Metris OPP - Optimization

Imagine the ability to produce the best product at the lowest cost every hour of the day – based on the current realities, constraints, and opportunities. That is optimization in a nutshell. Automation plays a critical role in achieving optimal performance and remarkable results.

However, optimization is a tricky word. The key to optimization is to “get to the root” of what it means to be “optimal” for a given process. Is it consistent quality? Lowest cost? Highest throughput? Highest availability? Lowest equipment wear? Nevertheless, once this has been defined, there are automation tools, such as Metris OPP, that will adjust inputs/outputs in real time to achieve optimal operations at any given moment.

Not a small task. But achievable.

PROVEN BENEFITS

Metris OPP (Optimization of Process Performance) is an ANDRITZ service, usually performed on a longer-term contractual basis, that improves the performance of a production system. Metris OPP has helped customers worldwide save millions, with pulp mills, steel mills, and chemical plants among the industries that have reaped benefits within weeks rather than years.

Metris OPP is part of the Metris family of ANDRITZ Digital Solutions. It is based on continuous developments in the three main Metris technologies – Smart Sensors, Big Data, and Augmented Reality – and improves production systems by analyzing a huge amount of data collected throughout the systems.

COLLECTING INFORMATION TO DELIVER RESULTS

How does Metris OPP work? The analytical software collects information from systems about each control loop, control valve, motor, and all the variables in the process. Sophisticated signal processing and statistical tools in the software identify control loops and assets that are not performing to the optimum and predict the economic impact this will have on the process. Then human expertise takes over. ANDRITZ experts work with the customers’ operations and maintenance staff to prioritize opportunities and make corrections. In some cases, it can be a simple fix such as repairing a valve. Others require analysis of the overall control objective and changing the process control strategy to eliminate off-spec production, overconsumption of chemicals and energy, or sources of process variability. The result is increased operational stability and reduced waste.

GAINING INSIGHTS THROUGH DATA

Metris OPP can be compared with a tool kit and offers a variety of functionalities and applications. Tools such as the dashboard allow managers to gain a clear overview and access KPIs, balanced scorecards, and project management tools. Engineers, on the other hand, can draw on OPP’s powerful data analytics tools such as data mining, statistics, and power spectral density to quickly implement any efficiency modifications.

ENHANCED DAILY OPERATION

OPP is an especially powerful aid for operators and shift supervisors, for example, with the Logbook. This stored user data can be utilized to enhance daily operations, find solutions to recurring problems, or train new operators. Smart controls and operator assistance facilitate an array of start-up sequences, diagnostics, and root cause analyses as well as adaptive set-points, multivariable predictive controls, and neural networks. Regulatory control functions include control loop tuning and assessment as well as dead-time compensators and feed-forward options.

REAL-TIME DATA AND AUGMENTED REALITY

Field operators and maintenance technicians can perform more effectively with on-hand, augmented reality support. Real-time data and diagnostics coupled with remote support allow improvements to be implemented as and when they are needed. OPP also has functions that allow a malfunctioning valve or motor to be adjusted or replaced before it has had any significant negative impact on production.

BENEFITS OF METRIS OPP

Identifies opportunities for savings and efficiency enhancement
Powerful signal processing and statistical analysis of control effectiveness
Reduces off-spec production or wasted raw materials
Increases production by enhancing process stability
Better quality in end product – less variation
Predicts failure in specific equipment and increases equipment availability
No capital investment required; flexible payment can be based on savings achieved
Field-proven model in many contracts in different countries
Knowledge database continuously incremented
Continual R&D

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