Management software optimises production

A global packaging company has chosen production management software to optimise manufacturing operations and support global growth.

Packaging company Cascades, based in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, Canada, has chosen the GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' Proficy software suite of production management software.

The company's commitment to global expansion and need for production business optimisation were the drivers for a new production management implementation covering its manufacturing facilities worldwide.

Vice President of Operations for Cascades Tissue Groupe, Daniel Gelineau, said that Cascades is focused on leadership in its industry and to do that it needed visibility into its production operations.

Gelineau said: "The GE Fanuc Production Management Software solution enables us to become very nimble in our development and delivery processes, empowering us to optimise profit as well as global growth".

The initial site for deployment of the software will be the Cascades Tissue Group plants located in Candiac, Quebec, Canada.

The software suyite includes the following.

* GE Fanuc's Proficy Plant Applications.

* Proficy Historian.

* Proficy Real-Time Information Portal.

The Cascades group produces 100% recycled bathroom tissue and paper towels, as well as premium and regular bathroom tissue and paper towels.

The project is already underway with complete deployment spanning 14 plants estimated in under 24 months.

Professional services, including implementation, training and integration is being handled by GE Fanuc Premier Solution Provider System Technologies for Industry (STI) located in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.

"Connecting plant floor and business systems in a robust way is a critical business issue today because it is the only way to get the performance and responsiveness companies need," said Maryrose Sylvester, president and CEO of GE Fanuc Automation.

"We are thrilled that Cascades has chosen GE Fanuc Production Management Software to address their information management needs and to support their business as it continues to grow globally".

Sylvester continued: "In addition, the Cascades mission to improve environmental friendliness of products and processes, matches perfectly with GE's ecomagination commitment to produce and provide clean and efficient technologies to our customers." GE Fanuc's Proficy software is a proof point of ecomagination.

Gelineau said: "We at Cascades are constantly working to improve environmental friendliness and sustainable development by implementing a variety of specific programmes to reduce water consumption and effluent discharge in our mills, decrease the amount of waste going to landfill sites, reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and more".

He continued: "Our choice of the GE Fanuc Production Management Software for our plants will help us to maintain that commitment by improving the quality and consistency of the information we have in our production system to make better decisions in how we run our business".

Key business issues that Cascades will address with the GE Fanuc Production Management Software include the following.

* Integration of 'islands of information' and manually generated logs that contain valuable information - integrating these systems through Proficy software can provide a single view of grade quality data, specs and recipes so that all users have a view of what is happening on the plant floor in real time and can take actions to correct issues and improve manufacturing quality.

* Gain visibility to all operations throughout a plant or enterprise - proficy can pull together data from disparate and non-integrated systems and provide the means to aggregate, analyse, and report it in a format that enables production personnel and managers to improve overall productivity and performance.

* Manage quality escapes and recalls - tracking product genealogy with a single system like GE Fanuc Production Management Software allows manufacturers to gather information including item IDs, quality data, process data, routing information, and raw material information, and therefore minimise business exposure to quality issues.

* Improve the consistency of quality in and across facilities - proficy provides the statistical tools to monitor and analyse quality information and alert users with real-time notification of quality issues.

Proficy Plant Applications features configurable modules addressing efficiency, quality and production management, as well as batch analysis in a complete software suite that is open, flexible and easy to configure.

Deployed at hundreds of manufacturing companies around the world, Proficy Plant Applications is proven, modular and scalable, and provides a secure and audited environment unmatched in the industry today, said GE anuc Intelligent Platforms to manufacturingtalk.com.

GE Fanuc's Proficy Historian, which will replace an existing historian system at Cascades, offers a robust and effective plant data repository to collect, archive and distribute large volumes of real-time, plant floor data quickly and easily.

Additionally, Proficy Real-Time Information Portal provides a web-based overview of all key metrics, so Cascades can operate more efficiently.

The new portal will supply a single, integrated tool for accessing, analysing and visualising production data - with sophisticated trending and reporting capabilities to facilitate continuous improvement.

Cascades has also chosen a GlobalCare Complete Support program, an annual maintenance program designed to keep customer software assets current and to provide system managers with the information and tools to get the most benefit from GE Fanuc software products.

* About Cascades - established in North America and in Europe, Cascades is a leader in the production, conversion and marketing of packaging products.

These include tissue paper, boxboard and folding cartons, containerboard (which includes materials used in paper bags), and fine specialty papers.

The Cascades Group of companies has enormous expertise in the recycling and de-inking of fibres, and the majority of their products are composed of recycled materials.

The 40 year-old company, which trades on the Toronto stock exchange under the ticker symbol CAS, employs approximately 15,600 people in 140 modern and flexible production units in North America, Europe and Asia.

* About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms - GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE:GE) and FANUC of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace.

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions.

The company's European headquarters are at GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms Europe in Luxembourg.

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