Oji Fibre Solutions  A data-driven
approach to
reduce energy

As a leading manufacturer in the pulp and packaging industry, Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS)
has a strong focus on sustainability and advancing the circular bioeconomy. This  dedication is particularly visible in the company’s Packaging division in New Zealand, where a key part of the manufacturing process involves using steam energy in the conversion of paper into cardboard. The steam is generated by an LPG-fuelled boiler, making LPG a significant operational cost to the business.

However, the business faced material and escalating gas prices. While the physical
production plant was modern and responsive to changes in demand and product mix, the
boiler and steam system still required manual operation. This disparity led to inefficiencies
whereby the steam system wasn’t operating in the most optimal way. For example, if an
engineer was unavailable, the boiler could continue generating steam and emitting heat to the atmosphere even after production had finished. This resulted in wasted energy and heat loss, with unnecessary associated energy cost.

“We had two main challenges,” says Andrew Bavis, National Operations Improvement Manager for Packaging, New Zealand Division at Oji Fibre Solutions. “Achieving better cost efficiency and environmental sustainability improvements are a big focus for us.” In essence, the business needed a data-driven solution to enhance efficiency, reduce waste and optimise energy consumption. Fujitsu was the perfect partner to make that happen.

To provide OjiFS with the largest impact on its operations, Fujitsu proposed building a
platform that could enable dif ferent phases of automation over time. “Instead of trying to sell us an individual solution for an individual problem, they were able to work with us on a strategic future and build a platform that enabled us to deliver dif ferent phases of the same project or automation over time,” comments Bavis. “So it was like a roadmap and a strategy instead of a single solution. And we really liked that because, being new to data platforms, it opened our minds to what was possible.”

This strategic approach—coupled with Fujitsu investing significant time to understand the
company’s operational processes—was highly valued and led to a 12-week implementation of an Azure Databricks Lakehouse solution. This was further strengthened by weekly testing to validate system performance and integration with existing infrastructure.

Adapting to new technology requires support, the Fujitsu team was always on hand to of fer help and provide learning opportunities. “There were always multiple follow-ups to make sure that we were OK,” says Bavis. “And they were there if we needed a little more time, an additional resource or a bit of something extra just to help get us across the line. We could tailor that support to where we needed it.”

The new solution, training and change management strategy worked together to transform OjiFS’s ef ficiency improvement ef forts. The platform integrates daily production schedules from the company’s scheduling system, Kiwiplan, as well as calendar information from the manufacturing execution system (MES) and current work in progress (WIP) data.

Integrating data acquisition via Microsoft Azure IoT means that operations can now incorporate real-time data from production plant sensors. This enables automated decision-making and optimising boiler start/stop times as well as dynamic steam pressure control based on predicted demand and real-time conditions.