“We can now digitally interlink our experts in Austria with experts at a mill and can trouble-shoot or even make process adjustments on-the-fly.”
CHRISTINA MATEJKA
Sales Manager Paper & Tissue, ANDRITZ
Metris Performance Center - Experts on demand
The new Metris Performance Center expands service to papermakers around the world by putting an ANDRITZ expert virtually in the mill’s control room whenever needed.
One of the major advantages of new IT technologies is connectivity – the ability to be virtually anywhere in the world. ANDRITZ has leveraged this technology to become the centerpiece for its new Metris Performance Center.
“It is better than any simple hotline or service line because now we can digitally interlink our experts in Austria with experts at a mill,” says Christina Matejka, Sales Manager in the Paper & Tissue Division of ANDRITZ. “With remote support we can see online what the operator sees on the DCS screen in real time. Through this fast and direct connection, and with the customer’s collaboration, we can troubleshoot, answer urgent questions on process or equipment, or even make process adjustments on-the-fly.”
When this remote support is combined with Augmented Reality (AR) and Decision Wall tools, Performance Center experts can be “virtually” in the mill. This allows a close communication and interaction just as if people were sitting in the same room.
VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK AS DIRECT LINK
Without getting into all the technical details, the Metris Performance Center relies on a Secured Remote Access as direct connection to the mill’s Distributed Control System (DCS) on one end and a Metris server on the other. The connection is private and secure, providing a direct link between the Performance Center and the customer’s mill.
The Metris platform is ANDRITZ’s branded solution for optimization and decision support – collecting data from the mill, analyzing it, converting it to useful information, and visualizing this information in a way that equipment and process experts can use it to troubleshoot, optimize, or upgrade so a mill can run its line more efficiently and profitably.
SAVING TIME AND MONEY
From a practical point of view, this exclusive Prime level of service performance saves a customer time and money: to call a main contact for fast and preferred support in case of an emergency or urgent questions.
Matejka acknowledges that not everything is best handled remotely. “It is not our goal to replace the face-to-face relationship with each customer,” she says. “But, certainly, there are many occasions where the discussion can be via a camera and shared DCS screen once the initial relationship is established.”
Personnel from the mill side (operators, supervisors, maintenance personnel, technical department) can communicate directly with ANDRITZ experts at the Performance Center. Many times, especially during a start-up, ANDRITZ start-up engineers on-site can rely on technical backup from specialists at the Center
“This flexibility is a real benefit for both sides,” says Mikhael Iaronka Menezes, a member of the Metris OPP team that provides process optimization for complete mills. “Our experts can assist in starting up at a new installation in China and diagnose a stock-on, stock-off guiding issue with a mill in Brazil at the same time. All from a central location.”
The new Metris Performance Center is available to each ANDRITZ customer worldwide. The “network” of mills is growing each week, as paper, board, and tissue mills learn about this latest offering in the area of digitalization and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions.
THE METRIS PERFORMANCE CENTER OFFERS:
- Direct customer contact using the latest communication and Augmented Reality (AR) tools
- Optimization of Process Performance (Metris OPP) for process and loop tuning, Big Data analysis, and Machine Learning applications
- Start-up support
- Support in implementing new control strategies
- Remote assistance in resolving process or equipment issues
- Training for mill specialists
