voestalpine
Canvas Category OEM : Fabricated Metal
We are a leading global steel and technology Group in our business segments with a combination of material and processing expertise, and headquartered in Linz. Our company is divided into four divisions, each with a product portfolio that makes them a leading provider in Europe or worldwide. As an environmentally friendly international Group, and an important ecological pioneer, we are committed to the global climate goals. We are working intensively to develop technologies for decarbonization, and to reduce CO2 emissions over the long term.
Assembly Line
Special steel plant in Kapfenberg: workplace of the future
Procedures, working methods, systems, processes, control, collaboration: a lot is new at the Kapfenberg special steel plant. In the old plant, work was spread out over several stations, but now many people can work together in one room: melters, crane operators, plant operators. Technology and control are centralized in one place. The use of robots and manipulators means less physical effort, but digitalization comes with other challenges.
Sensible CO2 recycling
Carbon dioxide from technical processes should no longer impact the climate. That is why a key objective of the voestalpine decarbonization strategy is to avoid its generation. But as long as carbon remains an indispensable component, for example in the production of high-quality steels, researchers are also looking into solutions to prevent or recycle CO2 emissions. In cooperation with a team from the K1-MET metallurgical research competence center, voestalpine is tackling this challenge.
Metal Forming Division: long live the loop
“For us in the Metal Forming Division, accuracy and early error detection are particularly important.”
A critical factor is the high production speed of the roll forming lines, which can process up to 120 meters of sheet metal per minute. The later a defect is detected, the more material and time is lost.
“The goal of digitalized roll forming is to replace the previous process monitoring, such as checking the dimensions afterwards, with automatic inline measurement to allow us to move from process monitoring to digital process control.” If this goal is achieved, we could be looking at up to four times the accuracy in production.