Recent Innovations in Computer and Automation Engineering for Performance Improvement in the Steel Industry Production Chain: A Review

The steel industry is a hard-to-abate sector; it involves many energy-intensive and complex processes. Continuous performance improvement is a fundamental requirement. Efficiency enhancement of the involved sub-processes can serve as the basis of an effective roadmap for the industry’s decarbonization. Efficiency and performance can be investigated in terms of whole plants, parts of a plant, individual machines, or individual devices; in addition, efficiency and performance can be associated with different topics, e.g., energy, CO 2 emissions, sustainability, and product quality. In this context, computer and automation engineering innovations could have a massive impact due to both their specificity and their potential to contaminate other crucial disciplines in the field. This review paper aims to research and provide an update on state-of-the-art innovations (e.g., emerging technologies and best practices) for performance improvement in the steel industry production chain, focusing on Industry 4.0, digitalization, data, and key performance indicators. In addition, emphasis is placed on the reheating furnaces employed in hot rolling mills, due to their significant role in decarbonization and the creation of sustainability pathways.