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Professor’s Software Helps Train Alcoa Workers

Operators and engineers at Alcoa’s Lancaster Works are reaping the benefits of Dr. Roger Webster’s work on training software.  Webster, a computer science professor at Millersville, helped to develop the Alcoa Rolling Mill Simulator (ARMS) V2.0 software.  Lancaster Works is a leader in the production of common alloy products, specializing in aluminum sheet and cast plate.

Alcoa is always looking for opportunities to enhance employee training to remain competitive in today’s global marketplace. Simulators provide a cost-effective method of training operators in dealing with non-routine process issues, new products and continuous improvement efforts.  Webster’s expertise helped them to reduce the development time significantly.

Webster worked on the consulting project with Doug Reesor and Randy Fahrenbach at Alcoa Mill Products in Lancaster and with Dr. Haresh Malkani and Guorong Huang at the Alcoa Technical Center in Pittsburgh. They developed Version 2.0 of the software earlier this year, and are currently working on releasing Version 3.0 this year.

“Version 2.0 of ARMS has been deployed and is being used right here in Lancaster at the Alcoa plant for training operators,” explained Webster. “ARMS is an interactive model-based tool intended for training rolling mill operators and engineers.”

The graphical user interface mimics a mill operating screen using dynamic displays of key mill operating parameters (such as speed, gap, tension, etc.) and process responses (such as roll force, slip, power and flatness). Process predictions and sensitivities are provided by an Alcoa proprietary cold-rolling process model which runs in the background.  The concepts for the graphical interface are based on a similar simulator used in the recent past for foil rolling locations.

Currently the simulator includes only the Lancaster Hunter Mill default file.  Additional files will be added through the year.

2 replies on “Professor’s Software Helps Train Alcoa Workers”

Roger Webster personifies what is best about MU faculty. Dedicated to their students, they are also dedicated to producing ground-breaking research in their field of study. One achievement goes hand-in-hand with the other!

Way to go, Roger. I am so proud to have been part of the creation of the CS department back in the seventies. We never dreamed of the successes that would eventually ensue. You and your colleagues have done such marvelous things. Keep up the good work. Your former colleague, Jay

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