rick@cs.arizona.edu (Rick Schlichting) (05/21/91)
[Dr. David Kahaner is a numerical analyst visiting Japan for two-years
under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research-Asia (ONR/Asia).
The following is the professional opinion of David Kahaner and in no
way has the blessing of the US Government or any agency of it. All
information is dated and of limited life time. This disclaimer should
be noted on ANY attribution.]
[Copies of previous reports written by Kahaner can be obtained from
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To: Distribution
From: David K. Kahaner ONR Asia [kahaner@xroads.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp]
Re: Sumitomo Metals use of AI and Expert Systems
18 May 1991
ABSTRACT. Some examples of AI/Expert systems at Sumitomo.
INTRODUCTION
In a recent report on Nippon Steel (nippon.st, 18 March 1991) I described
several applications of computers at Japan's largest steel company. Lest
readers infer that this kind of technology is limited only to the
largest, Sumitomo Metal Industries sent me a copy of their February 1991
technical journal (unfortunately in Japanese) describing their
applications of AI and Expert systems in steelmaking and related
activities.
Sumitomo is a large company, but as a steelmaker, it is not even in the
top ten. I had already reported on an expert system tool containing more
than 300 rules that they have applied to a large steel wire finishing
plant (flexible, 12 Dec 1990), and this is item #8 below; the others
report new activities. In that report I also explained that Sumitomo was
entering the workstation business and developing high reliability RISC
based workstations which they could sell with ready to go applications.
Article 2. below is a specific example of this approach. The quoted text
below is from the abstracts of the papers. A common thread on all the
applications is to "make know-how common". That is, move expertise from
the experts to a wider base within the steelmaking environment.
Contents of Sumitomo Metals, Vol 43#1, 1991.
1. Applied Technology of Artificial Intelligence and its History for
Sumitomo Metal's Applications.
"Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd has developed various expert systems
for controlling the abnormal stages of a plant, passing down design
technologies and know-how to successors and so on which are good at
these conditions in comparison with conventional computer systems. Here
we first show the history of our activities for researching, developing
our own tools, and expanding the applications. Next we describe the
merits and problems of applying the expert system through experiences
from ten or more sets of actual expert system building."
In a speech at the 1990 ICOT Symposium, Tokai University Professor H.
Karatsu made the following comments. They seem to me to be relevant here.
"..115 new types of Japanese facsimiles were released in 1988. In other
words, a new model ... every three days... [When] making a new
model...slightly move the button on the right side nearer the left, to
change the size of the package a little, or to change the color, and so
forth. If you look at such modifications, each modification seems very
trifling. However, after continuing such improvements for a few years,
the machine turns into a completely different one. This is what Japan's
technological innovation is... Most Americans think technological
innovation is like hitting a home run in a baseball game. American
batters are always trying to hit a home run, but often miss the ball,
while Japanese batters are trying to make a base hit and a squeeze play.
In the end, the Japanese team often wins the game.... Technology means, I
think, to make something useful for man by applying natural principles
that our predecessors found in nature... This process is completely
different from science, where new discoveries and laws of nature are
sought after. Science needs pioneering and foresight."
2. Developing of an Expert System Building Tool: SMI/MARKS-II.
MARKS stand for Multi-Access-Realtime-Knowledge-System. The paper
describes its design philosophy and illustrates some user interfaces. It
also shows how the system can can link with systems such as on Sun, DEC,
NEC, and IBM. As far as I can tell virtually all the applications below
use this system.
3. Melting Instructions Expert System.
"The engineering staff in the steelmaking plant use both technical
knowledge and production know-how to write melting instructions. The
instructions are written to inform the operators of the target chemical
composition and target temperature, and to give important details of
special related conditions. To improve the efficiency of the technical
staff and ensure successful transfer of technology, we have systematized
this procedure by applying the technology of an expert system. This
system is a "design-type" expert system which runs on a large host
computer which works in conjunction with conventional systems. This paper
gives an outline of the system and discusses the factors involved in
designing a practical expert system."
4. An Expert System for the Material Design of Large Diameter Steel
Pipes.
"An expert system for the material design of large diameter steel
pipes has been developed for (1) passing down design technologies and
know-how to successors, (2) improving design quality, and (3) reducing
designing time. Given a customer's production requirements on dimensions,
strength properties and toughness properties, it produces optimal
production specifications such as chemical ingredients and rolling and
heat treatment conditions in consideration of production costs, stability
of products' quality, etc. In is an experimental rule-based system and is
composed of a knowledge base, which contains the know-how of material
design specialists, a production result data library which is referred to
as a base data for designing, and a newly developed hill climbing
optimization logic which is used for adjusting values of factors in order
to improve contradicting interrelated material properties. It is
implemented as man-machine conversational system and is easy to use. Even
a beginner can design a material in 10 to 30 minutes."
