Gerdau and Primetals Technologies recently completed a pilot project together at Gerdau’s plant in Ouro Branco, Brazil, with the local maintenance team. With a history spanning 121 years, Gerdau is Brazil’s largest steel producer and a leading manufacturer of long steels in the Americas. Gerdau is also one of the most prominent producers of special steels worldwide. With operations in nine countries and serving the agricultural, automotive, construction, distribution, energy, industrial, and mining markets, Gerdau is an ideal partner for the pilot project.

Pilot Project in Brazil

The pilot project, focusing on the slab caster, allowed Gerdau to access technical information about its spare parts and create service requests online via m.space. m.space is a comprehensive digital platform that offers an easy and fast way for steel producers to connect with the experts at Primetals Technologies when having any service-related request or question. The inquiry could be related to spare parts, plant documentation, and remote live support for mechanical as well as electrics and automation issues.

The m.space platform offers a new interface between the customer and Primetals Technologies. It is a unique solution, and this portal might well be widely used by Gerdau entities all over the Americas.”

Euder Melo
Caster Maintenance Specialist
at Gerdau Ouro Branco

Euder Melo, Caster Maintenance Specialist at Gerdau’s Ouro Branco site, is wearing smart glasses that can be used to receive digital guided support from Primetals Technologies.

Requests made during the pilot project included questions about the remote inspection of caster rolls, analysis of the data generated by the ladle turret’s condition monitoring system, or automation support for technology packages such as Dynawidth, Dynaflex, the ASTC system, and Strand Checker.

With technology-specific requests requiring a high level of expertise, specialists at Primetals Technologies could provide immediate support and additional insights using historical troubleshooting data from m.space.

Providing Remote Support

Traditionally, maintenance issues often need to be addressed by a field service engineer on-site. However, recent technology developments make it possible for experts at Primetals Technologies to assist steel producers digitally. In that way, maintenance issues are solved faster and at a lower cost, with, for example, no travel expenses. Specialists can support the steel producer’s in-house service technicians from initial troubleshooting to the successful implementation of a solution. With the help of smart glasses and a mobile phone or a tablet, the team from Primetals Technologies stays in contact with the technicians on site.

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