Recently, exciting news came from the finals of the “Raw Materials (Steel) Industry Track” in the 5th Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Competition, hosted by China Iron and Steel Association. The project Intelligent Production Decision-making System for Finishing Processes Based on a General Large Model, jointly developed by Shougang Cold Rolling, Shougang Group’s Research Institute of Technology, and SGAI, stood out among 25 outstanding finalists to successfully in the First Prize. Two other projects, Intelligent Control System for Finishing Temperature Based on Electromagnetic Induction Heating from Shougang Jingtang and Shougang Group’s Research Institute of Technology, and Innovation and Application of an Intelligent Carbon Management Platform for Iron and Steel Enterprises from Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd., both won Third Prizes.

The Intelligent Production Decision-making System for Finishing Processes Based on a General Large Model was the sole First Prize winner in this competition. This achievement holds significant practical value and guiding importance against the backdrop of numerous challenges currently facing the application and implementation of large models. It provides new ideas and directions for the industry’s digital-intelligent transformation and development, also demonstrating Shougang’s firm resolve and strong capabilities in driving high-quality development through technological innovation.

Shougang Cold Rolling is China’s first “Lighthouse Factory” dedicated to producing high-quality automotive steel sheets, dealing with products of high added value and stringent quality requirements. The finishing process is the final control “checkpoint” before products leave the factory, directly impacting product quality and production efficiency. Its production decision-making process faces industry-common challenges such as complex unit allocation, cumbersome scheduling rules, and yield loss, which makes traditional AI decision-making models struggle to meet for intelligent production needs.

To respond to this challenge, Shougang Cold Rolling, Shougang Group’s Research Institute of Technology, and SGAI formed a joint task force. Adhering to Shougang’s strategic path of “Leadership in Technological Innovation, Integration of Technological Innovation and Management Innovation, and Integration with Business Model Innovation”, they blazed a trail of independent innovation for technological breakthrough. The task force broke away from conventional industry perceptions. Instead of relying on the conventional approach of pre-training and fine-tuning large models, they delved deeply into the underlying logic, consulted multiple times with top domestic AI teams, independently built a verification platform, and based on extensive theoretical deduction and scenario testings, ultimately proved that general large models can accurately understand the “industry language” of steel production scenarios.

Innovatively adopting a three-layer decoupled architecture of “Application-Platform-Model”, akin to installing a “hot-swappable” AI core for the finishing process, the system supports elastic switching between local and cloud-based large models and cloud-edge mutual backup and coordination, significantly improving resource utilization while ensuring business stability. By constructing three key technologies— “Prompt Skill Strategies + Precise Vector Retrieval + Logical Consistency Verification”—the system effectively solves the large model “hallucination” problem. It achieves precise matching of applicable order clauses from hundreds of complex rules, becoming a discerning “Rule Judge” that notices the minutest detail.

The results after the system’s implementation far exceeded expectations. To date, Shougang Cold Rolling has processed business workflows for over 20,000 steel coils, achieving a “double perfect score” of 100% accuracy in unit allocation and 100% compliance with scheduling rules. Simultaneously, the efficiency of unit allocation and production scheduling increased by 66.7%, head and tail crop loss of steel coils decreased by 25%, and turnover efficiency improved by 19.2%. More commendably, the project adopted an open-source large model technology roadmap. Thanks to two locally-deployed servers, it generated an annual benefit exceeding RMB11 million, truly embodying the value of technology empowerment with the wisdom of “leveraging minimal effort for maximum effect”.

The experience of frontline personnel intuitively validates the success of this system that is now being indispensable for the production rather than an invention for reluctant application in the initial stage. The concept of technology “empowering people and reducing their burden” has taken root on Shougang’s production front lines. This achievement vividly reveals the efficient operation of Shougang’s “One Institute, Multiple Centers” R&D system and serves as a typical example of advancing the “AI Plus” initiative driven by the dual efforts of “independent innovation” and “collaborative tackling of key challenges”.

As a leader in the digital transformation of the steel industry, Shougang has achieved fruitful results in intelligent manufacturing in recent years: The Shougang Cold Rolling “Lighthouse Factory” extensively applies AI and 5G technology, improving production line efficiency by over 20%; Shougang Qian’an Steel achieves annual cost savings of RMB70 million and reduces CO2 emissions by 40,200 tonnes through AI model management and control; Shougang Jingtang was rated as a national “Benchmark for Intelligent Manufacturing” relying on its data-driven “One-Core, Four-Level, Multi-Element” intelligent steel plant construction achievements. The successful implementation of the Intelligent Production Decision-making System for Finishing Processes Based on a General Large Model project enriches the practical connotation of Shougang’s intelligent transformation, providing a replicable and promotable “Shougang Solution” for the high-quality development of the steel industry.

At the critical juncture of a new development stage, Shougang stands ready to continue promoting technological innovation as its primary competitiveness, deepen the integration of AI and the steel industry, and make sustained efforts on the path of cultivating new quality productive forces. It aims to write a new chapter of the era for building Shougang scenarios in Chinese-style modernization and leading China’s steel industry towards high-end, intelligent, and green transformation.