Kespry: Drones for the Pulp and Paper Industry

Kespry today announced the availability of the pulp and paper industry’s first drone-based aerial intelligence solution. The new industry-specific solution improves the profitability of pulp and paper operations by delivering more accurate and timely supply chain material inventory data, while improving site operations and safety.

Pulp and paper companies often face several issues when it comes to inventory and supply chain logistics. Infrequent surveys of wood chip piles and round wood inventory cannot provide the daily or weekly data required to optimize production in a business that often adapts to demand on a daily basis. Meanwhile, using expensive third-party surveyors limits the frequency of inventory data capture due to the high cost of their services. Many of the manual or third-party approaches to measuring material volumes are inaccurate, further complicating the process of optimizing inventory to meet demand profitably. Finally, many pulp and paper producers struggle to plan and lay out their production or storage sites as they lack up-to-date site survey data, which can also have an impact of the safety of employees operating on those sites.

“Measuring chip piles at a pulp mill has always been a challenge. In the past, a team of surveyors would climb onto the chip pile and arrive at a manual measurement,” said Mitch Dunlop, Accounting Manager, Celgar, a leading North American pulp and paper organization. “This method is slow, poses safety concerns and is not very accurate. Hiring a contractor for monthly surveys of the chip pile was not economically feasible. Having the Kespry drone onsite, we can survey the chip pile every month and we have more accurate inventory volume reporting.”

Kespry eliminates these issues by providing production plant managers with highly-accurate survey and inventory data across both production facility and round wood storage sites—data that matches the update frequency required to optimize profitability of supply chain, and more effective site planning. Not only are plant managers able to optimize the efficiency of how a site is laid out and where material is stored, but the benefits spread throughout an entire team. For example, site controllers are able to confidently reconcile inventory data with accurate survey data, operation teams can optimize onsite logistics and schedules to accommodate production demand, and supply managers are able to better improve customer material handling with frequent real-time inventory assessments.

“Paper production plants can process millions of cubic meters of wood material annually and tracking such a high volume of inventory can be challenging,” said George Mathew, CEO and Chairman, Kespry. “Moving away from expensive third-party surveyors by having an accurate drone solution available to fly on demand results in more precise and frequent inventory assessments, and ultimately improved profitability.”

Kespry’s easy-to-use, automated solution, backed by comprehensive support and training, provides the ability to track and manage supply chain inventories with on-demand drone flights every day, week, or month. By optimizing inventory management practices with the Kespry platform, pulp and paper companies can spearhead innovation, ensure success and create a new standard for the industry moving forward.

Source: Kespry