For maximum savings in pulp and paper production with the help of automation and digitalization, Voith and its wholly owned subsidiary BTG are merging their product portfolios. The two established data platforms, Voith’s OnCumulus and BTG’s dataPARC, will be merged into an integrated, hybrid system solution. OnCumulus will henceforth be offered under the name dataPARC cloud, while BTG’s MACS advanced process control solutions will join the OnEfficiency product family, thereby strengthening the Efficiency Solutions of the Voith’s Papermaking 4.0 portfolio. With the combined product portfolio, customers benefit from the best offerings of both companies – for the entire pulp and paper production.
“Many years of know-how, bundled experience and an excellent partnership between Voith and BTG are the basis for the optimized digitalization and automation portfolio Papermaking 4.0," says Peter Eisen, Vice President Digital Product Management at Voith Paper. "As the leading full-line supplier, our goal is to enable paper manufacturers worldwide to achieve significant productivity and cost advantages."
"The solutions offered by the OnEfficiency portfolio optimize the process in pulp and paper mills to significantly reduce variability and operating costs and increase productivity," says Dan Smith, Business Director Process Solutions at BTG. "This enables savings of between €2 and €10 per ton of paper produced. At the same time, the solutions ensure more sustainable production with lower resource consumption."
OnCumulus becomes dataPARC cloud
The combination of Voith's cloud solution OnCumulus and BTG's on-premise installation dataPARC combines the respective strengths of the platforms. In the cloud, for example, the almost unlimited computing power offers advantages for training AI models and simplifies cross-location solutions as well as location-independent access to data. The strengths of on-premise installations lie in processing high-frequency data or closed control loops. Thomas Greil, Vice President IIoT Technology & Advanced Applications at Voith, summarizes: "Our goal is to create a completely hybrid solution by 2025 that seamlessly combines on-premise and cloud, with a unified user interface, bridging the IT/OT gap. Hybrid and multi-cloud solutions permit all stakeholders to leverage data in a secure way that is efficient and most relevant to them. The user will no longer notice any difference between an application running locally or running in the cloud, and the benefits of both solutions can be optimally exploited."
MACS becomes OnEfficiency
With the integration of MACS into OnEfficiency, Voith is expanding its portfolio for cross-process controls and AI-supported process optimization, especially in the area of pulp production. Specifically, the following applications will be newly integrated and offered going forward under the name OnEfficiency.Pulp:
• Advanced process control combined with high-frequency single point kappa (SPK) measurements to improve kappa stability by 10 to 15 percent and optimize fiber yield (formerly MACScook).
• Improvement of the washing process in terms of carryover and black liquor solids (formerly MACSwash).
• Oxygen delignification optimization using SPK for high-frequency measurement of incoming and outgoing kappa (formerly MACSo2).
• Bleach optimization to minimize chemical consumption and stabilize distribution and brightness. The unique total kappa transmitter (BLT), brightness transmitters (BT) and pH management are also used for this purpose (formerly MACSbleach).
Optimized product portfolio from Voith and BTG
The addition of dataPARC and MACS to the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio completes the full-line offering from the global technology company Voith for digitalization in the pulp and paper industry. DataPARC cloud serves as the central platform and backbone of all applications in the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio. The proven automation solutions OnControl and OnQuality in the field of Automation, as well as the combined instrument portfolios of Voith and BTG – including control loops, sensors and actuators – form the basis for the solutions from the Availability, Efficiency and Operation areas. The solutions from the OnEfficiency portfolio optimize the production process for higher efficiency, lower costs and stable quality thanks to open or closed control loops using advanced process controls and AI. In the Availability arena, the OnCare family solutions help to improve maintenance processes and increase machine availability. In the area of Operations, Voith and BTG also offer intuitive applications for a wide range of functions. These can be used for analyzing and visualizing data; generating virtual sensors; displaying dashboards; and collecting and managing data, including generating reports and notifications. The experts of the OnPerformance.Lab (OPL) support with the installation and operation of the digitalization and automation solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio.
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