Heat-number-centred traceability
Every heat becomes a record; the charge composition, analysis results, the products made from it and the customers they shipped to are linked to that record. The chain can be queried both forwards and backwards.
INDUSTRY SOFTWARE · IRON AND STEEL
Iron and steel production software that connects every batch, from scrap to heat and from heat to certificate
We do not replace your accounting backbone. We bring charge and heat planning, heat-number traceability, laboratory analysis records, quality certificate generation, energy consumption and the emissions data requested on exports to Europe together in a single operational layer. Not an off-the-shelf package — built for your plant. The source code stays with you.
9 modules Charge planning, heat traceability, laboratory, certificates, energy, stock, maintenance, emissions data, integration
Per heat Every finished product is traced back to the heat number it came from
Certificates Quality certificates are generated from laboratory data, not typed by hand
100% source code The software and the data stay entirely with you
Does this sound familiar?
The accounting side is settled, but heats, analyses and certificates still live in files
In steel, traceability is not a preference — it is a condition of trade. The buyer wants a certificate, the certificate rests on the laboratory analysis, and the analysis rests on the heat number. If one link of that chain is unrecorded, the whole chain falls apart the moment someone asks.
- Scrap charge composition is built on the furnace operator's experience; which composition produced which analysis result at which cost is never compared systematically. The experience is a real asset, but because it is not recorded it can be neither transferred nor improved.
- Heat numbers are tracked on paper. Once a product has shipped, finding which heat it came from means combing the archive; a question from a buyer turns into a search that takes hours.
- Laboratory analysis results sit in a separate file and values are copied over by hand when the certificate is prepared. That copying step carries the highest error risk in the whole chain; one mistyped figure can turn into a commercial problem.
- Quality certificates are prepared by hand for every shipment. Different templates per customer and standard live on individuals' computers; when a revision arrives, which template is current becomes unclear.
- Energy consumption is known from the total bill. Because how much energy each heat or each product consumes is not measured, energy cost is spread across product costs roughly and misleadingly.
- Furnace and rolling-mill downtime is written in the shift log. Because recurring downtime causes are never analysed systematically, the same loss recurs every month and nobody sees its total.
- On exports to Europe, buyers are asking for emissions data per product. Because today's record-keeping cannot compile it, the data arrives late or not at all; either way, your position as a supplier is weakened.
- Maintenance runs reactively, after breakdowns. When a critical machine's spare part runs out, the stoppage stretches, and emergency procurement costs run to multiples of planned stock cost.
- Stock is tracked as total tonnage, not by grade and length. The length and grade the customer wants cannot be found even when it is on hand; the result is unnecessary production or a missed order.
- Quotes are costed on last period's scrap and energy prices. When input prices move, the margin quietly erodes, and this is noticed only at period close, at a point where nothing can be corrected.
The sector's software landscape today
Which software the iron and steel industry uses today, and where it gets stuck
There is a clear software divide between large integrated plants and mid-sized rolling mills. The upper segment runs industry-specific imported systems, while in the mid segment the gap between the accounting ERP and Excel is bridged with a notebook.
| Layer | Software in use today | The gap it leaves |
|---|---|---|
| General ERP / accounting (horizontal backbone) | Logo Tiger, Logo Netsis, Mikro, SAP, CanIAS | Solid for customer and supplier accounts, stock, purchasing, finance and e-documents, and it stays in place. Its limit is that it does not carry steel's own concepts: heat numbers, analysis values, quality certificates and length-based stock are not standard in these systems. The traceability chain therefore has to be built alongside the ERP, not inside it. |
| Industry-specific production management (imported) | PSImetals and similar production management systems built for the metals industry | Broad systems that meet the industry's needs in depth, from heat planning to quality management, and they are established in large integrated plants. Licensing, adaptation and maintenance costs are usually out of reach for mid-sized rolling mills. At that scale the need is most often not a full-scope system but the traceability and certificate chain. |
| Process automation | PLC and SCADA systems on the furnace, casting and rolling lines | Necessary for process control and rich in machine-level data; temperature, current, speed and cycle information originates here. But linking that data to heat numbers, orders and costs is not automation's job. The result is plenty of data on the floor while the commercial questions go unanswered. |
| Laboratory and analysis | The spectrometers' and mechanical test instruments' own software | They produce the analysis results and store them in their own archive; measurement quality is rarely the problem. The problem is that linking results to the batch and turning them into a certificate is done by hand. The most critical link in the chain sits exactly here: even if the laboratory measures correctly, a copying error voids all that accuracy. |
| Quality certificates | Word and Excel templates, standard certificate formats | Certificates are prepared by hand, and different templates per customer and standard sit scattered across individuals' computers. Which document was produced from which data on which date is not recorded. Yet in steel a certificate is not a formality — it is the basis of the sale and of every dispute that follows. |
| Energy and emissions | Meter data, electricity bills, Excel spreadsheets | Energy consumption is known in total but never allocated to products. The per-product emissions data European buyers are asking for cannot be produced from this infrastructure; when the request arrives, the infrastructure has to be built from scratch, and that is not a job to start at that moment. In a plant where energy metering is in place, the emissions side largely reuses the same data. |
Our approach
A custom layer that builds the chain from furnace to certificate, without replacing your ERP
Our solution does not compete with your existing systems; it builds the chain between your process automation and your commercial system. The aim is to be able to show where a product came from and which values it carries the moment anyone asks.
