First you need to decide whether or not you need a system like MOPS. The recommended way to do this is to carry out a requirements study. A MOPS team will come to your site and investigate the needs of your mill. During this study, we will review how your operation uses data today, what kind of information would be useful, what are the existing systems, what interfaces would be required, and how information fits into the mill and business strategy of your enterprise.
It’s highly recommended that the mill designate a MOPS champion. This person should be production or process oriented in their responsibilities. The IT person is a key member of the MOPS implementation team as far as ongoing support and technical services. Based on our experience, it’s the upfront, active, hands-on participation of production/process people that make MOPS a success in the mill.
With over 40 years of experience and hundreds system installations worldwide, all in pulp and paper facilities, we know how you work and what’s important to you. Our staff consists of highly qualified systems specialists.
This really depends on the scope of the project. It could be anywhere from 2 to 10 months in duration. An installation with only MOPS Historian and WinMOPS would be on the shorter side, and one with more modules included like PQIS and PLA would take longer.
The project starts off with a detailed function specification (DFS) that includes descriptions of the technical components of the system, required interfaces, displays to be created, and reports to be generated. After that, the MOPS modules are installed, configured, tested and started up. MOPS training will take place amongst these activities in order to ensure timely and successful roll out of the system.
As MOPS modules are ready to go, we roll it out to the mill. It’s not a matter of waiting until the end of the project and then turning the switch “on”. Once the interfaces and modules are configured, users can start using MOPS to build displays, trend process parameters, and review their operations. As more modules are ready, they in turn are released. At the end of the project, system acceptance is based on the total project implementation.
Everybody. There are different levels of users from view-only regular users to power users with the ability to configure displays and administrate the system. MOPS users include: operators, lab personnel, supervisors, process engineers, IT, production managers, accountants, and senior managers (on site or corporate).