“Honeywell represents an unbeatable combination of world-class technology and talented workmanship. Our project necessitated a very tight schedule, which sometimes can be a challenge for large suppliers. But Honeywell’s skilled team was able to make quick decisions and deliver all the needed resources, like the OptiVision MES solution, to finish this project well within schedule.”
Tapani Lautamies, Paper Engineer and Managing Director, JoutCon Oy
JoutCon Oy, one of Europe’s newest providers of board and paper sheeting services, deployed Honeywell’s OptiVision® manufacturing execution system (MES) at two of its production facilities to improve overall performance and maximize operational flow. Since the plant was new, it wanted to use the most up-to-date technology to meet current and future paper and board industry requirements.
With the use of OptiVision, the JoutCon facility was able to upgrade and improve in the following areas:
To excel in the highly competitive global paper industry, JoutCon recognized the immediate need for state-of-the-art technology upon the founding of the company in 2007. To meet industry standards today and in the future, JoutCon sought a technology partner that was capable of meeting the requirements of a young, highly promising organization.
“Starting from scratch, we at JoutCon Oy had many options for building our production process,” said Tapani Lautamies, Paper Engineer and Managing Director, JoutCon Oy. “We needed a partner that could distinguish itself immediately, and recognize our situation and the particular needs of smaller plants.”
JoutCon was not only interested in getting its business off to the best possible start, but also remained keenly focused on implementing a company-wide strategy that would permit seamless growth, diversification and integration with its main contractors in the paper and board industry.
JoutCon found a partner that met its needs in Honeywell. The company notes that one of Honeywell’s major strengths is the ability to adapt its offerings to customers’ specific needs. Honeywell’s OptiVision MES software met JoutCon’s needs with comprehensive standard functionality to manage the entire order-to-cash business cycle, especially sheeting operations.
“We operate qualified production with very short production time,” explained Mr. Lautamies. “This requires high-quality processes in order to meet our demands for top-notch order management, production planning and reporting.”
Honeywell’s OptiVision MES optimizes production, fixed costs and variable costs by maximizing manpower requirements, allocating fixed assets, managing working capital and prioritizing capital spending. OptiVision provides planning and execution at the corporate level and full manufacturing execution at the mill level.
“Without an excellent manufacturing execution system like Honeywell’s OptiVision, it would be impossible for JoutCon Oy to manage and run its converting plant at peak profitability,” Lautamies added. “Our customers join us in appreciation for what our investment in Honeywell’s best-in-class MES does for the quality of our business.”
The partners are so pleased with their relationship that JoutCon and Honeywell will take on a new challenge together. JoutCon plans to implement Papinet standard messages to communicate with its suppliers as well as with board and paper mills. The implementation of automatic order receiving and order status reporting will help the mills communicate order and production status while keeping production lines operating at proper efficiencies.
OptiVision® is a registered trademark of Honeywell International Inc.