Use Case 1- Steel Plant automation level Benchmarking study
Automation Maturity Benchmarking in Indian Steel Manufacturing
Understanding where automation creates real value
Automation investments in Indian steel manufacturing have increased steadily over the past decade. Yet the impact of these investments has varied widely across plants. While some facilities have successfully integrated automation into core operations, others have struggled to move beyond isolated implementations.
A leading global automation and industrial technology provider approached us with a fundamental question: how mature is automation adoption across Indian steel plants, and where should future investments be focused to create the greatest value?
The challenge: Plenty of technology, limited clarity
Across the industry, automation systems such as PLCs, SCADA/HMI, and MES were already in place. However, decision-makers lacked a consistent way to compare maturity across plants or assess how effectively these systems were being used.
Different plants followed different approaches, making it difficult to benchmark performance or identify common patterns. Without a structured view of maturity, investment decisions risked being driven by anecdote rather than evidence.
Our approach: Grounded in expert insight and plant realities
We designed the engagement to reflect how automation works in practice, not just how it is designed on paper.
The study combined primary insights from senior plant leaders, operations heads, and automation specialists with a detailed review of OEM documentation and user-level practices. This dual perspective helped surface both the technical state of automation systems and the organizational and operational factors influencing adoption.
By anchoring the analysis in expert-led conversations and real-world operating conditions, the assessment moved beyond a technology checklist to capture how automation actually supported production outcomes.
Building a common framework for automation maturity
Insights gathered from the field were synthesized into a structured automation maturity framework spanning four levels of adoption.
The framework covered core automation layers including PLCs, SCADA/HMI, MES, and Industrial IoT platforms and enabled direct comparison across seven major Indian steel plants. Each plant was assessed not only on the presence of systems, but on integration, usage, and impact.
This created a shared language for discussing automation maturity and made differences between plants visible and actionable.
What the benchmarking revealed
The analysis highlighted clear patterns across the industry. A small number of plants had achieved advanced integration and were realizing tangible performance benefits. Many others had invested in automation but remained constrained by fragmented systems, limited data integration, or capability gaps.
In several cases, the study identified high-impact opportunities where focused interventions could deliver disproportionate returns often without large-scale reinvestment.
Impact: Enabling confident, data-driven decisions
The benchmarking study provided the client with a fact-based foundation for strategic planning. Automation investment decisions could now be prioritized based on maturity gaps and potential value, rather than broad assumptions about digital readiness.
Beyond the immediate findings, the framework became a practical tool for engaging steel producers in more informed conversations about modernization and long-term capability building.
Engagement snapshot
Industry: Steel Manufacturing
Geography: India
Engagement type: Automation maturity benchmarking
Expertise leveraged: Operations, automation, digital manufacturing
Steel Manufacturing | India | Operations & Digital