Data – the key to efficient operations
Every day, a massive amount of data is generated at Metsä Fibre’s production plants. Our experts explain how we analyse this data and use it to benefit our customers.
Text: Maria Latokartano Photos: Metsä Fibre
says Veli-Matti Mäki , Development Manager at Metsä Fibre. “This means that we can take our customers’ final product requirements into account right from the harvesting site,” he adds.
Industrial efficiency is one of Metsä Fibre’s top priorities. Through this objective, which applies to the entire value chain, Metsä Fibre aims to improve competitiveness for the company and its customers alike. Improving industrial efficiency requires not only insight into the company’s business and processes but also the capacity and capability to process the data generated across the value chain. In addition to simulator programs and mathematical methods, Metsä Fibre uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse this data. AI enables more accurate and faster decisionmaking in production optimisation, for example.
Digital twin helps predict process development
Metsä Fibre’s modern mills are pioneers in data collection and use. For example, the Äänekoski bioproduct mill generates 37,000 pieces of measurement data every second. Data is collected on pulp flow, pH, temperature and other factors that affect pulp quality. The process data collected from the pulp process can be used to adjust the pressure or flow rate, or the amount of chemicals fed into the process, for example. A more advanced use of data is a digital twin – a virtual copy of the physical process. A digital twin enables smart process prediction by providing real-time information on the process. This makes exploring and analysing various scenarios possible without modifying the physical system. A digital twin predicts the development of a process and optimises it. “Thanks to the digital twin, operators can predict how a process will develop over the next three hours with the current settings. This information helps them adjust the settings to minimise deviations, allowing us to provide our customers with consistent quality pulp,” says Matti Toivonen , VP, Process Technology at Metsä Fibre.
Simulator program optimises log cutting
Metsä Fibre receives its wood raw material from Metsä Group’s wood procurement. The simulator program used by Metsä Group’s wood procurement is designed to forecast and guide the procurement process.The simulator program helps Metsä Group’s wood procurement optimise its processes and make sure the sawn timber refined from the wood raw material meets the customers’ needs as far as possible. “At sawmills, this is extremely important because the length or size of a log cannot be adjusted after it has been marked for cross-cutting. Therefore it is crucial that we can communicate to the wood procurement team which log parts and sizes are most valued by our sawn timber customers,”
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