b'carried out well before any issuesThe idea arise. This prevents unexpectedis that downtime and its much moremachines efficient and cost-effective thancan optimise trouble-shooting after a problem hasthemselves at already happened. each step of the process On the operational performanceand improve side of things, we can developoverall autonomous machines that can learnperformance.how to optimise and run themselves. For example, you could have a pulp mill wash press that knows the optimal way to start up and can do so automatically, as well as being able to decide when it needs to change start-up sequences. The idea is thatFigure 2. Samuli Lehtonen, Director, Operations Performance Optimisation, machines can optimise themselves atIndustrial Internet at Valmet.each step of the process and improve overall performance. whole mill. There is a big need for thisyet, other industries are already approach in the pulp & paper industry,seeing positive results from large FINDING OPPORTUNITIES BETWEENand there are many opportunities.scale autonomous operations. For PROCESSES However, its not yet well developedexample, the energy industry has A lot of these things can be donewithin the industry.already been taking concrete steps already, however they are done fortoward autonomous plants by having individual machines or individualMills are becoming aware that therescentralised remote control rooms and process islands. For example, inbig money and many opportunitiesheat network optimisation as a part of todays pulp and paper mills, a lot ofbetween the processes. To clarify,their daily work. the planning and preparation is stillwhen we say between processes, we done manually on a daily basis. Themean that even if a whole processAt Valmet, we supply energy mill experts decide on the next daysis optimised, the data is not sharedmanagement systems as part of our production rates and adjust thingswith any other processes in theIndustrial Internet solutions portfolio. accordingly. This way of doing thingschain. Theres a gap in the data, andThese give you a good idea of what makes it very difficult to achieve antherefore a gap in the control andcan be achieved by bringing different overall optimum situation, and almostautomation. By eliminating theseprocesses together and optimising impossible to do the calculations.gaps we can work towards mill- them on a network-wide basis, says This is where Industrial Internetwide improvements. For example,Lehtonen.applications can clearly help. if you combine and optimise the control systems of a fibre line andOne recent example is our solution At Valmet, we are working onpaper machine you will get betterfor the energy company Helen, coordinating processes as one bigresults than if you optimise the lineswhich optimises their district heating entity, so that production, qualityindividually, says Lehtonen. production and network in the city and costs can be optimised from aof Helsinki, Finland. The solution mill-wide perspective. This lets youNETWORK-WIDE OPTIMISATION IN ACTION coordinates and automates everything improve the profitability, efficiencyWhile there are no fully autonomousfrom individual pumps and network and environmental impact of yourmills in the pulp and paper industryflow to managing the capacity of whole WORLD PULP&PAPER 65'