Industry 4.0 – Saviour of Aluminium Industry during COVID-19 crisis and beacon of hope for 2021

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has popularised the use of Industry 4.0 across all manufacturing industries, including aluminium. Until then, it was only a buzzword to many, despite being a dominating topic of discussion in conferences, summits and seminars. Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 that has helped the aluminium industry mitigate the COVID-19 impact at large. The intelligent use of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and cyber-physical systems at aluminium smelters and plants has enabled them to augment their production capacity and conduct seamless operations during the pandemic.

It is an undeniable fact now that Industry 4.0 has proved to be an inevitable solution in the aluminium industry for the achievement of higher productivity at a lesser time and with scanty workforce. Having experienced the robust outcome of the use of digitalization and automation during the COVID-19 crisis, a large number of aluminium smelters are increasingly harnessing the transformational potential of the 4th Industrial Revolution in a quest to position themselves as the ‘Smelter of the Future’.

Role of Industry 4.0 in Aluminium Industry

Statistics show that the adoption of digital solutions has helped smelters who use electrolysis process to pull aluminium from its oxide boost productivity. Even 1 per cent gain in productivity leads to an annual global savings of $970 million in total production costs. Investing in technology has also proven to reduce problems by providing more insights; for instance, data analytics can give details about temperature and chemistry, allowing plant managers to make proactive changes to cut down on wasted time or money.

While sustainability has become a way for aluminium producers to mark themselves different in the market, IoT sensors give them an idea of how much electricity they use over a given period. It makes easier to lessen the consumption of electricity if required.

On one hand, there are companies that are facilitating these digital solutions in the form of Automation, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, IoT, Data Analytics, etc.; on the other hand, there are companies who are adopting these technologies and transforming themselves into Smart companies & factories.

Leaders leading the way

For instance, Fives’ Aluminium division, which develops smart, innovative and flexible solutions for the aluminium smelters, has innovated a comprehensive range of digital solutions to enhance productivity of smelters and achieve greener aluminium production.  Being a worldwide leading solution provider for Green Anode Plant, Anode Baking Furnace equipment, Anode Rodding Shop, Fume & Gas Treatment plant, Potline cranes, Pot equipment, Fives’ digital portfolio consists of more than 20 solutions that can be used independently or interconnected to act on Equipment Health Monitoring, Process Optimization and Emission Control.

SECO/WARWICK Group, who has been shaping the global metallurgical and heat treatment industry for over 100 years, has developed a set of tools, known as SeCoil® for designing, optimizing and controlling the process of heating aluminum coils in real time. SECO / PREDICTIVE is another advanced device control system that enables detection of potential failures before their occurrence. This system is used to collect data from sensors and save them in the SECO/WARWICK cloud, and then to analyze the obtained information.

Among aluminium producers, Sohar Aluminium, the Middle East’s youngest greenfield aluminium smelter has been using the leading-edge smelting technology with a progressive increase in amperage, deploying state-of-the-art production, efficiency and safety optimization tools, and technological innovation to become the benchmark smelter in the region. Their IT and automation team keeps Sohar Aluminium on the cutting-edge of smelting technology and operational excellence.

According to Vedanta, India's largest producer of green metal, the dynamic nature of the aluminium industry has greatly accelerated the adoption of automation and smart manufacturing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aluminium being a critical raw material for strategic industry sectors, from defence to aerospace to electrical distribution, the industry had to ensure business continuity despite reduced manpower, lockdowns, mobility restrictions and social distancing norms.

Leading the way for domestic manufacturers, Vedanta Aluminium has adopted digital-first ways of working to ensure real-time decision making, respond to fluid market conditions, changing customer needs, disrupted supply chains and employee safety with agility and accuracy.

Shaping up 2021

Over the last few decades, the aluminium industry has been aiming at augmenting production capacity with reasonable additional investment. But now, the reduction of greenhouse gas emission is an additional objective of the industry, wherein Industry 4.0 platform technologies is foreseen to open up further opportunities. The integration of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to optimise predictive control and operation and become a key driver for low-energy cells. In other words, Industry 4.0 is anticipated to progress aluminium smelting towards sustainable production.