In the paper the evaluation of efficiency of the use of machines in the selected production company was presented. The OEE method (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) was used for the analysis. The selected company deals with the production of tapered roller bearings. The analysis of effectiveness was done for 17 automatic grinding lines working in the department of grinding rollers. Low level of efficiency of machines was affected by problems with the availability of machines and devices. The causes of machine downtime on these lines was also analyzed. Three basic causes of downtime were identified: no kanban card, diamonding, no operator. Ways to improve the use of these machines were suggested. The analysis takes into account the actual results from the production process and covers the period of one calendar year.

Steel is currently main structural material in the world. Pig iron, which is the basic product of blast furnace process, is the semi-product used in steel-making processes. It is an alloy of iron with carbon containing above 2% C and other elements with limited content, intended for further processing. Chemical composition of pig iron is its basic quality factor, it defines its class and meeting requirements set by steel plant department. It is important that this chemical composition is as stable as possible. In addition, the temperature of pig iron is also very important quality parameter. The paper presents statistical analysis of quality parameters of pig iron produced in one of Polish steelworks. The content of alloying elements and temperature of tapping of pig iron from blast furnace were examined. The amount of non-conforming production and the losses related to the low quality were assessed.

Blast furnace work involves the flow of enormous volumes of raw materials. Modifications of the blast furmace operation parameters can bring about savings connected with materials consumption and also a reduction of production costs. The continuous technical-economic analysis of this process enables changes in the process to be observed by means of simple indexes. In this article, a technical-economic analysis of the blast furnace process is presented. It is based on the results of a Polish blast furnace with an overall capacity of 3200m3.

Intellectual capital (IC) has been an important element of business management for some time. Understanding the role of IC and consciously incorporating it into organisational and management processes is one of the key aspects of building unique competitive advantages in the context of sustainable development. The basic goal of the research was to determine which IC components are given greater importance by the management staff of selected Polish enterprises when shaping their operating strategy and which elements are the object of greater concern during everyday functioning. A statistical analysis of the survey results obtained was carried out, allowing for the characterisation of both the phenomena and trends in the entire surveyed population and taking into account the division criteria related to the size of enterprises and the specificity of their activities. The basic research instrument consisted of a questionnaire. This study covered the territory of southern Poland. The results showed that there are certain elements of IC that managers focus on in particular, and there are differences in the approach that is related to the selected criteria of analysis. This study adds to the existing knowledge of the key elements of strategy for companies managing strategic capital in the context of sustainable development.

This article was conducted within the framework of project reg. no. CZ.11.4.120/0.0/0.0/16_013/0002594, programme, Interreg V-A Czech Republic-Poland, Microprojects Fund 2014–2020 in the Euroregion Silesia. It is focused in the area of modelling technological processes and the presentation of the main principles of these models. The modelling of technological processes is important in terms of its applicability to process prediction in industry. A complex of analytical and predictive metallurgical models was developed within VSB-TUO. The original mathematical model of coke degradation in a blast furnace makes it possible to calculate the minimum consumption of coke from the dynamic balance for different values of the ratio of direct and indirect reduction. As part of the graphic output, it determines the practically and theoretically achievable minimum coke consumption points. The use of the model enables the determination of a real reserve in reducing the amount of coke.