In a statement, LIBERTY Steel said the system, to be installed at sites in the U.K., uses a GPS-like, autonomous technology to track the precise position of people, equipment and vehicles around factories in real time. 

“This system can allow for a wireless method of controlling heavy equipment and vehicles. It can intervene automatically to prevent imminent accidents, and it can identify small ways to make processes more efficient which, over time, add up to a great deal,” said Anthony Blackwell, chief technology officer at Liberty Engineering. 

Among the sites that will install the system is LIBERTY’s specialty steels plant in Stocksbridge and its pipe mill in Hartlepool. 

At Stocksbridge, the sensor system will be applied to semi-autonomous cranes, improved mill measurement capability for the monitoring of product during rolling, and collect 3D scan data to create a working digital twin of at least one of the mill stands.  

At Hartlepool, the system will improve the measurement of pipe shape during forming.