A new, more versatile version of the Wedge process analytics tool is now available.

One of the most welcome features of Wedge 9.1 is DSA, or Data-Stream Analysis, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for exploiting process data streams.

In addition, the update brings more than 80 other features and usability improvements to make your work easier.

Holmen Iggesund Paperboard’s mill in Sweden has chosen Wedge as a plant-wide online data analytics platform. Holmen Iggesund’s sister mill in Workington has been a satisfied Wedge customer for over a year now.

“Wedge has given us easy access to our process and product data. It is also a powerful tool for analyzing process data. This helps us in troubleshooting and working with process improvements and product development. Furthermore, it has made us aware of the importance of data quality, which is the foundation of and  the key to our way forward working with digitalization and becoming a Smart Site.”

– Peder Hägglund, Technical, Project and IT Manager

The Iggesund Mill is one of the world’s most advanced, fully integrated pulp and paperboard factories. The mill has traditions that stretch all the way back to 1685. It is characterized by pride and commitment, and today around 800 people work together to turn the raw material together into world-class renewable packaging.

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.

Look for more detailed information, and apply soon >>

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.

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.

 

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/

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.

Look for more detailed job description, and apply now!

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

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.

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?