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Rolls of sheet steel.

BlueScope's predictive leap with Senseye

Australian-based BlueScope, a global steel leader, is future-proofing maintenance with Siemens Senseye Predictive Maintenance. This AI solution detects machine malfunctions early, boosting efficiency and cutting costs. It has already prevented 1,950 hours of downtime and 53 process stops globally.

Hours

of unplanned downtime in Australia.

Hours

of unplanned downtime avoided in other countries.

Process

interruptions avoided.

Managing scale, complexity, and harsh operating conditions in the steel industry

The global steel industry faces a variety of challenges, namely environmental regulations and pressure to produce more sustainably, which has led to a trend toward digitalizing production processes to improve efficiency and flexibility. Maintenance processes play a big role here. They’re particularly challenging due to the scale, complexity, and harsh operating conditions of steel production facilities. Coordinating maintenance without disrupting production is difficult, especially in continuous process plants. Unplanned outages can cost millions due to lost production and restart costs.

BlueScope is a global company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of steel products, operating globally in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, China, India, Southeast Asia, and North America. It is best known for its high-quality galvanized and coated steel products, which are used in various industries such as construction, automotive, agriculture, and packaging. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and operates manufacturing facilities and sales offices in various regions to serve its customers worldwide.

Reducing planned and unplanned downtime to a minimum

For BlueScope, as for most companies in the process industry, plant downtime is not only costly, but also stressful and, in the worst case, damaging to business. Consequently, with an eye on its global competitiveness, the company was looking for ways to proactively plan maintenance work to significantly reduce downtime and thus production costs.With this in mind, BlueScope selected Siemens and its digital technologies. Siemens’ focus is on asset intelligence, not only to manage the assets but also to help change the culture from reactive to proactive maintenance. The collaboration began with a 12-month pilot project to test the possibilities of predictive maintenance (PdM) in the metal coating lines in BlueScope Springhill Works, Port Kembla. The pilot turned out to be an absolute success after only seven months.

Members of the BlueScope team, standing outside the factory on a catwalk.

From reactive to proactive, predictive maintenance

During those 12 months, 300 units were commissioned across three metal coating lines. This successful first phase at the Springhill site, supported by Senseye Predictive Maintenance's AI-driven automatic tuning capability, marked the beginning of a comprehensive shift from reactive to proactive, predictive maintenance.

The Siemens solution allows us to predict failures before they even occur. That means in the best case we do not have to stop a line – which would create waste and unnecessary greenhouse emissions – but can manage maintenance during the production.
Colin Robertson, Digital Transformation Manager, Asset Management, BlueScope

Predicting failures before they occur

The new data-driven approach has already showed its powerful impact multiple times. One example: an early diagnosis of a minor hydraulic leak on a metal coating line, which could have escalated into a major problem with costly downtime and manual intervention in dangerous and difficult-to-access areas. A sensor detected a gradual pressure drop; the Senseye PdM system then triggered a predictive warning and alerted the BlueScope team. By using Senseye PdM, BlueScope was able to address the problem during a scheduled maintenance window. Previously, BlueScope monitored these systems exclusively through visual checks and a simple low-level switch.

Let the numbers speak for themselves

By detecting the leak early in the example above, BlueScope was able to avoid at least 24 hours of unplanned downtime in the metal coating line, saving costs and minimizing, if not completely eliminating, production delays. In this case, early intervention also avoided the time-consuming and costly manual rethreading of the metal strip into the line.

Our journey with Senseye PdM began in 2022, and since then, we've avoided over 1,950 hours of machine downtime at various locations around the world, as well as 53 complete process stops and consequently, significant wastage.
Colin Robertson, Digital Transformation Manager and Asset Manager, BlueScope

Together with Siemens in a future-proof era of steel

Because of the huge success of the pilot project at Port Kembla, since then BlueScope has rolled out the Siemens solution to regions across the globe. Using real-time data and early warnings from Senseye PdM, BlueScope can replace its previous approach to reactive maintenance with a proactive, data-driven model. “The early adoption of generative AI in maintenance and technology is key in the steel industry”, concludes Colin Robertson. “And with Siemens as a partner we are technically and strategically well-positioned for the future.”

A meeting at BlueScope