As Asia Symbol Group, one of the biggest wood pulp producers in China, expands its pulp and paper business into tissue manufacturing, it has selected long-term strategic partner ABB to deliver the ABB Ability™ Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and system integration at three of its tissue mills in China.
This latest contract for mills in Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangxi affirms the strong, long-standing relationship between ABB and Asia Symbol, part of the global RGE Group (Royal Golden Eagle).
In recent years, this has seen the provision of paper machine drives and quality control system (QCS) products, and the successful extension of ABB’s MES service to Asia Symbol’s three fine paper production lines in Guangdong.
ABB will be installing the MES and, by integrating with third-party systems such as distributed control system (DCS), QCS, transportation management system (TMS), and SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, supporting improved data flow and connectivity across Asia Symbol’s operations.
ABB’s solution will offer real-time data collection and analysis capabilities, scheduling and trim optimization, tracking with full traceability and quality management, to help Asia Symbol achieve sustainable production and resource utilization, improve efficiency and competitiveness.
“Owing to the added complexity of producing fine paper – which demands faster, more flexible and complex production processes – Asia Symbol required additional digital solutions in order to build a resilient, sustainable and efficient production operation,” said Zhang Wei, Local Digital Business Line Manager, Process Industries China, ABB. “This latest expansion of our highly valued, long-term partnership with Asia Symbol reflects the trust they have in ABB’s technology and deep domain expertise in the pulp and paper segment. Our MES will help provide greater visibility, data management and quality control across Asia Symbol’s operations.”
Specifically designed to enable pulp and paper producers achieve operational excellence and maximum performance, ABB’s MES helps optimize storage, energy and raw material usage, in turn improving product output and quality.
Asia Symbol’s main products are Bleached Hardwood Kraft Pulp (BHKP), Needle Bleached Kraft Pulp (NBKP), dissolving pulp (DP), liquid packaging board, high grade ivory board and uncoated woodfree printing and office paper.