United StatesManufacturing2021 – ongoingWeyerhaeuser
Machine-learning control of Sutton OSB dryers
Weyerhaeuser said operators used Sutton's AI dryer controls about 80% of the time
Problem
Sutton mill operators adjusted dryer temperatures using production observations, but changes took time to appear downstream. Operators could not continuously analyze all available sensor data.
Approach
Weyerhaeuser began investigating AI2Infinity's END GAME software in 2021 and started testing in spring 2022. The machine-learning system used sensor data to adjust dryer settings automatically from April 2023. Operators retained the ability to disable it, and the system deactivated itself when problems arose.
Results
No published figures
Takeaway
Operators helped select the variables used by the model and retained authority over whether automatic control ran.
Categories
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Predictive analytics and MLOptimization
- Adoption
- Partner co-development
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Weyerhaeuser described development and deployment of AI dryer controls at Sutton. It reported operating use and replication of the architecture at its Eugene veneer presses without quantifying a production improvement.
Full details are in the original sources.