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Software system for optimal planning of corrugated cardboard plant operation
"ASC: Corrugated cardboard"
At the cardboard cutting plant of the mill the 2.1-meter wide cardboard line is cut into rectangular pieces at the speed of 160 m/min. The pieces are used for making boxes. The plant operators' task is to ensure the production of required number of boxes, made of several rectangles of different size.
As the number of different types of boxes grows to 100 per week, and the number of boxes of each type goes down to few thousand, the material losses dramatically increase to 5-6%. The human mind was unable to review all possible combinations of rectangles of required sizes, and choose the one that would yield the least trim. Also time for re-tuning of the finishing equipment had to be considered.
The automation system for cardboard cutting plant operation planning solves these problems with the use of mathematical methods and optimization algorithms.
- Software system for multi-product manufacturing enterprises
"ASC: Multi"
The number of different types of products of a multiproduct enterprise can reach several thousand. A good example of such enterprise is repair plant of Arkhangelsk pulp-and-paper mill, which produces spare parts and units for mill's process equipment.
The number of production orders and the total number of products at a multiproduct enterprise can reach several thousand a month. Manufacturing of all products requires material resources, which are sometimes rare and/or expensive. Therefore, production plan must be coordinated with the purchasing plan and stock management. The plant management is often unable to make the optimal plan and guarantee that all orders are fulfilled in time.
The software system of ERP class for multi-product manufacturing enterprises, solves these problems with the use of mathematical methods and algorythms.
- Software system for optimization of loading of transportation vehicles (trucks, trains and ships) "ASC: Loading"
The produced paper rolls are shipped to customers in train carriages, trucks, and ships. The transportation vehicle must be loaded with paper rolls according to certain rules, the violation of which results in quality degradation and customer complaints. The inefficient loading of paper rolls into a vehicle results in inefficient use of vehicle volume or capacity.
As the number of different types of rolls grows, and vehicle internal geometry becomes complicated, the efficiency of using the vehicle capacity decreases – the vehicle carries less paper rolls than it could. The order of loading of rolls into a vehicle depends on vehicle geometry (the center of the roof of a railroad carriage is always higher than the walls), size and location of the gates (front or side), load balancing, etc.
The software system for optimization of loading of transportation vehicles solves these problems with the use of different combinatorial, linear, dynamic and integer programming optimization methods.
- Software system for trim optimization for several paper-making machines "ASC: PPM"
The parent reel, the final product of the paper machine, is normally transferred to the winder where a specific number of roll sets are produced. The width of the parent reel is always larger than the total width of the roll set. The remaining trim is returned to the pulper, which results in lower mill production.
With parent reel widths up to 10m, roll widths as small as 50cm, and production orders including many different roll widths, there are thousands of possible ways to cut the parent reel to obtain the rolls of required width. Usually there are 3-4 paper machines in a mill, which differ in speed, parent reel width and density, and possibly paper quality. The production targets are set for entire mill, and paper grade change on machine results in bad paper and lowers the total mill production.
The software system for trim optimzation is used to plan the operation of several paper-making machines to meet the production targets
- Software system for optimal planning of plywood mill operation "ASC: Plywood"
Plywood is made from thin sheets of wood veneer, called plies, which vary in thickness 2.5 - 4mm. Usually, 3, 5 or 7 plies of dimension 1.2 by 2.4m are glued together with grain at right angles to each other to form the plywood panel, which can then be refinished. 4-5 quality grades of panels exist.
Plywood has serious advantages over solid timber and has been made for thousands of years (the earliest known occurrence was in Ancient Egypt around 3500 BCE). It is used in many applications that need high-quality, high-strength sheet material.
The software system uses mathematical methods and optimization algorithms to increase production by cost or volume (on average, by 1.5% per month) by using existing plies more efficiently, and to simplify the planning procedures for the operators.
- Consulting surveys
Today one can see the rapid development of Control Systems market in different fields of activity. Such Systems are assigned for solving problems either for all plant or for different subdivisions and workshops. The main peculiarity of automation systems industry with big amount of input data is concentration of difficulty on the first stage of requirements analysis. Also there are some difficulties on the first stage of specifications design. Following stages are not so difficult. So, on the first stages it is necessary to carry out some complex inspection of plant, business functions and processes analysis. Most of plants are needed in business processes re-engineering and optimization premonitory stage.
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