June 5, 2024

 

ANDRITZ: Not standing still for feed milling's modernisation

 

The current level of automation in the feed production industry is languishing in a state liken to "Stone Age," according to Michael Lierau, vice president of ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel.

 

At this year's VICTAM Asia trade show held in Bangkok, Thailand (March 12-14), Lierau, together with ANDRITZ colleagues, are at the event to promote the Automation & Digitalization Platform, which entails solutions under the company's Metris digital platform.

 

Along with Lierau, global vice president (automation and digitalisation) Dr. Sohail Nazari, alludes the industry's sorry situation to a complacency for progress. Hence, ANDRITZ's motto today presents an antithesis to this attitude: "Never stand still," it emphatically affirms.

 

"We came up with the challenge to venture with a strong profile for automation and digitalisation," global MarCom manager Stefan de Roo tells eFeedLink, explaining the impetus behind the motto. "We partner and speak to various parties, getting feedback, then coming up with a marketing concept that is rooted in a kind of ‘black box' experience."

 

‘Black box' means ANDRITZ knows what outcome it wants to achieve with a solution — the next step is to figure the means to the end. ANDRITZ's R&D teams will first test a new concept; upon finding the right answer, it aims to develop a product out of the idea, de Roo says. This unrelenting hunt for solutions stimulates innovation, keeping the company — and industry players — from inertia.

 

"We are making small steps but we are enabling customers to ‘never stand still' when they jump on this (automation and digitalisation) bandwagon," de Roo adds.

 

Concept to application

 

ANDRITZ's initiative to drive modernisation comes at a critical time for the feed production industry to improve its operational efficiency. So, the company looks at the applications it has offered to various industries, including those of mining, pulp and paper production, and hydroelectricity.

 

"The operational availability of a pulp production plant, for example, is at around 97%," Dr. Nazari points out. "How is it possible that — with its critical systems and its complexities — we are not able to achieve (such a percentage) within the feed production industry?"

 

Seeking answers to this conundrum does not require ANDRITZ to start from ground-zero, Dr. Nazari notes. Instead, it begins "from the level set by (ANDRITZ's) business focusing on pulp and paper production".

 

"What we are doing now is bring all the platforms, infrastructures and know-hows from the other industries (that ANDRITZ is involved in) into feed production," he adds.

 

Deploying the right assets commences at conceptualisation.

 

"We start with a diagram of the process flow and begin development based on it," Lierau says. "With a design, we conduct simulations with it as this is the foundational stage of the digital ‘twin' of our (physical) system. So, in our first meeting with customers, we can already show them what the expected outcome will be."

 

The simulated model will also serve as the foundation for defining the automated and digitalised aspects of an application.

 

At the helm of transforming the way feed production operates is the Metris platform, an umbrella of products and services facilitating industrial digitalisation.

 

To boost the operational availability and production output of a feed mill, ANDRITZ, through Metris, takes "the very advanced of digital technologies, which have been used in other industries, and apply them to feed production, providing a solution that makes sense," Dr. Nazari explains.

 

That is but a start: by 2027, ANDRITZ hopes to help the industry achieve "full autonomous control of operations," he reveals. 

 

"Plant solution is one of our strategic pillars, and plant solution requires automation, digitalisation and capital equipment," Lierau says. "We make this our strong commitment: if our customers care about (these), we can stand with them to make it happen."

 

The human factor: A perpetual importance

 

However, will the escalating pace of technological advancements eliminate completely the human factor in feed production? Lierau assures it will not be the case.

 

"Human resources will remain crucial because ultimately, it's not the machine that makes the decision within the feed mill; it always come back to humans," he notes.

 

Furthermore, one misunderstanding is that automation and digitalisation are developed to replace humans. "That is not where the value is. Value is making the work environment safer and more efficient," Dr. Nazari says.

 

To that end, the real problem lies in manpower that is not properly trained, introducing risks that affect the efficient use of human resources. Metris therefore mitigates these factors by functioning as a ‘brain' that stores ANDRITZ's know-hows and applying them through the company's software and digital solutions.

