5G Smart Factory: Smelter Workers Don't Have to Work in a Sauna

Huawei and China Mobile Hunan helping Xiangtan Steel remotely control its smelter cranes

Iron and steel are integral to the manufacturing industry and play an important role in the national economy. Conventional smelters are labor-intensive, with workers stuck in a high-temperature environment filled with dust and noise. The environment can be unsafe, and harms their health. As a result, traditional plants have suffered from low efficiency and high employee turnover, and have faced difficulties hiring new people.

To address the problems in the old iron and steel industry and embrace the 5G era, Xiangtan Iron and Steel (Xiangtan Steel) collaborated with China Mobile Hunan and Huawei to develop a smart smelter. Xiangtan Steel is the first Chinese steel company in the industry to build a 5G smart plant. With the new plant, the equipment "talks", machines run autonomously, employees work with dignity, and the company can expand efficiently.

With the help of 5G, Xiangtan Steel's workers are working more efficiently in a much better environment.

• Remotely controlled cranes: With remotely controlled cranes, the operator can sit in a quiet and comfortable air-conditioned cabin and remotely control multiple cranes in the steel-making area for unloading, lifting, and maintenance. Computer-aided programs assist with preset crane positioning and real-time crane operation, and the operator has a clear field of vision and can work in comfort.
• 5G robotic arms: With 5G robotic arms, smelter workers no longer have to engage in dangerous, repetitive, and heavy work close to hot furnaces. In fact, they can use a 5G smartphone to remotely start the slag conditioner program. Robotic arms can then evenly and reliably add slag conditioner and adjust the oxygen flow as required. The workers do not have to conduct dangerous operations, and the quality of iron and steel has been significantly improved.
• AI-controlled steel rolling: Workers can control the turning and speed of the rolling mill using a trained cloud-based AI model and video data from 5G cameras. This method of rolling is more efficient, so 6–7 more steel billets can be produced every day.

Xiangtan Steel's production efficiency and quality have improved with the help of the 5G smart plant. The steel workers are safer and happier because they don't need to work in a hot, noisy, and dangerous environment. Smart plants have been set up in Shanghai, Hebei, Beijing, and Guangxi, marking an important step forward for digitalization and automation in China's iron and steel industry.