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Paper Mill

Implementation of a Real- Time Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) Index in a Paper Mill

A News Print Mill’s paper production machines were outdated and comparatively small by current market standards. Due to the decrease in newsprint market price and the increase of competition in North America, the Mill embarked on a real-time OEE project to increase plant efficiency for one of its paper production machines. System Technologies for Industry (STI), a GE Fanuc Premier Solution Provider, was called upon for the project using GE Fanuc’s Proficy Plant Applications software.

Description of the Application

The application needed to capture data from a process data historian that is connected to the Mill’s control systems. All efficiency events had to be captured automatically and indicate the start and end time of all events. In order to select reasons for downtime, the operator must choose from a drop down list for the event, three levels deep. He or she may also add a comment to the event. For some of the material losses, a link will be created to the roll-tracking (sales order) system to indicate the trim loss. Some of the material losses will be automatically calculated with downtime reasons. Calculations will be done hourly with summaries provided at the end of the day and month.