NISCO uses AI model to improve steelmaking efficiency and quality

Nanjing Iron & Steel Co. (NISCO) has commercially deployed the YuanYe Steel Large Model, developed with Huawei and ecosystem partners, across multiple production and operational scenarios to improve efficiency, product quality and cost control.

The AI model integrates multiple AI systems with metallurgical mechanism models, using operational data from 26 business domains to support real-time monitoring, process control and decision-making. NISCO has connected and digitally controlled all its key equipment, shortened new product research and development cycles by 50pct and reduced annual costs by more than USD 15 mln.

By October 2026, NISCO had launched 25 business agents covering applications including quality inspection, process optimization, production scheduling and operations management. The company has also deployed more than 300 AI models and over 1,000 low-code agents and applications developed by frontline employees.

In ironmaking, AI-based furnace temperature prediction and health diagnosis enable operators to identify potential issues up to two hours in advance, with accuracy exceeding 90pct. The system has increased prime-grade molten iron yield by more than 10pct while reducing energy consumption.

In rolling, the model's rolling-force prediction system has raised the hit rate from 88pct to 98pct and narrowed thickness tolerance to +/- 0.2 mm. The improvements support annual steel plate output of more than 2.5 mln tons and have increased the overall yield rate by 0.5pct.

AI-assisted metallographic inspection has raised inspection accuracy to more than 95pct and reduced inspection time per sample from 10 minutes to 3-5 minutes. In environmental control, an intelligent agent for gas and flue gas sulfur management provides warnings up to one hour in advance, with sulfur prediction accuracy exceeding 95pct. The system has reduced natural gas co-firing consumption by nearly 50pct and cut downtime caused by emission exceedances by more than 25pct.

NISCO said the initiative aims to improve the integration of AI across production, operations and management, while enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks. The company plans to work with Huawei and other partners to explore dedicated data centres for smart steel plants and expand the use of AI across its operations.

Nanjing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (NISCO) is a Chinese steelmaker headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu, and controlled by CITIC Group. The company produces special steel plates, heavy plates, shipbuilding and offshore steel, line-pipe plate and engineering steels. NISCO has stated annual steelmaking capacity of around 10 mln tons.