Remote monitoring would bring business benefits to the paper industry

During the last few years, the paper industry has faced regional challenges, such as overcapacity in Europe. The availability of virgin and recycled raw material, the rising costs of shipping, energy and workforce as well as the changing demands of the market and environmental issues all cause pressure to renew the processes. Industrial internet technologies can simplify the situation and enhance productivity through usage reports and smart warehousing. When the condition of the machines can be monitored carefully, information gathered on the equipment’s real usage leads to better performance as well as cost and energy savings.

The industrial internet can bring significant benefits to the paper industry. Material handling affects every step of paper production. By optimizing the processes of material handling, you will not only save energy and costs, you’re also improving the productivity of the processes, especially storage and shipping.

Many of the solutions linked to the industrial internet have yet to be utilized in the paper factories. For instance, data provided by remotely monitoring production machinery, other than the paper machine itself, is quite new for many paper factories, even though remote monitoring would bring savings and efficiency for the industry. With the help of data, you can follow the machine usage very systematically. The moves and lifting tasks of the automatic roll storage cranes can be optimized for the next day’s shipments. At the same time we can get information on working hours, overheating, vibrations, emergency stops and overloads, to name a few.

Optimizing data collection to fit the specific needs and targeted usage of each machine can lead to significant savings. Data is an important tool for optimizing the factory’s workforce and decreasing maintenance, troubleshooting and repair costs. More complex data on equipment usage and environment monitoring aiming to compare the designed working period, however, is still quite a new thing.

Many paper factories already utilize some industrial internet technologies, but they’re not necessarily using that specific term. The concept of industrial internet is still relatively new, but it links heavily to pre-existing phenomena such as automation. One good, already existing example of the industrial internet is the monitoring of automated warehousing, that is already used in many paper factories. When a paper factory uses automated warehousing, performance can be monitored over the internet and trouble shooting is quickly done 24/7 using live video. Reliable automatic systems also help to prevent many problems in the material handling. For instance, automated storage systems do not damage the paper rolls, which could easily happen in a traditional, manually driven forklift truck warehouse. The amount of damaged paper rolls can be as high as a few percent of the total production, but in an automated one the damages can be completely eliminated. On top of that, in an automated warehousing system the right rolls will always be delivered to the right loading platform at the right time, resulting in reduced lead time.

The future looks brighter – the demand for soft tissue is strongly increasing

In addition to automated warehousing, paper factories also use a lot of other automation solutions. The automated parent reel and spool shaft handling in the dry end of the papermaking machine, eliminate the need for a conveyor rail system. The cost of a conveyor system is 0.6 million euros while the cost of increasing crane intelligence will only amount to about 0.3 million euros. This way, the client can save 0.3 million euros, all the while improving safety in the factories. With the help of these kinds of automation solutions, factory employees can focus solely on paper production.

There is still a long way to go until production lines will be completely automated, if they ever will be. The production process is already supported by remote monitoring and remote services provided by the equipment supplier in problem situations. There is every indication that we can expect the amount of automated processes to increase in the future.

Even though the paper industry hasn’t looked too bright lately, many positive signals are visible today in the development of “forest-based” materials. For instance, biofuel usage, nano-pulp usage and dissolving pulp usage will increase and wood-based products are already starting to replace plastic, oil-based products. Surprisingly new wood pulp-based textiles used in our cloths feel like cotton and silk. The demand for soft tissue paper is drastically increasing around the world.

All of the above mentioned sectors aim at cost savings achieved by optimizing the production machinery’s performance, usage and work force costs, achieving the expected uptime without any surprises in the process. The industrial internet will play a major role in this process.