We are hiring: Development Engineer
We are looking for a new member to our Wedge team in Espoo, Finland.
If you can see yourself as our new Development Engineer developing our process diagnostics system Wedge as well as Wedge related new applications, especially distributed Big Data acquisition, Storage and handling Tools and Applications, don’t wait too long but apply now.
Center Lining helps optimize plant operations and induces continuous improvement
Process stabilization is critical for all industrial processes to ensure uniform quality and low production costs. Center lining is a commonly used term for keeping key process variables at desired levels and optimizing them further.
Center lining is not a strictly defined methodology, but there are certain steps that should be followed in a specific order. When you have completed all steps, you can repeat the process.
The five stages of center lining are:
- Identify key variables
- Create variable limits
- Monitor key variables
- Monitor long-term key variables
- Review limits
Process knowledge is required to determine key variables and limits
The first step is to identify the key process variables that affect product quality the most. You need to analyze a long time period and find the times in which quality has met the specified limits and the production rate has been high enough. When you find a suitable time period, you should analyze process data to find key variables. The easiest way to do this is to search the measurements that correlate best with the quality parameters.
The next step is to define the desired levels for the key variables. A standard Statistical Process Control (SPC) method approach is suitable for this: 1) You select the times when the process has worked well, 2) cleanse the data, and then 3) calculate the average and standard deviation values based on that data. Then, for example, three sigma limits can be calculated. Limits must always be dynamic depending on the state of the process.
Unlock the power of Wedge for industrial data analytics
Visualization is the key to utilizing SPC limits
It is important that SPC limits and violations are visualized in a user-friendly format. This helps the operator to quickly identify all key variables that are outside the limits. The visualization can consist of gauges or traffic lights to show the current situation in the process, and trends to visualize longer-term stability.
To support operators further, it is recommended that KPI values with a longer perspective are also made available to the operators. One simple solution is to calculate the portion of KPI values that have been within the limits for the previous 24 hours, one week, or some other period.
The system should also help you find out why the key variables are outside the limits. Operators need to know what is causing the limit violation and what they should do next to fix the issue.
Always aim for better
Process development is a continuous task. After the production is stabilized, it is possible to take the next step to tighten the limits to produce even better-quality products consistently. Simultaneously, you can aim to reduce energy consumption and/or reduce raw material costs.
After these steps are taken, you can start the center lining cycle again. Repeating the process is important because optimizing the previous key variables enables you to find more key variables to optimize the process further.
One further aspect to consider are the tools that support the process. Today’s information systems at mills contain a lot of data, and the data that concerns processes and quality is often scattered across several data sources. Without proper data handling methods, center lining is too laborious to implement, and the full potential of process equipment is not utilized. The recommended solution is to use process data diagnostics software that helps you process data effectively and perform the center lining steps efficiently.
This article is based on our white paper published at Papercon in 2019 under the name Smart Paper Machine Analysis Reveals Center Lining Truths. Download the original paper.
Want more insights?
Our sales team is full of data analysis experts ready to help you. Learn more about Wedge industrial data analytics tool.
New customer: Holmen Iggesund in Workington
Holmen Iggesund selects Wedge for plant-wide deployment at its Workington mill.
Workington Mill is an integrated pulp and paperboard mill. Since 2013 it has been powered entirely by fossil carbon-free bioenergy. Bleached mechanical pulp is processed to suit the special demands of paperboard manufacture and is combined with purchased bleached chemical pulp into a multi-layered board construction which is ideally suited to the demands of modern paperboard packaging. Continuous development and adaptation to customer needs and expectations are essential for success in a highly competitive market.
Join the Wedge User Forum to learn more about the enhanced tabular report and other additional features
Like you probably already knew, it’s easy to create grade-dependent reports with Wedge by using the tabular report feature. You can select any measurements and any time period to create a tabular report based on aggregation criteria like the grade codes. You might also have noticed the limitations of this method: the report only shows the grade-dependent average values of the measurements, and the results can’t be copied for further use.
This problem has now been fixed with an enhanced version of the tabular report feature. The enhanced version enables you to calculate other statistical parameters like the minimum, maximum, and standard deviation values of the measurements.
You can find this and many other additional features on the Wedge User Forum.
Data transfers for greater value from the data
This enhanced version enables you to easily copy the results to other software for further use. This type of data transfer is important in order to get more value from the data and to share the process knowledge. Quite often there seems to be a need to aggregate process data and transfer the results to other systems. This workflow can be automated with Wedge’s DSA system (Data Stream Analysis) described in an earlier newsletter.
