherein
the through put is high for example >10 coils per hour, in which case manual
handling and tracking could become costlier, non productive and unsafe activity and
well engineered automation with suitable coil cars and AGVs become a better
option. Thus configuration study helps in arriving at the mode of material handling
system with specification of each hardware required. Configuration study could help
in choosing the type of Mill arrangement with modern concept considering process
and material movement and the examples are shown below in Figure 3 and 4.
Figure 3: Traditional steel mill arrangement
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 16
ISSN 1982-985X
Figure 4: Modern steel mill arrangement
The fundamental differences between the traditional and modern concepts are:
a. The dependency on the EOT cranes are minimum in modern concept with coil
cars feeding in and taking out the coils from process and finishing lines.
b. Centralized storage for WIP to distribute the coils with one storage to all
finishing equipment
c. A common storage for dispatch for both wagons and trucks
3.1. Simulation Study
Once configuration analysis is done and a basic lay out with both hardware like EOT
cranes, coil cars and AGV including the storage device like ASRS that may be
required are frozen to know the cycle time as well as the quantity of hardware
required, simulation study is essential in which the EOT cranes and coil cars as well
as the coils themselves are in movement on real time basis through the simulation
software in 3 D wherein the parameters could be changed to arrive at the optimum
numbers of cranes, coil cars, storage place area or number of places by simulation
of the actual situation. This helps in testing the configuration as well as the resources
before actually installing the plant which becomes a vital tool for assessing the
practical situation and plan for the same especially the critical paths and critical
areas.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 17
ISSN 1982-985X
Figure 5: Typical ASRS with stacker crane and out feeding moving coil skids
Simulation study and preparing simulation lay out takes time but once completed it
becomes crystal clear for all involved in the project, operation and maintenance on
the Line configuration and resources for the corresponding productivity and storage
inventories. While there are many options available on the configuration the
simulation study helps in pin pointing the optimum or ideal configuration with the
resources like number of cranes, coil cars, Man power etc.
This avoids duplicate planning or duplicate investment and becomes an essential tool
for the project.
Consensus amongst project, operation and maintenance is easily reached once
based on the scientific simulation analysis the resources list is evolved.
3.2. Typical Steps involved in Configuration and simulation study:
Automation and YMS: Configuration study: a convenient staircase?
Automation in material handling and complete automatic Yard management system
is normally a staircase where the plants or warehouse with brownfield project plan to
go for upgrading their material handling and feeding and distribution system.
Whereas for a greenfield project the appropriate level of automation and yard
management system could be chosen right from day one with corresponding skilled
and minimum operator and engineering resource.
1) Simulation and configuration study are the cost effective means of checking
and configuring the Plant lay out both considering the Process line features
and the Material handling features carefully integrating them together towards
best efficiency.
2) Configuration study not only covers the lay out but also deals with the
individual lines in-feeding and out- feeding systems with appropriate storage
areas and system along with the way the product is packed and handled
before being shipped to the customer.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 18
ISSN 1982-985X
3) Except for the proper process line and finishing line operational features the
configuration study addresses the through put right from the mother mill till the
finishing storage to dispatch to customer.
4) The findings of the configuration study are cross checked by real time
simulation with simulation software packages so as arrive at the best capacity
of the Hardware, (material handling equipment like cranes, coil cars, AGvs,
transfer cars, transfer conveyors) Building area, type of storages, Cycle time
and through put adequacy.
5) Simulation study thus optimizes the Lay out and resources so as to save
money by avoiding any duplicate and over design and redundancy which
means real saving cost.
6) It is suggested in this paper that in addition to having traditional feasibility study
of the project based on the Marketing aspect and Process aspect, it is quite
profitable to assess the configuration study and simulation study to insure the
smooth Material movement which would be of immense use for insuring the
Safety, Enhanced Productivity with quality to achieve the business’s ultimate
goal namely consistent profitability.
7) “Companies must anticipate customer needs, must be quick to adapt to
change, and are responsive to customer wishes." One prime aspect every
customer expects from their suppliers is a modern Material handling, tracking
and dispatch system and a modern and automatic material handling, packing
and storage with retrieval system becomes a vital sales tool for the
organization for best CRM (customer relations management insuring customer
retention).
8) When you analyze whether or not the return on the investment in technology is
automatically higher than your investment in humans, you will find it totally true
with respect to Simulation study and Automation with respect to Material
Handling and Automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS).
9) Prescribed Steps :
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 19
ISSN 1982-985X
Figure 6: Systematic steps for Configuration and Simulation Study
Figure 7: PLTCM entry typical simulation for wagon unloading
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 20
ISSN 1982-985X
3.3. Simulation Study at JSW Bellary
In JSW Bellary Configuration and Simulation study was conducted first and a clear
layout based on process flow and material handling avoiding bottle necks was
prepared. With analysis all variations on throughputs were checked and the right
amount of buildings, EOT cranes and other resources were chosen based on
scientific simulation with actual real time production, transportation and dispatch
conditions. The two main pillars of modern logistics are identifying that EOT cranes
are only meant for lifting and placing and not for distribution due to its inherent slow
speed. Adequate numbers of special coil cars supplement the cranes with respect to
the distribution of the coils through out the bay.
