MARCH - 20218 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSLIN MY OPINIONBy Kevin Starr, Service & Digital Strategy, ABB Process IndustriesField Service and Digitalization in the Pulp & Paper industryIn the rapidly evolving realm of field service for the pulp and paper industry, digital technology can be the ultimate enabler, but how can we ensure it integrates with in-depth industry knowledge to generate value? Kevin Starr, service and digital strategy, ABB Process Industries, explains how pulp and paper manufacturers can navigate the dark side of the digitalization fog.Digitalization can be daunting, riven with misunderstandings and uncertainties. This is especially true when putting buzzwords like cloud and edge analytics into practice. These tools offer many advantages for the pulp and paper industry, but for some, the rapid transformation has generated a darker side. For example, there is a misconception within process industries that with enough sensors, instrumentation, and analytics, problems can solve themselves. This is emphasized in pulp and paper, where customers are investing significantly in digital infrastructures, yet often find that the technology tells them self-evident things. You don't need another tool or dashboard to alert you to a sheet break when you have alarms in place for such issues. At ABB, we firmly believe that there will always be a crucial role for process expertise that can help maximize the value of digital technologies. You still need the right person, in the right place at the right time, to get ahead of problems, enabling customers to meet value, productivity, and quality targets.Overcoming the `black cloud' of digitalizationWhat manufacturers really need are systems that help predict issues and prevent them from becoming problems, but sophisticated modeling can take months--even years--to tune
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