Playbook
Furnace know-how: keep the recipe in the plant, not in two operators’ heads.
Reductant ratio and slag targets are often set by a few senior operators. When they are away, every heat is a gamble; when they retire, the plant relearns.
The problem
- The recipe is set by habit and lives with a few people.
- Shift handover is a notebook and a phone call.
- Old reports and studies sit in folders nobody searches.
- New engineers learn by trial on the real furnace.
The playbook
- Capture every heat: charge, power, lab and tap data collected per heat, not per month.
- Make handover structured: guided intake, by voice if that is easier on the floor, that becomes data.
- Write the rules down: the reductant and basicity targets operators actually use, and why.
- Collect the library: past reports, studies and literature in one searchable place.
- Answer with sources: when someone asks why, the answer cites the heat records, model runs or documents it came from.
- Test changes off the furnace: compare scenarios on a calibrated model before a short trial.
How to measure it
| Measure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Heats with complete data | Whether evidence exists to learn from |
| Handover notes captured as data | Whether shift knowledge is kept |
| Questions answered with citations | Whether people trust and use the record |
| Recipe changes tested on the model first | Whether trials are deliberate |
How Furnace Twin does it
Furnace Twin is a physics model of your furnace (mass and energy balance, slag chemistry, reduction kinetics, an electrical model and furnace zones) calibrated on your heat history and re-calibrated as new heats arrive. It estimates energy, grade and recovery every heat and flags drift with its likely cause, such as basicity, reductant or electrodes. A scenario engine compares reductant, basicity, temperature and feed changes side by side so only the best goes to a short trial on the real furnace. Anyone on shift can ask questions in plain language and get answers that cite records, model runs and literature, and shift handover can be captured by voice in Hindi or English. Every model version is evaluated and logged. Delivery runs baseline, calibrate, then operate, starting with one furnace.
Questions
How do you capture operator knowledge in a furnace plant?
Collect data every heat, make shift handover structured, write down the targets operators use and why, gather past reports in one library, and answer questions with cited sources.
Why is tacit knowledge a risk in smelting?
When the recipe lives with a few senior operators, results depend on who is on shift and the knowledge leaves when they do.
See it on your own data. Furnace Twin — Ask the furnace, see the proof. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.