Simulation was done by dividing the CRM 2 in to four parts namely PLTCM entry,
PLTCM exit, WIP and Finished goods storage and dispatch. Figure 4 shows typical
simulation concept at PLTCM entry area.
4. AUTOMATIC YARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Automatic yard management system has its hardware and software component. The
hardwares are normally the EOT Cranes and in modern system the cranes are
converted as automatic cranes in addition they are supplemented by two way and
four way coil cars as well as by AGVs. (Automatic guided vehicles). Normally 60% of
the jobs on transportation namely the distribution of the coil through out the
respective bays are addressed by the special high speed coil cars on floor
transportation and 40% of the transfer jobs like picking and placing on the coil cars or
trucks or wagons are addressed by the EOT cranes. This insures corresponding
savings on the buildings, cranes and manpower. Normally the modern systems
operate totally automatic and only for the purpose of dispatch to the trucks and
wagons the crane operators are required considering the un-/non-standardized
transport vehicles. Figures 8 to 10 show the concepts on the traditional and modern
yard management system with corresponding layout merits.
Figure 8: Four way coil cars with side loading skids Figure 9: Four way coil cars for
distribution of the coils in a long bay >600M
Long.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 21
ISSN 1982-985X
Automatic self-loading unloading transfer cars for coil : These cars as seen in figure 8
and 9 above could be self-dependant without needing the service of the EOT crane
due to its concept and construction. These cars could operate on rails flush on the
floor.
Figure 9: Traditional Mill logistic
Figure 10: Modern Mill logistic
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 22
ISSN 1982-985X
4.1. Yard Management System in JSW CRM2
The coil handling right from unloading point of the hot rolled coils at PLTCM entry to
the Finished goods dispatch are with total automatic tracking and feeding in and out
for each process and finishing equipment with integrated planning and production
control.
Automated ASRS for
MILL FLOW Finished Goods and
Shipping, controlled
by YMS
FG AS/RS
CAL -2 APL-2 RCL-1
APL-1 APL-3
WIP AS/RS
CGL
RCL-3
C.R. Storage
CAL-1
Automated
RCL-2 Automated
ASRS for Work floor storage
in Progress for HR coils
products controlled by
controlled by YMS
PLTCM YMS H.R. Storage
Automated
floor storage Transfers between
for CR coils processes by Coil
controlled
13rd of April, 2012 by Carriage System,
YMS controlled by YMS
Note, all the arrows shown on material flow using automatic high speed coil carriage system
minimizing dependance of EOT cranes and saving on buidlings and resources
Figure 11: Flow chart of the system
5. AUTOMATED ASRS WITH RACK SUPPORTED BUILDING AND WMS
By adopting ASRS there is potential for significant cost savings in steel plants and
Galvanizing lines. Integration of production machinery with automatic handling,
automated high rise storage, conveyors and an information system could enable the
customer to achieve the highest level of efficiency and through put with enhanced
profitability.
An automatic Storage and retrieval system (ASRS) with a modern steel warehouse
management system can prevent material handling accidents and insuring total
quality as the coils are handled in a cradle like a baby with no damage to the side or
to the layers. The ASRS could also insure the highest turnover of material received
and shipped per hour which is manually unthinkable.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 23
ISSN 1982-985X
Figure 12: Composite ASRS system for Coils and sheet packs with easy tracking and shipping
avenues
An ASRS could be planned for the following applications:
Raw material storage and distribution: Hot rolled coils to be stored and fed to pickling
lines and cold rolling mills.
WIP materials storage for process: Cold rolled coils to be stored and fed to
Continuous Annealing lines and Galvanizing lines
WIP Materials storage for Finishing: Processed coils to be fed to the recoiling lines ,
finishing lines and packing lines and retrieved.
Finished goods storage and dispatch: Finished goods from different finishing lines
could be received and distributed customer wise for dispatch through wagons and
trucks/trailers.
In addition to the fact that the vertical storage could save phenomenally on space the
storage itself could have its own rack supported building which further saves on a
separate building. The racks support the roof and side cladding suitably increasing
the stability and reliability assuring faster construction and economy.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 24
ISSN 1982-985X
Figure 13: Typical Yard Mapping screen
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 25
ISSN 1982-985X
Table 1: Comparison of HBW and Floor Storage
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 26
ISSN 1982-985X
5.1. Rack Supported Building
A Rack Supported warehouse is where the racking meant for holding the material is
also used to support the walls and roof of the warehouse. It makes sense to utilize
the racking (with storage of steel coils or plates or sheet packs or long products)
which has the high modulus of rigidity and bulk strength for supporting the roof and
side claddings with appropriate purlins. The racking will take up besides bay load the
crane loads and seismic forces as well external loads like for example forces from
wind snow, wall and roof cladding, Figure 14. Considering that the cost of land,
materials and labour continue to rise, the Rack Supported Building concept becomes
a more economical warehousing solution to high bay storage of above 25 meters
with Automatic handling Warehouse Management system (WMS).These warehouses
consist of the racking system that provides the basic structural support for the
building's roof and walls. Maximum density storage solution possible for every type of
pallet rack is reducing the construction costs, lead times and building footprint. Rack
supported building concept is obviously the optimum solution to store at a large
heights making the most of the available surface.
