5G smart iron and steel production at Liuzhou

5G was the essential enabler due to wireless network signal coverage requirements, access concurrency and speed, data security, and future scalability. 5G can keep network latency within milliseconds, which supports precise control and improves production safety in industrial settings. The project for instance relies on the enhanced mobile broadband, low latency, and high reliability of 5G networks to enable the HD video system needed for remote monitoring and control of cranes from multiple perspectives – allowing lower use of human resource, and less exposure to noise, dust, corrosion, and electromagnetic interference.

By drawing on the low-latency data transmission of 5G networks, and the real-time big data analysis capabilities they enable, Liuzhou was able to employ a machine vision server and AI server in the cloud backend to replace inefficient and dangerous processes such as manual roller transfers. Operation and maintenance of the traditional equipment for this required three shifts per day to perform spot inspections, with workers manually recording operating states of thousands of pieces of equipment, relying heavily on the experience and sense of responsibility of point inspectors.

The use of 5G networks means this data can be collected within a single day by using equipment sensors to complete data deployment and release, while crucial devices such as rolling mills, fans, and winding engines can be monitored online 24 hours a day – increasing overall operation and maintenance efficiency by 30%, with AI diagnosis accuracy exceeding 85%. With production continuity ensured, unexpected shutdowns caused by equipment failures have been avoided to the maximum recorded extent.

To take another example, the cold-rolled steel plant has three welding lines, with welding operations conducted once every three to five minutes. Previously, defects in weld joints were observed visually, an approach prone to significant deviation, high work intensity, and high labour costs. It was also impossible to record and trace the quality of welding with images.

The 5G Welder Cloud Eye quality inspection system uses a 5G-powered video to collect images in real time and perform automatic detection online 24 hours per day using AI. This reduces manpower costs by 55% and increases recognition accuracy by 40%, with the welding quality recordable and traceable as well.

The 5G smart factory of Liuzhou Steel Group has seen investment of several hundred million CNY to enable improvements across steel surface quality inspection, remote control of cranes, intelligent predictive maintenance, and AR remote collaboration, among other new scenarios to help the company address challenges in product quality, production efficiency, and recruitment difficulty among others.

These are common challenges across the industry. To gain more insights into what these advances mean for industry trends, and be poised for even greater opportunities – to go from simply dividing the cake to baking a bigger cake – it is vital to understand deeply the pain points shared across the industry, build consensus within the ecosystem, and thus generate diverse capabilities to address shared problems. This should start from top-level designs, to pin down scenarios and analyse customers' business scenario demands, based on their strategic businesses – establishing from this the values to be pursued as we bring about the industry’s technological future, adhering wherever possible to the ‘5G-first’ principle.