5. A Material Arrangement System for a Hot Strip Mill.
"The material planning system of a hot strip mill consists of a
material arrangement system and a casting and rolling planning system.
The former system's function is to assign orders to stocked slabs and the
latter's is to request for slab supply to the proper steelmaking process.
A fully automated assignment system of slabs, which is the kernel
function of a material arrangement system, has been developed by using an
expert system. Technology succession and improvement of work efficiency
have been realized by extracting complex rules from the slab assignment
job and by organizing them into the knowledge base. This expert system
can also prevent a chance loss of an assignment, which contributes to a
reduction in the number of stocked slabs."
6. Expert System for Blast Furnace Operation.
"Sumitomo Metals has once succeeded in computer control of blast
furnace operation under a normal furnace state by use of a mathematical
prediction model. Recently, for the establishment of a completely
automatic and intelligent control system, a hybrid expert system composed
of both a math model and experimental rules was developed as an
application for artificial intelligence. In the abnormal furnace state,
control by experimental rules performed to achieve stable furnace
operation for the prevention of a significant reduction in hot metal
production. Further, diagnosis rules are provided in the system to
determine the cause of abnormality and to select necessary actions for
long term control. The system was introduced into the Kashima No. 1 blast
furnace in October 1988. The hybrid expert system is successfully applied
in actual operation."
7. A Real-time Expert System Applied to the Mold Bath Level Control of
a Continuous Caster.
" Fluctuations in the mold bath level of the continuous caster
greatly influence the surface quality of cast slabs or billets. It is
difficult to maintain an optimal bath level by a PID controlled and a
slide gate vibration controlled with fixed parameters, because the
characteristics of the casting condition fluctuate during operation. To
solve this problem, an expert system method has been applied to the mold
bath level control system. In this expert system, operator know-how
regarding control parameter adjustment is represented in the form of a
knowledge base and that knowledge base is driven by an inference engine
when a significant fluctuations in the mold bath level occurs. This system
has been applied to a continuous round caster, and it has effectively
regulated mold bath level fluctuations by adjusting the controlling
parameters to optimize the state of operation when the fluctuation
occurred."
8. Coil Transfer Control Based on Expert System.
"Sumitomo Metals has been promoting the adoption of automatic control
systems, aiming for efficiency of productivity and material flow.
Recently, we applied knowledge engineering to the field of automatic
control systems and developed a hot coil transfer scheduling and control
system based on AI for the hot cold finishing line at the Kashima Steel
works. This system started operation in September 1988 and has operated
very smoothly since then."
9. An AI System for the Facilities Monitoring On-line System.
"In 1988 a diagnosis support expert system for equipment was applied
to the facilities monitoring on-line system (FAMOS) at the Wakayama Steel
works of Sumitomo Metals. This system, which used the MARKS-II, produced
by SMI, is an on-line AI system. The characteristics of the system are as
follows. (1) Can be operated together with all FAMOS's terminals joined
with all the optical fiber networks around the works. (2) Can infer with
measured data by FAMOS. (3) Can get diagnosis results for equipment using
a knowledge data base that is structured with expert knowledge and
experience. (4) Needs to infer in short periods so the operator can get
exact information in real-time. This AI system is expected to work as an
effective maintenance support tool."
10. Fault Localization Expert System for Hydraulic Screw-down of Tandem
Cold Mill ant Kashima Steel Works.
"The hydraulic screw-down of a cold strip mill is a complex device
consisting of a mill system, a hydraulic system, and a control system.
When trouble occurs in the hydraulic screw-down, it needs expert
operators, expert mechanical-maintenancemen and expert electric-
maintenancemen to discover the cause. In addition, this requires too much
time. We have developed and employed the following two new systems. The
Conditions Monitor is to prevent troubles. The Fault Monitor is to
discover the cause of the trouble quickly and easily even for non-
experts."
11. An Expert System for Automated Computer Operation.
"A rule-based expert system for automated computer operation was
developed using know-how from a procedure-based system. The system
watches console messages and controls mainframe computers and their
networks by commands or replies. The expression of system status and
production rule is formalized. This information is stored in a relational
database. The problem is fit for production systems. Thus, we can develop
rules using half the man-power of the procedure-based system. Automated
computer operation does not only make the operation more stable, but also
makes know-how of the operation common."
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