SMARTECH and RoyOMartin announced the successful integration of the SMARTECH AI-based Autonomous Manufacturing Solution (Autonomous MaNEWfacturing™) that was implemented in 2019 at the RoyOMartin Oakdale, Louisiana, Oriented Strand Board (OSB) facility.
This achievement is the culmination of a long-running collaboration between these two industry leaders that has aimed for technology innovation and operational excellence.
The collaboration began in 2015, when RoyOMartin became the first company to acquire SMARTECH's patented SMARTWAX system for reducing wax and wax emulsion production costs. The SMARTWAX system, designed for the wood panel industry, also improves board quality and raw material efficiency - a green approach that both SMARTECH and RoyOMartin have valued since well before sustainability became a household term.
"RoyOMartin's visionary approach and passion for new technologies was a great foundation for our alliance," says Hanoch Magid, SMARTECH CEO. "They were really ahead of their time - which is what makes them so successful, and we feel very fortunate to have an industry leader such as RoyOMartin as a strategic partner and as a first customer for both SMARTWAX and the SMARTPRESS module of our Autonomous MaNEWfacturing™ platform."
In 2019, recognizing the importance of adopting artificial intelligence into the manufacturing industry, RoyOMartin became the first company in the world to acquire and implement the SMARTPRESS module. The module is built upon SMARTECH's Autonomous Manufacturing platform, which utilizes AI, machine learning, neural networks and reinforcement learning to allow many critical production processes to operate autonomously, thus driving manufacturing line improvements.
Provided as on-premise software, it harmonizes the performance between different shift operators and stabilizes production, enhances press efficiency and enables higher productivity, so that the manufacturer can expand the capacity of its facility using its existing equipment.
"We have seen significant value from our collaboration with SMARTECH" says Scott Poole, RoyOMartin President and COO. "The SMARTWAX systems continue to provide significant cost savings. With the AI-based SMARTPRESS, we unlocked additional line capacity at a time when board market demand is near an all-time high. We are committed to innovation and technology and are happy to cooperate with the SMARTECH team in a journey that will lead us even beyond Industry 5.0. We look forward to further technology projects."