Charge planning and cost comparison
Scrap and alloy compositions, the target analysis range and cost are weighed together. Alternative charges can be compared; the actual analysis result is fed back into the plan.
Laboratory data flowing into the system
Results from spectrometers and test instruments are linked to the heat record. Values outside specification limits raise an alert; manual copying and copying errors disappear.
Certificates generated from data
The quality certificate is generated automatically from laboratory data. Templates per customer and standard are defined in the system; which certificate was produced for which shipment on which date stays on record.
Energy and emissions data allocated to products
Meter and fuel data is matched with production records; energy and emissions per unit of product become calculable. The data your European buyer asks for comes out of this infrastructure.
Stock and maintenance connected
Finished stock is tracked by grade, length and heat. Maintenance plans and spare-part tracking for critical equipment run in the same system; unplanned downtime gets shorter.
The systems we build
Systems we build for iron and steel production
Not every company needs all of them. After discovery we start where it hurts most and grow module by module.
MES
Casting and rolling-mill production tracking
Collecting production, speed and downtime data from the furnace, casting and rolling lines; production records per heat number and downtime cause classification.
Detailed page → ERPCharge planning and cost
Charge alternatives based on scrap and alloy compositions, target analysis range and cost comparison; feeding the actual result back into the plan.
Detailed page → LIMSLaboratory and analysis management
Linking spectrometer and mechanical test results to the heat record, specification limit checks and deviation alerts.
Detailed page → QMSQuality certificate generation
Certificate templates per standard and customer; generating the document from laboratory data and keeping a record of versions and dispatches.
Detailed page → QRBundle and batch traceability
Labelling by bundle, pack and batch; tracing a shipped product back to the heat and the line it came from.
Detailed page → BIEnergy and emissions data infrastructure
Collecting meter and fuel data, calculating energy per unit of product and producing the emissions data requested on exports to Europe.
Detailed page → CMMSMaintenance and spare-parts management
Maintenance plans for critical equipment, breakdown and downtime records, spare-part stock and predictive alerts.
Detailed page → WMSStock by grade and length
Tracking finished stock broken down by grade, length, diameter and heat; instantly finding existing stock that matches a customer request.
Detailed page → APIERP and automation integration
Stock, order and invoice matching with Logo, Netsis, SAP and CanIAS; a data-reading layer on the PLC and SCADA side.
Detailed page → Integration with your existing ERP
We do not replace your existing ERP — we work alongside it
Your accounting backbone and your process automation systems stay in place. The layer we build makes the link between process data on the floor and the commercial system, and completes the traceability chain.
Our integration approach →- Stock, customer account, order and invoice synchronisation with Logo, Netsis, Mikro, SAP and CanIAS; double entry disappears and the financial side and operations show the same figures.
- Reading production, downtime and process data from PLC and SCADA systems; we work read-only, never write to process control, and avoid any intervention that could affect your warranty cover.
- Automatic capture of analysis results from spectrometers and mechanical test instruments; manual copying and the error risk that comes with it disappear.
- Collecting consumption data from electricity, natural gas and fuel meters and matching it with production records; energy per unit of product comes out of that match.
- Capturing scrap intake and finished-goods dispatch weighings from weighbridge systems; a mass balance from intake to dispatch becomes possible.
Outcomes
What changes once this layer is live
- Which heat a shipped product came from, and which analysis values it carries, is found in seconds.
- Quality certificates are generated from laboratory data; manual copying errors disappear.
- Charge alternatives are compared on cost and target analysis; experience becomes measurable.
- Analysis values outside the specification raise an immediate alert; the problem is seen before shipment.
- Downtime causes are classified; recurring losses are prioritised and addressed.
- Energy consumption is allocated to products; how much energy each product actually consumes is known.
- The per-product emissions data your European buyer asks for stands ready; no starting from scratch when the request arrives.
