Cement and Building Materials

Complex gearboxes, large fans and power motors are critical equipment in Cement and Building Material plants. The ability to know precisely when to replace bearings can often make the difference in a profitable operation or one that loses money due to unnecessary shutdowns or catastrophic failures. The Smart Advisor monitors this key equipment and provides months of warning, allowing a planned, efficient replacement.

Converting/Packaging

Converting and Packaging facilities produce profits when they can efficiently convert raw materials to valuable end products. Often these facilities struggle with determining whether incoming materials are the issue or whether their operation is the problem. The Smart Advisor allows production to pinpoint the root cause and either take action with suppliers or make equipment adjustments.

General Maintenance

Anyone in a manufacturing plant understands the value of reliability. Avoidance of equipment surprises, raw material variations, or personnel issues allows operations to run steadily and without costly interruption. The Smart Advisor detects upcoming equipment failures at an early stage, allowing a scheduled maintenance shutdown for repair/replacement.

Paper

Producing thin webs up to 11m wide at speeds up to 2,000m/min is certainly a challenge. Subtle changes in sheet tension, roll or felt vibration, pressure pulsations in the headbox, or foreign objects (oil, water drops, etc.) can cause costly web breaks or defects. The Smart Advisor detects equipment issues before they contribute to downtime, sees defects before breaks occur and allows the review of synchronized video that enables operators to quickly and efficiency fix issues and increase production.

Plastics (Films and Pellets)

From the extrusion of pellets to the production of films, the Smart Advisor detects equipment issues and determines the root cause of web defects and splits. The system monitors complex gearboxes with vibration and provides an early warning of upcoming bearing failures. On a film line, gearboxes and high-speed orienting rolls are monitored. And cameras continually inspect the web for defects and allow synchronized replay of upstream cameras to see where the problem started.

Printing

The Smart Advisor Printing Kiosk was designed with the support of a major printer. The system provides operators with real time (defect and break) information to instantly help determine the root cause. Once the root cause is known, corrective action can be taken to avoid reoccurrence in the process. By automatically reporting these defects each incident can be shared with the paper roll suppliers in jpeg and movie format to improve future shipments for the press.

Tissue/Towel/Nonwovens

Producing tissue/towel webs at over 2,000m/min seems impossible. But with today's technology, this is now possible. Slight deviations of doctor blade, yankee or turn-up equipment can quickly make the difference between a profitable day and a loss. The Smart Advisor monitors equipment for vibration and pressure variations, inspects the web for defects and synchronizes cameras to the web to see the source of web issues.