Voith Expands MillOne with New Automation Tools for Smarter OCC Lines

With the introduction of three automation solutions – OnControl.SmartProtect, OnControl.FineScreening and OnControl.Pulping Detrashing – Voith is expanding its MillOne ecosystem and driving forward the digital transformation of papermaking. Designed to solve daily challenges of operators in pulping, fine screening and high-density cleaning, the solutions consolidate excessive amounts of data, complex decision-making processes and inefficient manual interventions through real-time measurements, data analysis and automated adjustments or recommendations. Companies such as German papermaker Schoellershammer are benefitting by significantly optimizing their production output and resource utilization.

Self-optimizing heavyweight reject traps with OnControl.SmartProtect
OnControl.SmartProtect improves high-density cleaning performance by continuously monitoring the reject level in the high-density chamber, automatically adjusting the flushing water quantity accordingly and adapting the emptying process in real time to the current reject quantities. This ensures that rejects are rinsed as thoroughly as possible, and cycle times are optimized to save fiber and energy costs and increase wear parts lifetime.

Schoellershammer is already using the solution at its German site in Düren and is seeing savings in operating costs: "Since installing OnControl.SmartProtect, we have recorded lower fiber losses and less wear on the gate valves, as they have to be operated less frequently,” confirms Armin Vetter, Managing Director of Schoellershammer. “The high separation efficiency also protects the downstream machines."

OnControl.FineScreening warns of dirt peaks in real time
OnControl.FineScreening controls the reject flow based on real-time information about stock quality. Depending on the quality of the fine screening accept, the process parameters are automatically adjusted to keep fiber loss as low as possible, resulting in optimized resource utilization and cost savings.

“Depending on the fiber quality, our customers were able to save up to four tons of raw material per day during the pilot installation,” says Flavio Granito, Global Product Manager Papermaking 4.0 at Voith Paper. “With the new digitization solution, we were able to significantly reduce waste in slot sorting,” reports Vetter. “The installation has already proven to be very profitable.”

OnControl.Pulping Detrashing for improved control and performance optimization in the pulper detrashing system
The tool is applied in the pulping and detrashing module of the stock preparation, where the frequently fluctuating raw material quality presents paper manufacturers with challenges. To optimize plant operation, OnControl.Pulping Detrashing monitors parameters that are influenced by the composition of the recovered paper fed to the pulper and automatically adjusts the process parameters in real time based on this analysis.

“The control system calculates detrashing cycles individually and reacts very well to fluctuating reject quantities,” reports Karl Tessler, Senior Plant Manager at Schoellershammer. “As a result, OnControl.Pulping Detrashing has noticeably increased our operational reliability. Disturbances caused by blockages and downtimes due to overcurrent on the motors no longer occur when the control system is switched on. The rejects disposed are less contaminated with fibers, which in turn increases the fiber yield. Overall, OnControl.Pulping Detrashing proves to be a modern control system that makes full use of technical possibilities,” Tessler concludes.

Three tools, one system
The three tools can be integrated seamlessly into Voith’s MillOne ecosystem, which brings together all mill data in one system. Its direct communication with individual modules enables machines and processes to be monitored more efficiently, as individual data sets are consolidated and analyzed holistically in real time. This supports early detection of potential issues and allows for immediate automatic or manual intervention when necessary. As a result, complexity is reduced, and operators save time. The new solutions are another big step toward autonomous stock preparation and, ultimately, toward the autonomous paper mill.

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