- Finished stock is visible by grade and length; nothing is re-produced because on-hand stock could not be found.
- Maintenance runs to plan; because critical spare-part stock is tracked, unplanned downtime gets shorter.
- Quotes are costed on current scrap and energy prices; margin erosion shows at quotation time, not afterwards.
Process
A realistic five-stage path that begins with discovery.
- 01
Initial conversation
1 weekWe talk through your plant structure, your product range, your current ERP and automation systems and the point that hurts most. We clarify expectations and scope and draw a realistic frame; at this stage understanding comes before selling. No obligation.
- 02
On-site discovery
1-2 weeksWe walk the flow on site, from the scrap yard to the furnace, from the laboratory to the rolling mill and dispatch. We map where the traceability chain breaks and which records still live on paper.
- 03
Scope and pilot design
1 weekWe decide which module to build first; heat traceability together with the laboratory and certificate chain usually delivers the highest return. Scope, timeline and deliverables are put in writing.
- 04
Development and pilot use
based on scopeThe system is developed and run in parallel with the current routine on a limited product group. Generated certificates are compared with the hand-prepared ones; every divergence is examined.
- 05
Rollout and handover
based on scopeThe remaining modules are added in turn, and the integrations and the energy side are switched on. Users are trained, and documentation and source code are handed over. Maintenance and support run as a separate agreement.
Why Pan Innovation House?
Not a software vendor, but a digital transformation team that knows the shop floor.
A team that treats traceability as a commercial matter
In steel, a certificate is not a formality — it is a condition of the sale. We build the system around that fact; if one link of the chain stays on paper, the job is not finished.
We do not clash with your automation supplier
Your PLC and SCADA side stays in place. We read data from that layer and connect it to the commercial side; we do not touch process control.
Source code and data stay with you
Everything we build, source code included, belongs to you. We do not leave behind a structure designed to keep you dependent on a supplier.
We take the data model seriously
In this industry the heart of the job is the data model; if the relationship between heat, batch, product and certificate is not built correctly, no screen built on top of it will work. We build the model up front, and in writing.
Step-by-step rollout
We do not change everything at once. We start where it hurts most and expand as the gains show; progressing without stopping production is essential.
A handover another team could take on
Documentation and a handover package are part of the job. If another team takes over tomorrow, we deliver in a state they can take over.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Iron, Steel and Metal Production software.
Industry-specific imported systems exist — why custom software?
Those systems are strong, and if one covers your needs it is the right choice; we will tell you so openly. Custom software makes sense when their licensing and adaptation costs are too heavy for your business, or when most of the scope would go unused. In mid-sized rolling mills the need is most often not a full-scope system but the traceability and certificate chain.
If the software generates the certificate, who is responsible?
Your quality department remains responsible for the certificate's content and signature; that does not change. What the system does is carry the values from the laboratory record without error, fill the template correctly and store which document was produced from which data. It eliminates manual copying errors; it does not take over responsibility.
Can data be captured from our laboratory instruments?
Most spectrometers and test instruments offer some export route; the instrument model and software version are examined during discovery. On instruments that cannot export, structured entry is set up on a laboratory screen — still a clear improvement over handwritten paper. What can be captured from which instrument is put in writing at the start of the project.
We are being asked for emissions data for exports to Europe.
The demand is growing, and its foundation is largely energy and production data. Under the carbon border adjustment mechanism, the legal obligation sits with the importer in Europe; you are the data supplier. But when you cannot provide the data, default values kick in, and those are usually worse than your real performance. We cover this topic in detail on a separate page.
Will the software do the charge optimisation?
The system calculates alternatives and puts cost and the target analysis range side by side; your furnace supervisor makes the decision. We do not aim to switch off experience. As actual analysis results feed back over time the suggestions get sharper, but the last word always belongs to the floor.
Will you interfere with our automation system?
No. We work read-only; we do not write to process control. The data-reading method is agreed together with your automation supplier, and any intervention that could affect your warranty cover is avoided. We put that boundary in the contract as well.
How soon can we start using it?
The timeline depends on the scope and is given in writing after discovery. Our approach is not to deliver one big system in one go, but to build the traceability chain quickly and grow from there. That way feedback comes early, and the return on the investment shows early too.
What do we end up with?
A working system, its source code, the database and handover documentation. User training and initial support are part of the scope. Maintenance and further development then run under a separate agreement; you are not obliged to sign it — you can also maintain the system with your own team.
Let us start together
Let's walk the plant together and build the chain together
Let us examine your traceability chain on site, from the scrap yard to the furnace and from the laboratory to dispatch, and decide together where to start.
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