Efficiency, Quality and Production Performance Key To Solving Business Issues In Manufacturing Operations; GE Fanuc Software Direction Important For Future Growth
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, has announced that Cascades Inc., based in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, Canada has chosen the Proficy™ software suite of Production Management solutions to address a wide array of business issues typically encountered in manufacturing operations. The company's commitment to global expansion and need for production business optimization were the drivers for a new Production Management implementation spanning its manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Solidly established in North America and in Europe, Cascades is a leader in the production, conversion and marketing of packaging products including 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 fibers, 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.
"Cascades is focused on leadership in our industry and to do that we need visibility into our production operations," said Daniel Gelineau, Vice President of Operations for Cascades Tissue Groupe. "The GE Fanuc Production Management Software solution enables us to become very nimble in our development and delivery processes, empowering us to optimize profit as well as global growth."
The initial site for deployment of the software solution -- which includes GE Fanuc's Proficy Plant Applications, Proficy Historian and Proficy Real-Time Information Portal - will be the Cascades Tissue Group plants located in Candiac, Quebec, Canada. This 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, Inc. (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.
"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," Sylvester continued. GE Fanuc's Proficy software is a proof point of ecomagination.
"We at Cascades are constantly working to improve environmental friendliness and sustainable development by implementing a variety of specific programs 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," Gelineau 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:
* 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 to 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, analyze, 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 minimize business exposure to quality issues.
* Improve the consistency of quality in and across facilities. Proficy provides the statistical tools to monitor and analyze 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 solution 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.
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, analyzing and visualizing 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 GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE:GE) and FANUC LTD 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, VA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions. For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com.
Contacts
GE Fanuc Automation
Elli Holman, 508-698-7456
[email protected]
Ian McMurray
GE Energy Management
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+44-(0)-1327-322821