“We offer holistic digitalisation solutions, enhancing safety, productivity, availability and efficiency not only for a particular equipment or system but for the overall plants,” Alexis Fredrich, Digital Business Leader of REEL International

AlCircle: How is Digital Transformation taking place at REEL International?

Alexis Fredrich: At REEL, we always try to integrate the latest innovations in order to improve our equipment and enhance our customer’s satisfaction with evolving systems and services.

We work every day to preserve our leadership on the markets, and the 4th industrial revolution is a challenge we are considering seriously and proactively.

For a few years already, we have been delivering digital solutions: Connected equipment, Remote monitoring systems, Assisted reality helmet for instantaneous remote support, Tracking Solutions, Video analysis, virtual reality, Digital commissioning system, etc. are part of our portfolio.

As example, the REEL AMS (Anode Management System) provided by REEL NKM Noell is a solution successfully implemented on several sites. It allows tracking each individual anode throughout the entire baking, cleaning and storing cycle without the need for any marking on the anode block. Here we use data from various handling equipment (cranes, conveyors…), whether from NKM Noell or not. All are interconnected to track every movement of each anode block.

Such system can benefit other industries served by REEL, and many other solutions developed by REEL for other Industries can bring a lot of benefit to the aluminium industry.

That is why we have decided to build a dedicated organization at REEL corporate level to concentrate support, and enhance all the different Digital solutions which were developed in the different divisions of the group.

This confirms our strong willingness to accelerate and professionalize REEL digital transformation while bringing the best possible organization to support our clients in their own transformation.

This organization called REEL Vision™ is now operational and already delivering new tools and services to the markets.

AlCircle: What new digital solutions have you incorporated in your services related to modernization, replacement, or capacity increase operations?

Alexis Fredrich: Many digital products and services have been developed or are currently under development to meet our clients’ needs in every industry.

It has always been part of REEL DNA to ensure continuous, proactive and tailored support to our clients, as it is also part of REEL DNA not to communicate too widely on development topics considering the sensitivity of the industries we are working with (Nuclear, Defence).

Our duty is to ensure that the industries we serve operate with the best available technologies and services, and this requires an extensive technology watch and for sure a strong maturity to evolve and adapt by implementing the latest solutions.

For example, the REEL Vision Helmet developed during the COVID crisis is a good illustration of our ability to industrialize new solutions on a fast track mode.

This assisted reality helmet was used on site to remotely assist our customers and colleagues just a few weeks after the COVID outbreak. The REEL Vision Helmet allowed us to ensure live daily support everywhere in the world with the best expert at the exact moment of need while travel restrictions were occurring.

Also we are proud to announce that we recently finalized the implementation of our new REEL Vision IOT platform.

This fully integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) platform, developed by our REEL Vision teams of developers, data scientists, and products experts, opens new horizons

We are connecting machines and transforming data with our dedicated team on the IIOT world leading software solution.

Meaning that apart from developing and incorporating new digital solutions to our equipment, we are also investing on new and specialized skills to improve our capacity and pertinence in such important areas.

Having built REEL Vision organization at a group level will allow our customers not only to benefit from our knowledge in the aluminium industry but also to benefit from the overall REEL knowhow and experiences in delivering and maintaining equipment in other complex industries.

AlCircle: Have you increased the use of digitalization with the acquisition of Metso Outotec?

Alexis Fredrich: With our recent acquisition in aluminium division, we have strongly developed our solutions portfolio. This includes Digital solutions developed within powerful industrial organization like General Electric, Metso Outotec and FLSmidth. We have then integrated new solutions and technologies brought with those acquisitions.

As example, we are merging the previously mentioned AMS solution (Anode Management System from NKM Noell) with the ARTS (Anode Rod Tracking System) developed by Metso Outotec. We are thus in a position now to offer a fully integrated and proven anode tracking system from the green anode plant, to baking furnace, anode rodding shop, electrolysis and back to the rodding shop. We are using intelligent sensors, vision technologies with specific cameras and identification solutions all connected together throughout the smelter, allowing a complete overview and analysis of the process and associated data through our REEL Vision IOT platform.

That is where and how we will increase and improve our use of digitalization among all business units of the Aluminium Division for the benefit of our clients.

AlCircle: Could you please explain the role of digitalisation in equipment you provide across the aluminium production sector?

Alexis Fredrich: We strongly believe these new solutions are increasing the possibilities to improve processes and enhance existing equipment. For instance, we have developed the “REEL Vision connectivity package”, which allows any type of equipment to be quickly connected to our IOT platform, benefiting from data monitoring, analysis, and tailored decision helpers and KPIs even on a 40 years old equipment.

In fact, there are two main parts concerning digitalisation of any industry such as aluminium.

First, as already explained, there is the ability to transform equipment - The “Smart Equipment”. Then there is the complement part of it - The “Smart Factory”.

We are developing solutions to build smarter and safer equipment, while our clients are looking to transform their full plant and processes and both needs to collaborate to reach their goals.

Our solutions will enhance equipment based on their “perimeter”, and with the collaboration of our clients providing their inputs which could be coming from ERP, EMS, or whatever data source or by providing feedbacks on their experiences, we will build the new generation of production plants.

With REEL Vision, we offer holistic digitalisation solutions, enhancing safety, productivity, availability and efficiency not only for a particular equipment or system but for the overall plants.

AlCircle: How do you think digitalisation can improve sustainability in the global aluminium ecosystem?

Alexis Fredrich: Like automation in its time, digitalisation is a must to product and service evolution. Cloud computing, IoT, Data science , Machine learning , Artificial Intelligence, and digital service like remote support solution, digital twin, and virtual reality are now needed to answer our industry needs. This is not the next step anymore; this is now.

Bringing this ability to transform old equipment to smart equipment, enabling to communicate and provide improvement solutions autonomously is smart and light way to modernize and extend their life.

Providing simple information based on complex data analysis will facilitate and accelerate better decisions and will benefit to the sustainability of our equipment.

REEL Vision IOT is for example providing KPIs on equipment status, while analysing the reason behind each of them and delivering solutions to improve the situations.

Being able to easily raise the availability of a crane without touching it is one of the easy solutions to improve sustainability.

We use program PLCs to run our machines. We are now making our machines speaking and interacting with us, as well as with our client. We used to react to breakdowns, but we now can predict them. We used to organize training sessions for operators again and again, but now the machines constantly and automatically adapt themselves based on current operator or process demands. We used to organize site visits a week at the time, which are now there 24/7 365 days per year. Digitalisation is one of the keys to sustainability, and nothing else than evolution!

AlCircle: Do you observe any development in production at aluminium smelters which are using your digital methodology-infused equipment and solutions?

Alexis Fredrich: Aluminium industry is getting more and more into the implementation of digital solutions, but it is not yet a “standard”. There are still some barriers to overcome as soon as we talk about cloud computing, data transfers, and operator monitoring.  However, the revolution is ongoing and we can already say that our digital solutions improve operation and maintenance on a daily basis.

For example, the data collected from our Pot Tending Machine were used by one of our clients to implement an algorithm which provides optimized functions adapting the offset of anode height positioning after gauging, considering the anode location within a given pot, hence improving the production process.

More related to safety, we are now monitoring PTM movement to avoid non safety displacement like running over a pot with a shovel full of product.

These are short examples that confirm that digitalisation is ongoing and worth the effort.

To conclude, it is a start and I'm convinced that with REEL Vision™, we will accelerate and soon provide the full advantage of the 4th industrial revolution to our clients.