CISDI’s smart stockyard solutions have digitally transformed a sintering stockyard at Zenith Nantong Steel in China’s Jiangsu Province.

CISDI Information Tech Co applied smart control and three-dimensional laser scanning to achieve smart stacking and reclaiming, smart flow operation and visualised data management.

A ‘feed station’ for downstream steel manufacturing, the stockyard houses over 10 types of raw materials and handles almost 40,000 tonnes every day.

Working conditions were dirty and tasks were arduous and heavy. For example, the inventory checking worker was required to measure huge piles of materials, each one tens of metres-wide. It was laborious and accurate results could not be ensured.

The smart online stockyard has a real-time inventory checking system. Digital sensing equipment constructs 3D images of piled materials and accurately calculates the volume and weight.

The stockyard’s 15 stackers and reclaimers now carry out automated, accurate piling and assess optimal storage locations. Analytical modelling of the movement path, a strategy model of the stacking-reclaiming action and posture positioning tech for the crane makes this possible.

Employees now remotely control onsite equipment at the main control centre, and are kept informed of the stockyard’s detailed data and conditions.

Annual savings of around USD161.45 million are projected.

The smart sintering stockyard at Zenith Nantong

A Zenith operator monitors and controls equipment from CISDI’s smart platform at the main control centre