A technological revolution is underway, where the internal network of systems reaches securely over the internet into comprehensive solutions that connect experts, different systems and individual devices. The use of data to improve the situational picture, the spread of artificial intelligence-based applications and factory-wide optimization solutions are enabling a change in the role of the operator and a shift in industry towards more autonomous factories.
“Technological developments are enabling digital transformation in the pulp and paper industry as well. The control room solution of the future enables location-independent operation and combines the operation of several different processes or factories into a centralized control room. In addition to a centralized control room, the control room solution offers the possibility of operating practically from the comfort of your own home. This is the basis for a flexible overall solution that enables the centralization of expertise and its wider utilization in the operation and maintenance of factories,” says Jari Almi From Valmet.
According to Valmet, one of the key features of a smart control room solution is, in addition to visualizing relevant information, good anticipation of future events, so that it is possible to react to issues through a network of experts even before they happen. The new control room solution, which is tied to users and open collaboration rather than location, enables a broader utilization of competencies within the company, for example, the flexible utilization of experts from another factory or Valmet experts. Yet, by enabling more autonomous factories, we enable processes to operate more independently without active human operation.
"At best, we will succeed in developing more autonomous machines and processes that learn to optimize and operate themselves based on historical data and information input from experts. An example would be a pulp mill washing press that has the built-in ability to start itself optimally in different situations with the push of a button. The idea is that machines can learn from previous situations and optimize themselves at every stage of the process, further improving overall performance," Almi believes.
To support this development, new high-level optimization solutions have been introduced to the market, which reduce the need for active operations and reduce the variability in production due to expertise. For example, data-based real-time prediction of paper strength and linking it to quality control produces cost savings by enabling optimization of raw material use.
Valmet believes that the industry recognizes the potential for plant-wide optimization, but the dispersed control room structure and competencies, as well as the lack of plant-wide optimization solutions, have slowed down the realization of this opportunity. The centralized operation enabled by new control room technology and the combination of competencies from different process areas at the same operating point are already moving daily operations towards broader optimization.
"Valmet has developed a plant-wide optimization application that enables the coordination of processes in the production value chain as a single entity. This allows production volume, product quality and total costs to be optimized, improving the profitability and efficiency of the entire plant and reducing environmental impacts. A plant-wide optimization solution as a coordination application that supports decision-making enables a shift towards a more autonomous plant," believes Jari Almi from Valmet.
Text: Leif Lindberg