Figure 14: Racks supporting the roof and side cladding
Figure 15: RSW concept
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 27
ISSN 1982-985X
5.2. Free Standing Rack Construction
Free standing rack construction means that the system has to take up bay load
(Figure 11), crane loads and seismic forces, but no external loads like wind, snow,
wall and roof cladding. This has the benefit that the racking construction can be built
approx. 10% lighter but needs another separate building which could cost approx.
60% more with many operating and installation inconveniences.
Figure 16: Typical free standing rack constructions
Figure 17: Old type free standing warehouses
The specialty of this construction is that it does not require conventional structural
columns to support the walls and roof. They are fixed directly on to the racking
structure to complete the building. There are no interference with building columns
and also huge savings realized in construction time and cost. Rack concept
construction requires extremely accurate engineering tolerances.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 28
ISSN 1982-985X
5.3. Construction Sequence and Configuration Features comparison
Normal warehouse Rack supported Warehouse (RSW)
Heavy foundation work Construction could start with Raft and
slab and unit foundation work per ton stored
Large redundant Columns Uniform Racks
Roofing and side cladding, Supported on Racks. No truss
required supported on columns and trusses
Gable end Wind girders Not required
After this flooring and then RSW is complete in the previous step
Racking work starts
Less height for storage More height for storage
Static building Dynamic building with WMS
Less utilization space Best Utilization of space and volume
Low storage capacity per unit area High storage capacity per unit area
Approximate 7 Sq M per coil storage In 7 Sq M utilizing the height
approx. 14 coils could be stored.
Low Efficiency and throughput High operating efficiency and
throughput
Costly considering low efficiency Most cost effective with lowest life
cycle and high resource requirement cost and
stringent monitoring requirement
Semiautomatic Yard Management Totally automatic Warehouse
Management System (YMS) System (WMS)
Less safe due to Human interface Total Safety with no people
physical interface
Figure 18: Integrated Racks and cladding simple example
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 29
ISSN 1982-985X
5.4. Rack Supported Warehouse (RSW) Advantages
• Turnkey solution. Please refer to table 2.
• Integrated easily with an AS/RS system
• Eliminates building columns since rack supports the structure
• Can be built at heights >100ft (30M)
• Inclement weather and Seismic conditions have less impact on RSW
• Utilizes height instead of large land mass
• Tax advantages may be available for less energy consumption design
• Economical due to savings in cost of construction
• Lighter rafter and purlin sections due to close spacing of the racks.
• Optimal spacing with high efficient Material Handling equipment like Vertical
Stacker cranes
• No lighting required and may be required for the aisles for maintenance
inspection
• All merits of Pre engineered Buildings
• The rack and building frame work are the same structures
• No building columns interfere with the storage or material handling
• Installation takes very little time compared to conventional building and addition
of Racks, cranes and other accessories
• Engineering and Architectural time reduced
5.5. Rack Supported Warehouse at JSW CRM 2
Based on the configuration and simulation study the rack supported vertical storage
system ASRS was configured and justified matching with the storage requirement
and throughout per hour. The Storage system is configured in two phases with 50%
+ 50% The area required for storing typically for 2000 coils is approx. 2700 Square
meters (300x9) by utilizing the height up to 33 meters.
Figure 19: Rack supported warehouse in JSW
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 30
ISSN 1982-985X
6 CONCLUSION
• Savings in constructions by avoiding unnecessary buildings
• Saving on Cranes (MHE) and resources
• High storage density and through put per hour
• Reduction of construction time lines as erection of racks cladding and material
handling (MH) equipment can be undertaken simultaneously
• Single turnkey for storage, building and material handling and loading points
including ventilation and lighting
• Phenomenal Energy saving assuring safety for people and material with
absolute error free tracking
• TOTAL SAFETY due to (WMS) assisted people free operations system.
BIBLIOGRAFIA
1 Pesmel Archives and JSW archives
2 Rack supported building, presentation by Jouni Räisanen 2012
3 ASRS for Steel Plants and Warehouses, Jagannathan Rajagopalan and Sanna
Rintatalo, June 2010 AIST Magazine.
4 Configuration and Simulation study, Teemu Kolkka, Jagannathan Rajagopalan and
Juha Suksi, June 2013, AIST Magazine
5 http://www.pesmel.com
6 http://www.jsw.in/.
* Technical contribution to the 34º Seminário de Logística – Suprimentos, PCP, Transportes, part of
th st
the ABM Week, August 17 -21 , 2015, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 31
