Voith has been able to position itself firmly in recent years and has set the course for a digitalized and connected future of paper production. With the launch of its ecosystem MillOne, the market-leading full-line supplier is taking the next important step to a completely autonomous paper mill. The new platform combines all relevant systems, optimizes processes in real-time, and enables the intelligent connection of all production steps. With MillOne, Voith creates the basis for a more efficient, more sustainable, and more economical paper production – and takes another big step towards its future-oriented vision of the autonomous paper mill.
MillOne draws on Voith’s flagship study, Papermaking Vision, and its new UX/UI concept. “The know-how that we contributed is enormous and is based on years and years of development and research,” Ulf Grohmann, director of product management automation at Voith Paper said. “A major challenge was to transfer all the complex systems and data into a clear and easy-to-use platform. To achieve this goal, we talked to many customers.” Another unique feature of the MillOne ecosystem is its modular structure. Implementation can be started independently of the level of automation and the digital solutions already in place. In addition, MillOne can be commissioned immediately.
The experts at Voith Paper have already successfully implemented MillOne for the first customers. One client sums it up, “This is a real game changer. MillOne will permanently alter the way we run our production.”
Another customer says, “We’re happy with MillOne. I’ve never seen an application that’s so integrated and consistent. The tool combines everything you need; the collection and storage of all operating data, the use of various tools, and the optimal settings.”
All applications in one place
The lack of skilled workers, higher demands on sustainability, and rising production costs- for years, the paper industry has been facing growing challenges. MillOne takes all areas into account and enables holistic, data-driven automation. This makes the solution unique on the market. All digital applications and production data are bundled in one place.
The new environment offers great advantages for operators and allows an entirely new, constructive way of working with data. All information necessary to navigate and organize production is available in real-time on a dashboard and can be discussed immediately or used to initiate interventions if needed. This way, a single team of operators can control several machines. At the same time, the system keeps track of everything and draws its conclusions intelligently. Thanks to these close links between all applications, potential sources for error can be identified early in pre-analyses and eliminated.
“MillOne is much more than just an ordinary platform – it displays the entire digital environment of a paper mill and with that the entire schedule, from start to finish of a shift,” says Grohmann.
Data-driven operations
MillOne offers unprecedented integration and consistency in terms of data usage and utilization. All relevant operational data is aggregated collectively and evaluated. This helps avoid unplanned downtime and optimizes resource consumption. Thanks to continuous synchronization, data maintenance only needs to be carried out once, meaning that all digital applications can access up-to-date data at any time. This makes data utilization more efficient, significantly more transparent, and more user-friendly.
Higher efficiency and productivity
With the intelligent use of AI, MillOne marks a significant increase in efficiency and productivity in paper production. The options of remote access and productive data evaluation allow for unmanned shifts and relieve the workforce. In addition, MillOne opens up the possibility of data-driven processes and multimodal interaction models that introduce, for example, augmented reality (AR) – a practical tool for collaboration, knowledge transfer, and training. MillOne thus becomes a catalyst for future-oriented, automated production in which man and machine work together perfectly.
