Slab Mill Process Control

Today, the slab mill operator cannot do it alone. He needs the help that process control provides. When process control is mentioned, many people immediately think of a computer. But a computer is only one example of process control. A control that takes a number of actions performed by mill operators and simplifies them, or relieves an operator of continual attentiveness to the process may be considered process automation. This paper will describe process automation, or control, as it is applied to the various drives in the slab mill, indicated on Fig 1. The slab mill area includes the ingot buggy, main mill, scarfer, shear, weigh and stamp, and piler. The rolling mill itself will be described last since major emphasis will be placed on process control for this area.