14 October 2021
Lucart wins the 2021 Smau Innovation Award
Lucart received the SMAU Innovation Award given to companies operating in various industrial sectors for having implemented product and process development activities aimed to bring true innovation to the market. The award ceremony took place on Tuesday 12 October 2021 during the SMAU trade fair in Milan. The objective of the project was to develop technology capable of detecting, processing and reporting papermaking process data in real-time. The specific features of the papermaking industry are hard to gauge using the products readily available on the market. This is why Lucart, in collaboration with the start-up Crossnova, created the first digital and automated IT tool designed to supervise a paper mill.
Massimiliano Bartolozzi, Chief Information Officer at Lucart, commented: “We wanted to create an open platform capable of gathering whole sets of data from machines to optimise energy consumption, performance and waste today that could be expanded to include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics in the future”.
The solution called the “Paper Mill Supervisor” was put to the test in May 2021 in the scope of a pilot project at the Porcari plant. The platform can gather useful information directly from the machines using several sensors. The collected signals are transmitted to an operator who can monitor the progress of the machine in real-time and intervene as required. The system is also connected to the QliK Sense business intelligence platform for integrating all the collected data. The result is a detailed report that can be used to analyse the general performance of the machine (productivity, consumption, waste) to optimise production, determine the most effective settings and draw up best practices to be used for continual improvement at an operational level.
Until today, papermill machines were not equipped with line-monitoring functions. The innovative system optimises production costs, reduces bottlenecks and eliminates unplanned downtime, also to the benefit of the environment. It also means that the best operators can focus their attention on specific issues and training goals can be honed. It promotes greater control over energy consumption and quality alignment, promoting collaboration between sites. Furthermore, it creates a replicable and standardised analysis method across all the various companies of the Group that work on different types of machinery achieving different performance results.
No less importantly, the culture of corporate change and innovation experienced directly by the operators who are actively involved in the process generates motivation and engagement. Finally, the close collaboration with Crossnova has fostered important growth in shared knowledge. This know-how was fundamental for defining a tool tailored to the company's real needs.
The platform will be implemented with tools for raw material analysis and optimisation in 2022. The tool is open to expansion by design. Choosing to partner up with an innovative start-up that is already an expert in open-source technologies also eliminated the time needed to re-skill internal resources, bringing fresh and modern technologies into the group and benefiting from training-on-the-job opportunities. The next objective is to make the whole process smart, also by implementing Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics. This is the future of corporate competitive advantage for Lucart.
Massimiliano Bartolozzi, Chief Information Officer at Lucart, commented: “We wanted to create an open platform capable of gathering whole sets of data from machines to optimise energy consumption, performance and waste today that could be expanded to include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics in the future”.
The “Paper Mill Supervisor”
The solution called the “Paper Mill Supervisor” was put to the test in May 2021 in the scope of a pilot project at the Porcari plant. The platform can gather useful information directly from the machines using several sensors. The collected signals are transmitted to an operator who can monitor the progress of the machine in real-time and intervene as required. The system is also connected to the QliK Sense business intelligence platform for integrating all the collected data. The result is a detailed report that can be used to analyse the general performance of the machine (productivity, consumption, waste) to optimise production, determine the most effective settings and draw up best practices to be used for continual improvement at an operational level.
The benefits
Until today, papermill machines were not equipped with line-monitoring functions. The innovative system optimises production costs, reduces bottlenecks and eliminates unplanned downtime, also to the benefit of the environment. It also means that the best operators can focus their attention on specific issues and training goals can be honed. It promotes greater control over energy consumption and quality alignment, promoting collaboration between sites. Furthermore, it creates a replicable and standardised analysis method across all the various companies of the Group that work on different types of machinery achieving different performance results.
No less importantly, the culture of corporate change and innovation experienced directly by the operators who are actively involved in the process generates motivation and engagement. Finally, the close collaboration with Crossnova has fostered important growth in shared knowledge. This know-how was fundamental for defining a tool tailored to the company's real needs.
Towards the creation of a smart supply chain
The platform will be implemented with tools for raw material analysis and optimisation in 2022. The tool is open to expansion by design. Choosing to partner up with an innovative start-up that is already an expert in open-source technologies also eliminated the time needed to re-skill internal resources, bringing fresh and modern technologies into the group and benefiting from training-on-the-job opportunities. The next objective is to make the whole process smart, also by implementing Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics. This is the future of corporate competitive advantage for Lucart.
Awards