“Suzano approved the idea and then the teamwork continued with the elaboration of a schedule of actions and scheduling of best moments to test the new technology. The first two tests generated adjustments. “The third opportunity came right after a machine shutdown. The Suzano and ANDRITZ teams, after thorough considerationsanalysis, identified that this would be a good time to test the project again and that's what we did”, continuessays Heller Braga.
After the tests, the team analyzed four downtimes that were used as a reference, registered in November 2020last year. With this, it was observed that the advanced control managed to reduce the passage time by approximately 40%. “At the Imperatriz Unit, the machines in the drying area are not designed to be a bottleneck for production. With the control, we were able to increase the machine's uptime and, consequently, the plant's operational stability”, says Production Consultant Lucas do Nascimento.
After the advanced controls, with the process being resumed more quickly, we reduced the machines' unproductive time was reduced. According to Edson Hélio, the results created a new milestone for the Imperatriz Unit. “We increased the availability of the machines, which allowed us to surpass previous monthly production records at the mill”, recalls the Executive Production Manager.
In the case of the Imperatriz Unit, the project in partnership with ANDRITZ started looking at the downtime of the pulp dryer lines, in which two machines operate. “There was a loss in machine availability due to the time needed to reach the finished product's moisture specification and a low assertiveness in the tail threading due to fluctuations in the sheet grammage”, explains Lucas do Nascimento, Production Consultant at Suzano Imperatriz Unit.