As summer approaches, hardworking bees are there again busy pollinating flowers and useful plants. In addition to home gardeners, the whole natural ecosystem benefits from the seamless bustle of these buzzers led by their swarm intelligence.
As summer approaches, hardworking bees are there again busy pollinating flowers and useful plants. In addition to home gardeners, the whole natural ecosystem benefits from the seamless bustle of these buzzers led by their swarm intelligence.
We humans cannot do the same instinctively. However, we possess skills to build machines and systems to support our cooperation. For example, in the area of energy and circular economy, the pulling together of various operators brings indisputable benefits. A biogas plant can utilize one part of a waste load while a combustion plant uses the other. When goods are taken in from one door and out from the other, it is useful to keep the partners updated.
In Finnish conditions, a unique example can be found in Oulu where energy and circular economy operators have created an ecosystem under the Once by Pinja service bringing benefits to themselves, each other and the entire region. Once is like an interpreter who helps operators act as efficiently as bees.
The core of the ecosystem consists of weighing equipment connected to the Once system for weighing incoming and outgoing loads of the energy plants and circular economy operators of the region. In autumn 2020, there will be six weighing systems, three of them located in the area of the Rusko waste treatment center. This area is administered by the municipal waste treatment company Kiertokaari, and the waste sorting plant of Oulun Energia and Gasum’s biogas plant are located at the same site. Thanks to the shared Once weighing system, the operators in the area can work more efficiently.
The combustion plant knows well in advance the type of the incoming load as well as the time of arrival, the source and the deliverer.
The three plants in the Rusko waste treatment center are not always the final destination of the load, but material is also transported elsewhere for further processing. For example, separated combustible fractions are delivered further to the combustion plants of Oulun Energia. These plants also belong to the Once ecosystem although located at different sites. Information shared by the operators again removes duplicated work steps.
The combustion plant knows well in advance the type of the incoming load as well as the time of arrival, the source and the deliverer. The scales weighs the load and the driver enters the data onto the screen of the outdoor terminal directly from the vehicle cabin. In this way, the load data is easily transferred to the system.
The core of the ecosystem consists of weighing equipment connected to the Once system for weighing incoming and outgoing loads of the energy plants and circular economy operators of the region.
The traditional way to manage the process would involve manual Excel based reporting. It is a backward procedure. Reporting eats up working hours and, in addition, real-time management of the quality and quantity of material processed is impossible. In fact, at a plant relying on an old-fashioned system, it is very usual that the data available is fragmented and outdated. In addition, time is consumed with correcting human errors. No-one knows the real-time status or the situation hour by hour and minute by minute.
In addition to Oulun Energia, Kiertokaari and Gasum, the Once ecosystem in Oulu includes the chemical company of Taminco Finland, Air Liquide, Turveruukki and Laanilan Voima, and the system is also used by several transport companies. Furthermore, laboratories analyzing loads on an as-needed basis benefit from efficient data transfer.
While the weighing functions are important, the comprehensive Once system is much more than a mere weighing system. It also offers tools for contract and order management, generation of invoicing materials, receipt and loading operations, warehouse balance management and reporting.
Material origin and traceability data is stored for the entire processing chain. Data is supplemented along the delivery chain and is available to all of the parties in real time, if needed. Work related to regulatory reports is also reduced thanks to automation.
Oulun Energia was the first Once user in the city of Oulu by introducing the PAS system, the predecessor of Once, already in 1989. Over the years, the company has helped develop Once based on their needs and applications. Inspired by the energy company, other operators in the region have also introduced the system. Altogether, there are more than 300 plants using Once in Finland and in the world.
Operators both in Finland and abroad could take inspiration from the Oulu model. Besides smoothing out activities, it also enables savings. Weighing equipment, for example, is an expensive investment and there is no need for each operator to purchase one of their own. It is sufficient to have a uniform information system.
Intelligent weighing functions improve the efficiency of the material receiving process
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