 

"While we try to reduce manpower (in operations), we also seek to reduce risk and events of unpredictable mishaps," Lierau says. "With Metris, we can pinpoint these areas of hazards and we can instruct the system to make corrections and thus make operations safe. We address the issue by eliminating the risks of the human factor."

 

Metris will also allow feed millers to delegate manpower to "where it makes more sense," Lierau highlights.

 

"What we provide to the market will make it more efficient for people to make decisions," Dr. Nazari says. "It also allows us to hire people for different roles."      

 

Getting a feed mill off the ground — sooner

 

Those advantages characterise the change ANDRITZ want to bring into feed milling. But, regarding the evolution of the industry, the company harbours more ambitious goals. According to Dr. Nazari, ANDRITZ is introducing a new concept to enhance operational readiness.

 

"We can not only model, simulate and use our digital ‘twin' technologies to build a plant; we can also virtually commission a plant before we proceed to the physical commissioning," he explains. This is a crucial step as a virtual commission means that operators have been adequately trained and operational are automated and digitised based on specifications. Additionally, feed mills can kick-start operations earlier than their traditional timetable. Based on ANDRITZ's experience, the company "can decrease (the plant's) ramp-up time by 20-30% towards commissioning," Dr. Nazai says.

 

"Whereas ramp-up traditionally takes around four months, we can now do it in two to three months, which is a huge benefit to our customers," he adds.     

Modularity equals more efficiency

 

A part of ANDRITZ's approach to operational efficiency points to the modularity of some of its solutions.

 

"The concept of a standardised and modular solution is one of the things we want to highlight in VICTAM," Lierau says. "We have developed this aspect of standardisation and make it as compact as possible."

 

These modular plant solutions enable "a rapid setup in a feed mill anywhere," he notes. "You can quickly take them down and establish them where you need them. They cost about €900,000, and this allows even small companies and farmers to do the setup by themselves."

 

The applications had been employed in India, Indonesia, and the African region, and were lauded for their flexibility, speed and reliability, Lierau says.

 

Global player, global changer

 

The Microsofts and Googles of our era can transform how the world works due to their globally extensive networks; it's why almost all computers worldwide operate Windows and use the Google search engine for online enquiries.

 

ANDRITZ continues its success through 300 business entities in many countries and boasts a manpower of 2,200 automation and digitalisation engineers serving in various industries. The magnitude of its resources made the company "the number one system integrator in the world" — according to Dr. Nazari — "when it comes to automation.

 

Lierau hints at the importance of keeping the network tighter, emphasising the need for "presence, closeness to the customers".

 

"Customers want to see us. They want to be sure they can engage a supplier who is present," he remarks.

 

But network alone does not suffice without a solid strategy; for ANDRITZ, the strategy is be globally present through localisation in multiple regions, Lierau describes.

 

"We see it with smaller competitors: if you are stuck with one country and face problems (like geopolitical challenges), you have an issue," he says.

 

ANDRITZ's strategy has served it well in the past years given the recent events of the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine and attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

 

"With manufacturing sites all over the world, we have quite a sophisticated network of supply chain where we can quickly switch suppliers if needed, region by region," Lierau says. "This gives us tremendous flexibility —especially during the pandemic — that helps us to still deliver what our customers need.

 

"It confirms to us that's the way to go. This is why ANDRITZ is so successful." 

 

The company is committed to entrenching itself further in the Asia-Pacific region and had opened an office in Bangkok last year. Next, ANDRITZ is looking to expand its footprint in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, Lierau says.

 

The company's confidence as the premier solution provider for feed milling is conspicuous. "If you look at what ANDRITZ has to offer, our products are in a completely different league," Lierau states.

 

"We are making our technologies affordable for the feed production industry to access," Dr. Nazari says. "The time of plant shutdowns, indecisiveness, sub-par operations, low efficiency and (unbalanced) energy consumption is past; we can bring a change."

 

It's a bold vision but one that will inspire ANDRITZ to stay relevant and not become "obsolete in a hundred years."

 

"By bringing autonomous operations into the industry, we want to be a company serving everybody so that no one stands still," Dr. Nazari says.

- Terry Tan, eFeedLink