Split data reports
With a combination of Wedge’s data filter menu and this enhanced tabular report feature, it’s also possible to create a report where the data is split based on two aggregations at the same time, for example, grade and shift number. This is also a frequently requested feature.
Stay tuned for the latest developments
The Wedge team frequently releases prototypes of potential new features on the Wedge User Forum. So be active in testing them out and giving us feedback. Cooperation will help us implement the best possible features in Wedge that make your daily work easier.
Introducing ForestBioFacts – new digital learning environment
Do you want to know more about wood-based products, technologies, or sustainable forest management?
Have a look at the free Introduction to forest-based bioeconomy at ForestBioFacts website that opened today.
ForestBioFacts is the new digital learning environment for professionals and students in forest-based industries. Trimble Forestry has been part of the content production and one of the main sponsors.
We are happy to welcome you to develop your professional skills in forest-based products and technologies!
Learn more at forestbiofacts.com/
We are hiring: Application Specialist
Are you a person with an independent and active approach, problem-solving capability, and a desire to learn something new? And also, is speaking Finnish one of your superpowers?
If yes, you might be the
APPLICATION SPECIALIST
we are looking for to complement our Support team in Finland.
New Customer: UPM, Uruguay
The UPM Fray Bentos mill began its operations in 2007. Situated on the banks of the Uruguay River, in the country of the same name, it produces bleached hardwood pulp from eucalyptus. This year, the mill decided to procure Wedge to monitor its environment-related actions and also to improve production figures.
“The Wedge process-analysis tool was adopted very quickly and is widely used by all of our supervisors, the technical department, and R&D.”
– Production Manager Miguel Paolino, UPM Uruguay
New Release! The Wedge Data-Stream Analysis system
We are pleased to introduce the latest version of the Wedge data-stream analysis (DSA) system. Fruit of continuous development, it analyzes and synthesizes data streams on third-party system use, all fully automatically, online.
This opens a whole new world of possibilities for utilizing process-data streams. For example, Wedge DSA can be used for automatically monitoring process status, searching events, and vendor-independently communicating Wedge-processed data to reporting and visualization tools. It even enables analyzing data streams from multiple production lines and sites simultaneously, for benchmarking purposes.
The latest DSA enhancements
- A completely new Web-based user interface
- Enhanced calculation and data-stream management
- Auto-recovery functions to deal with broken data streams
- Enhanced monitoring and calculation-based analysis functionality
- Message queue availability for third-party communication
If you would like to learn more about how DSA could benefit you, please contact us, at wedgesales@trimble.com.
A huge increase in Wedge online training
We had plenty of experience facilitating online training even pre-COVID-19, so it was easy for us to move into a completely virtual mode. The only major change was that even the Wedge pilot projects with new customers are now handled entirely remotely.
The more intense online training we’ve been using recently has left us even more convinced that shorter, well-focused online sessions are the best way to learn about Wedge. We are also pleased to find that customers agree with us, and they don’t feel the online courses give anything less than traditional on-site ones. Quite the contrary. All the feedback clearly highlights that shorter sessions make it easy to concentrate and that the learning is effective.
Learning by doing
Wedge training sessions are interactive – we believe in learning by doing. So we provide highly hands-on introductions to each session’s themes, and participants complete their own exercises simultaneously. This means that using two displays for our online sessions is strongly recommended.
We encourage active participation in the session: ask questions, make sure you understand what to do, and share your results with colleagues. Most likely, the things you’re wondering about are the same things your colleagues are uncertain about.
Flexibility as the key
For every new Wedge user, we recommend the series of three two-hour sessions covering the basics of usage. For experienced users, the content is always customized in line with needs. Wedge offers the basic hot features, various analysis and diagnostics tools, a calculation engine, delay compensation, and reporting tools. So there is plenty to choose to emphasize.
Also, we are flexible with the meeting platform used. Whatever suits you best is perfect for us. The most important thing is that you learn! We are certain that using Wedge efficiently makes your work easier and you happier, and happiness is a good thing.
The secret of efficient Wedge training
So here’s the recipe for successful learning of Wedge principles in an e-training session:
1) Two displays
2) Two hours undisturbed per session
3) A curious mind and the courage to ask lots of questions
Doesn’t sound too complicated, does it?
Trimble Wedge is now OSIsoft application partner
OSIsoft is a leading provider of real-time data infrastructure for operational intelligence. OSIsoft is widely used globally in process industry. Wedge is Trimble’s solution for gaining value of industrial data. Wedge is fast online industrial process diagnostics system to make the most of the data that systems like OSIsoft provides.