Panther MES and quality tracking solutions go live at Ox Industries in Eaton, Indiana

Eaton, Indiana  –  Ox Industries replaced the legacy manufacturing execution system (MES) at the company’s recently acquired paper mill in Eaton, Indiana with Panther Systems’ MillTools MES on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. Transition of the mill to MillTools included the addition of TestCentral, Panther’s comprehensive quality tracking suite for pulp and paper production. The upgrade follows Ox Industries’ recent acquisition of two uncoated recycled board (URB) mills from another Panther customer WestRock. Panther already had a presence at the mill, having been the provider of the quality control system (QCS), which measures and controls continuous production on the paper machine.

“Eaton is live,” messaged Dan Caviglia, Technical Account Manager for Ox Industries. “We are happy to welcome Ox Industries Eaton to the Panther MES family.”

One the heals of upgrading several large mills with multiple paper machines and many complexities, upgrading Eaton demonstrates the utility, scalability and economy of Panther’s MES and quality tracking solutions. These and other Panther technologies operate in every scale of pulp plant, paper mill and converting facility.

Transforming MES forever

Panther’s ambitious project to modernize the MillTools achieves mission-critical objectives:

  • Ensure longevity and planned innovation of MillTools for years to come
  • Retain critical functionality for pulp, paper and nonwoven manufacturers using existing Panther production databases
  • Provide true localization capability to operate mills in nearly any language
  • Create graphic user interfaces that work on touchscreens and mobile devices
  • Enable customers to operate factories of the future using Panther’s manufacturing execution systems, quality control systems and manufacturing intelligence solutions

New products and approaches

As a result, the new MillTools 2.0 delivers office and shop floor applications with a host of innovations in one integrated software portal. With visionary plans for the future, Panther spun up a new UI/UX team, who develops cutting-edge graphical user interfaces, proliferates new standards for style and rolled out an improved user experience, based on exhaustive research, testing and customer feedback.

Through these efforts, the software company established new standards for front-end applications and software interfaces, while preserving database structure. Panther went a step further by refining the company’s agile software development model to accelerate development of its products.

These improvements allow MillTools 2.0 to assume a central role in Industry 4.0 manufacturing environments. Mills and converting facilities can leverage Panther’s mobile/touchscreen devices and machine automation on shop floors, where people and machines work together for data-driven smart manufacturing.

About Panther Systems

Established in 1993, Panther Systems is heralded by pulp and paper experts as the leading provider of manufacturing execution, quality control, process analysis and other manufacturing intelligence systems. Visit panthersys.com for information or call 360-750-9783.