Paper & Packaging Industry: Digital Tracking of Waste Paper

The sustainability, digitalization and automation of manufacturing companies have become indispensable. Especially in a sector such as the paper and packaging industry, where recycling has always played a key role for many products, process optimization through real-time localization of goods offers significant improvements. However, what exactly does this look like?

Wouldn’t it be nice if…

… administrative workload could be reduced?

The desire to minimize paperwork is almost counterintuitive. However, time-consuming and error-prone documentation and recording on paper is a major efficiency killer. At this point, digital solutions offer a clear and immediately noticeable simplification of processes. The error rate due to inadequate documentation is reduced to zero.

… waste paper bale data & storage processes were transparent and accessible?

When waste paper is delivered, there is a lot of information about its composition. It is known what each individual bale is made of, how much it weighs, and what its quality is. Once stored, it is no longer possible to trace it back to the supplier. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have all that information directly available to you? Or if the data could simply be added to the existing knowledge? With the direct capture of incoming waste paper bales, the information can be linked directly into the digital twin of the warehouse and later recorded in a traceable manner.

… warehouse management system always had up-to-date data automatically?

Warehouse and ERP system / WMS / etc. are only ever connected to the real warehouse conditions via the intermediate step of the human operator. The associated delay in data adaptation has far-reaching consequences and makes optimized production planning difficult. With real-time data from the warehouse, updated directly in every system with every movement and change, optimized and significantly faster planning is possible.

Optimization of production planning

The heterogeneous quality of waste paper bales and the different requirements of the end products demand customized deinking recipes. Controlling these processes entails a great deal of manual and error-prone effort.

It is therefore essential to track the waste paper bales from the moment they are delivered to ensure the high quality of the final product. IdentPro’s Warehouse Execution System (WES) closes this information gap between intralogistics and the deinking process, ensuring complete traceability of waste paper bales. By digitizing and automating the tracking process, the WES enables efficient warehousing and optimized production planning.

Waste Paper Bale Management: even more sustainable recycling thanks to precise real-time tracking

In waste paper recovery, targeted and comprehensive data gathering usually only begins with disintegration in the drum or pulper. Information on loose goods or bale goods according to the content of moisture, ash, plastic and wood pulp is usually only captured on a random basis. However, even then these are only available to a limited extent, as traceability is lost due to the dynamic intralogistics processes – unloading, storage, transfer for targeted feeding into the drum or pulper.

Challenge of Recycling Waste Paper

Deinking:

The various products require different qualities. It therefore involves a great deal of manual process effort to find and plan the right waste paper bales for the process in the pulper and in the drum.

Traceability:

Due to increasingly strict legal requirements, traceability in the supply chain is very important. Without specific data, defective materials can´t be allocated and have a negative impact on the output of the end products.

Process Flow with RTLS

The waste paper bales are tracked with the WES from delivery at the gate of the factory to consumption at the deinking plant. Existing forklift trucks are retrofitted with LiDAR and sensors to capture real-time warehouse operations and create a digital twin (RTLS). This is done without the need for additional markers in the yard or labels on the bales. The forklift truck uploads not only the location of the waste paper, but also all the associated quality and weight information collected for that bale. In this way, bales can be requested and delivered according to the exact recipe.

Step: Delivery & Data Disclosure

The initial registration of deliveries is solved differently in companies. The WES can be connected to various existing data collection systems and utilize their data via an interface. For example, suppliers, bale dimensions and weights can be automatically entered into the system via a license plate recognition system. An automatic bale inspection station is often already present in production to determine quality. This provides information on ash content, brightness, plastic content and wood content, which can also be automatically transferred to the software.

Innovation:Fully automatic data recording at the waste paper center

Step: Storage & Tracking

The retrofitted forklift trucks continuously track all activities. As a forklift truck places a bale in the yard, the sensor system tracks the path to storage in the supply stack. Every tenth of a second, the bale’s position and data are transmitted via Wi-Fi to the IdentPro server. Stock transfers are also automatically reported in real time.

Innovation:Optimized transport routes in production supply

Step: Localization & Production

From this point, each bale is tracked and classified in the recovered paper yard. The recipe software sends an order to the WES, which is controlled by the process control system (PCS) on the production floor. The WES then selects the nearest storage location and forklift to take the required bale to the pulper.

Innovation:Reduced chemical usage due to recipe accurate bale intake

The Result:

By freeing drivers from administrative tasks, new employees can now be quickly trained and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) can be integrated.

The combination of LiDAR and IoT sensor technology enables bales to be tracked in real time. This not only allows precise localization within the warehouse, but also enables detailed analysis of bale quality. The system automatically recognizes the origin of each bale and ensures targeted processing based on specific quality criteria such as moisture, ash content and plastic content.

Transparency and Traceability:

Waste paper bales are individually identified and allocated. Valid, real-time data enables precise control of the entire production process. Raw material defects can also be linked back to the supplier.

Quality:

Waste paper bales can be sorted by quality and origin. This improves the quality of the final product. It also means fewer impurities in the pulp. This minimizes wear and tear on the pulper. This results in fewer failures, less damage, and less chemicals.

Storage and Material Flow:

Transportation times are optimized and reduced because the material flow is more efficient thanks to the precise localization of the bales. Entries are no longer made manually with a time delay, but in real time in the ERP/WMS. This means that inventory items are always accurate and valid in real time.

Work Safety:

Thanks to the automation of the work processes, it is no longer necessary to leave the vehicle during work, as everything is captured directly by the sensors. The maximum stacking height of the bales is not exceeded. Escape routes are kept clear as bales are no longer improperly placed in front of driveways or on sidewalks.