Presentation: The Path Towards Asset Performance Management with the PI System and Ekho

Kruger Inc. is a leader in North American paper and paperboard manufacturing and recycling with facilities in different provinces of Canada (Québec, Ontario, British Columbia, and Newfoundland) as well as in the United States. Due to Kruger’s complex and distributed operating environment, the collection and analysis of real-time data is critical to achieving operational efficiency and improving asset performance management. Because real-time information in different mills was previously managed in different systems, it has been difficult to establish standard operating systems within and across mills and to consolidate information into a central system. Kruger has addressed these difficulties by standardizing data collection in the PI System, implementing a corporate PI System with PI Asset Framework and Event Frames, and deploying Ekho application software for operational intelligence and performance improvement. Although Kruger is in the early stages of deployment, they anticipate improvements in production and product quality, reduction of downtime, and better Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). In subsequent phases, they expect to broaden their scope to asset performance management and integrate the PI System and Ekho with the Maintenance Management System."