|
|
GOLDEN
ALUMINUM Increases
Production Effectiveness “I must tell you that most
people in our plant are very impressed with Ultramax®. I
have been able to reduce a particular quality defect (edge cracks off the Hot
Mill) by 78%. No one including myself has been able to do that in 20
years of operating this plant.” Larry
Hopkins, Perpetual Improvement Manager Golden
Aluminum, Fort Lupton, CO. Procter & Gamble Optimizes
Manufacturing Operations CINCINNATI,
OH, Oct 10, 2001
– The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) has reached an agreement with Ultramax
Corporation to purchase Ultramax’s optimization technology for
integration with P&G production computer control systems. Ultramax technology continually
adjusts manufacturing processes for maximum business and financial
performance as materials and conditions vary and economic factors or business
objectives change. “The decision to
integrate Ultramax’s sequential optimization method and technology into
Procter & Gamble manufacturing processes underscores our commitment to
accelerating cost reduction,” says Cy Wegman, Optimization Specialist, P&G Corporate Engineering Technical Laboratory. “Our past experience using the Ultramax
method and technology has shown substantial improvements in operating
performance and bottom line profits.” Ultramax dynamic optimization
technology adjusts process settings to improve performance according to
defined objectives and operational constraints. The process operates reliably within
safety, capacity and regulatory constraints, achieving continuous
improvements in product quality and throughput while reducing energy and raw
material consumption, emissions and waste. The Procter & Gamble Co., headquartered in Founded in 1982, the Ultramax
Corporation, also headquartered in For public
release, P&G Alpharma Increases Fermentation Yield by
20% with Ultramax® “I consider Ultramax to be the
best system one could employ to make rational process control adjustments,
with those changes quickly resulting in measurable (predefined)
improvements. Of equal
importance, these changes will result in a more robust, profitable and
predictable process. “I am responsible for
improvements in our large-scale fermentation process. Over the years, I have tried various
non-linear modeling methods to make the necessary improvements in the
process, as well as attempt to establish a higher level of
predictability. Before Ultramax,
process improvements were frustratingly slow in coming and the results
offered low predictability for two reasons: 1) a change in one or more
uncontrolled inputs occurred during the course of obtaining the data that
required additional tests to be run, and, 2) the control (decision) input
changes had to be small so as to not cause a process failure, thus the
outputs had very low signal to noise ratios. “The moment I was introduced
to the Ultramax concepts I knew deep down that this was the answer for which
I had been searching. In the few
years I have used it, my fermenter
yield (on a near 50-year-old process) has increased by over 20%, with
variability decreasing by over 50%.
The decrease in variability has allowed me to "see" other
variables that were impacting our process, and when changed, increased the
robustness of the process.” Dr. Michael
Barder, Alpharma IBM Accelerates Process Design and Improves
Production Performance with Ultramax® “Ultramax … has been
effectively used by IBM to rapidly model and optimize existing processes, as
well as efficiently develop (from zero knowledge) high performance processes
to standards not previously experienced.
Successful applications have been encountered in photolithography, dry
etching, film deposition, thermal processing and ion implantation, with no
failure of the software or its sequential optimization methodology
observed. Final process yield improvement
and process variability reduction are to be expected via this
technology.” Bob
McCafferty, IBM |
|
