Metal Scrap Recycling 4.0: Towards Smart Operation And Production Of High-Quality Alloys

— In the era of Industry 4.0, manufacturing systems are becoming more and more efficient. Indeed, decision making for operations and production enables companies to maximize their profits and be more competitive. However, some industries are behind in their integration of Industry 4.0 technologies. This is the case of foundries, which, with their traditional manufacturing processes, do not perceive the potential benefits of Industry 4.0. In particular, this industry relies on digital technologies to connect production systems throughout the supply chain with smart factories. The manufacturing industry must rely on Industry 4.0 to produce more personalized products while remaining economically competitive. Hence, this study seeks to optimize the manufacturing process of a titanium recycling and foundry company, Metalliage Inc., with a program that selects the raw materials to be melted in order to minimize costs and meet order constraints. A model is developed to simulate the production as a mixed integer linear programming problem. The conducted study shows a potential gain of 20% that could be achieved with production supported by Industry 4.0 technologies. A possible integration of these technologies will be proposed in the context of a metal recycling plant.