Glassmaker Sisecam will implement PaneraTech’s Digital Furnace Monitoring (DFM) on all its furnaces.

Sisecam is a global company with production operations in 14 countries on four continents.

Part of the Turkish-headquartered glassmaker's working methodology is to “team up with business partners for innovative solutions”.

This is exactly what Sisecam has done by partnering with PaneraTech to implement Digital Furnace Monitoring (DFM) globally on all its furnaces.

Sisecam first began to engage with PaneraTech in 2013, while the company was developing and validating its SmartMelter technology, portable radar-based sensors that measure refractory thickness.

PaneraTech performed its first demo of the technology for Sisecam in 2016, and SmartMelter inspections became a regular inspection practice for many of Sisecam’s furnaces over the next several years.

Over this time, PaneraTech has also evolved and expanded, now offering a full solution that digitally transforms furnaces for data-driven decision making.

Digital Furnace Monitoring is a holistic programme for furnace health monitoring and management that helps manufacturers make more glass with their furnace, even with a less-experienced workforce.

This programme has attracted interest at a time when many seasoned furnace managers are retiring and are being replaced by a younger generation.

Sisecam is enrolling all its furnaces in the DFM programme over a period of three years.

Each furnace will be transformed digitally and viewable through XSight software.

All furnace activities will be recorded and analysed on the platform, including data collected through radar technology and a regular schedule of audits.

A PaneraTech Asset Manager will be assigned to help each plant team interpret data and make decisions based on industry best practices.

The Asset Managers will be incentivised to help the plant teams meet their goals.

This combination of technology, data, and expertise is what PaneraTech calls “threefold support” for each plant.

Every Sisecam furnace will have Polaris IoT sensors installed for continuous refractory monitoring of critical areas.

This will help the company understand early in the furnace campaign how operations are impacting refractory life.

Early detection of issues will help Sisecam make decisions that will lead to an optimised furnace campaign and ultimately more glass produced from each furnace.

Sisecam believes this programme will help support its employees for successful furnace management as well as attracting the best talent, since the next generation of managers are looking for data-driven processes.

Yakup Bayram, CEO of PaneraTech, said, “We are proud to work with an innovative company like Sisecam, and we look forward to their increased production as our teams work together to meet their objectives.”

PaneraTech.com."