INDUSTRY

IBM Japan and NS Solutions announced that they will strengthen their collaborative efforts to develop new grid computing technologies. Both companies have recently applied the technologies to a production management system deployed in Nippon Steel's large-scale iron and steel plant, and begun testing grid computing applications for steel production. "Slab Design System," the core of the production system, can automatically design and determine the size and volume of required slabs, based on system specifications and order information, so that the steel producer can improve yield and productivity.