Industry Case Studies, Mill Products

Forest Products: Meeting EPA Environmental Reporting Guidelines using Manufacturing Systems

Background:
A Fortune 500 Paper and Forest Products manufacturer seeks to cost effectively meet mandatory EPA guidelines. This Fortune 500 Company sought to meet Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) EPA emissions regulations, applicable to multiple company mills operated within the United States.

Situation:
The client sought to implement full compliance to MACT I regulations in a timely manner. EPA Emissions regulations severely penalize non-compliance, with fines starting at $25,000 per incident up to and including imprisonment and mill closure. While regulatory compliance is not a profit generating activity, in the United States it is very much a "stay in business" activity. The client had many installations across several states, each requiring individual customization. The client also required real time weekly reports illustrating the project's progress and development.

Solution:
This manufacturer turned to EnteGreat to develop modules in Proficy®, an integrated solution for driving operational excellence through real-time manufacturing performance management and execution control. Each individual system for this client had unique reporting requirements, many of which were diverse, resulting from individual state application of the EPA regulations and also from unique physical constructions at the mills. EnteGreat designed a new generation of reporting utilizing a single code set, calling SQL stored procedures that utilized parameters supplied by a user interface. Per the customer's requirements, the reports were generated in Excel, allowing for additional analytical use. This reporting procedure vastly improved the deployment and maintenance issues as the number of reports and locations increased. Over 180 sub-systems utilized this procedure by the conclusion of the project.

Benefits:
The client was able to satisfy the EPA schedule for MACT I reporting at all installations, on time and on budget. EnteGreat achieved tremendous data accuracy and built an easy to use operator interface in order to simplify the ability to classify the types of emission events being reported. The user interface was so trouble-free that the client's sites were able to schedule daily automatic reports to monitor and manage the mill systems. The project also provided a solid foundation for the company to move forward in coming years with subsequent MACT regulations, and build upon the implemented framework. EnteGreat's success enabled this client to swiftly comply with rigid EPA regulations, allowing them to focus on the business at hand, confident that the company was abiding by all environmental parameters.