The process of transporting steel products from final steel discharge to the customer requires complicated logistics.

There are numerous timelines and demands to take into account, and the experience and decision-making abilities of scheduling staff is put to the test. It is laborious work which often doesn’t achieve optimal results.

CISDI Information Tech has developed a smart stowage model called FlexLoad, which is effective in all logistics scenarios.

It automatically proposes a solution to meet logistics requirements and organises the optimal, plant-wide allocation of transportation vehicles.

FlexLoad is resulting in a substantial increase in allocation efficiency and savings on logistics costs.

The model acts from the moment an order is placed. It follows up every procedure’s data - from ordering to production scheduling, transfer between internal workshops and loading for delivery.

Taking into account upstream and downstream coordination, the FlexLoad automatically generates a daily task, forecasts transport needs and plans the storage position, routing and loading.

A spokesperson from the Products Dept of CISDI Information Tech Co explained: “Before FlexLoad was introduced, deliveries were around the clock and it took five to 10 minutes to manually dispatch an order, during which time a dispatching operator would be fully-occupied in working out precisely which goods could be loaded onto the vehicle.

“But errors often occurred; one last item, such as a coil discharged from a hot strip rolling line, would frequently be left behind, reducing transport capacity.”

FlexLoad has incorporated “vehicle ratio” into its solution. Immediately after an order is placed, it makes an estimation on which vehicle will be used.

Recommendations are given on sub-order portfolios based on the main order, plus manufacturing and transport plans. The higher the vehicle ratio, the higher the loading efficiency and the lower the transportation costs.

As a result, labour requirements are reduced and stowage velocity and accuracy are improved.

Dynamic data and the algorithm optimisation enable a fast, optimal stowage solution which applies to truck, rail, ship and transfer scenarios.

It ensures that goods from the same order are transported in a centralised way, reducing inventory backlogs.

A stream of smart models and algorithms developed by CISDI Information Tech is leading flow production’s management - from local optimisation to holistic, and supercharging lean production management with digital tech.