SMS and Amer to promote digital copper
On March 28, SMS group, the world's leading metallurgical equipment manufacturer headquartered in Germany, and Amer International Group, one of the world's top 500 nonferrous metal and new materials processing companies based in China, signed an agreement in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province. The two companies will join forces to establish an after-sales technical service Asian center and expand Amer's copper wire and rod production lines.
SMS and Amer will also build a comprehensive service platform featuring high-tech equipment, digital intelligent operating systems and operation and maintenance skills training, in a bid to improve the digitalization and technologies of the global copper industry.
With Amer's rich production and operation experiences in mind, the cooperation between SMS and Amer will focus mainly on the Contirod-trademarked copper rod production lines to make them realize self-learning skills supported by artificial intelligence.
It also aims to enhance future network collaboration among various plants and production lines, as well as optimize resource allocation in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, create an open and scalable intelligent application and development ecosystem, provide highly intelligent manufacturing solutions for the industry, and develop a high-quality digital copper industry ecosystem.
"To meet the challenges of digitalization and Industry 4.0, companies in the copper industry must build a digital ecosystem," said Norbert Theelen, president and CEO of SMS China. "The basis is a scalable high-performance data factory where various types of data are processed, stored and kept accessible for new digital services."
"Digital solutions process and analyze large volumes of data and identify and visualize important interrelationships in the process in time," Theelen added.
"AI helps to unlock the full potential of insight generation by data analysis. The combination of plant expertise, experience in process modeling and cutting-edge data science promises to generate tremendous success. Improvements in predictive maintenance, quality and production planning can be realized, thereby increasing a copper plant's profitability."
The cooperation between Amer and SMS has included the equipment introduction to the establishment of the after-sales technical service Asian center and the cocreation of a digital copper industry ecology.
In the future, the two will further expand cooperation areas and develop projects such as 3D copper powder printing, copper scrap recycling and waste battery recycling.
In addition to copper processing, Amer also plans to build a world-class high-end equipment manufacturing industrial park in China through bilateral or multiparty cooperation.
The new park will feature a large scale, high specifications, new technologies and low energy consumption.
The multifield and in-depth cooperation between the two industry giants will not only promote the diversified development of Amer, but also help the entire copper industry improve production efficiency by reducing production costs, shortening delivery cycles and obtaining faster and better after-sales services.
In addition, their alliance has also accelerated the SMS' development in the Chinese market, strengthened the exchanges and cooperation between enterprises in Germany and China, and contributed to the economic development and friendship of the two countries. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany.
Amer is a high-tech group with a complete industrial chain of new-generation electronic information and new materials.
In 2020, the group achieved a turnover of more than 700 billion yuan ($109.16 billion). It currently ranks 91st among the Fortune Global 500 companies, fifth among China's top 500 manufacturing companies, and second among China's top 500 private manufacturing companies.
