Bounded autonomy for wet-end dosing
The wetend-and-chemistry agent can now hold charge and retention inside declared limits without per-write approval, where a site has enabled level 3.
Changelog
Every release that can touch a machine, written down.
Platform releases are versioned and pinned per machine. Anything affecting the write path, the policy engine or an agent's tool set is called out explicitly, because a mill has to decide whether to take it.
Live example: Grade change PM4 · 135 gsm kraftliner → 110 gsm testliner, no break, ≤14 min off-spec
Releases
Recent releases
Newest first. Versions marked write-path require site sign-off before promotion. [ASPIRATIONAL — pre-launch release line]
Twin candidate scoring rewrite
Grade-change candidates are now scored jointly on off-spec tonnes, break risk and steam rather than sequentially, cutting simulation time from 61 s to 34 s.
Reasoning trace in the HMI
Goal, plan, thought, action and observation entries are now visible on the machine HMI, not only in the console.
Speed-ramp approval gate
Speed ramps above a configurable threshold now always require human approval, regardless of agent autonomy level.
Defect classification latency
Pipeline optimisation brought classification from 118 ms to 82 ms at twelve synchronised cameras.
Reel genealogy export
Full reel records export as JSON or CSV with ISO, TAPPI and FEFCO method mapping included.
Siemens PCS 7 connector (beta)
Read path complete; guarded write path in validation with a design-partner mill.
Deterministic run replay
Any historical run can be replayed against a candidate model version with a step-by-step decision diff.
Policy engine v2
Tag classes, shift conditions and interlock awareness added to the policy schema, with a migration path from v1 files.
Run timeline
The reference run, per release
We re-run this exact scenario against every release and publish the diff.
run_8f21c4
PM4 · 6.8 m trim · 1,180 m/min
SUCCEEDED
-
01
ingest.grade_target
SUCCEEDED
0.8 s
Mill Orchestrator — Pulled the 110 gsm testliner spec, customer tolerances and the standing energy budget from mill MES; locked the target envelope for the run.
-
02
twin.simulate
SUCCEEDED
34 s
Mill Orchestrator — Simulated 48 candidate transition recipes on the as-run paper-machine twin — forming, press, dryer and calender — and ranked them on off-spec tonnes, break risk and steam.
-
03
stock.refine
SUCCEEDED
2 m 10 s
Pulp-and-Stock — Stepped refiner specific edge load 1.9 → 1.4 Ws/m and pushed freeness toward 412 CSF while consistency held at 3.4%.
-
04
wetend.dose
SUCCEEDED
1 m 26 s
Wetend-and-Chemistry — Retention aid trimmed to 214 g/t and sizing to 1.1 kg/t against live charge and turbidity; first-pass retention recovered to 78% inside 90 seconds.
-
05
form.headbox
SUCCEEDED
1 m 05 s
Form-and-Press — Re-cut the slice profile across 78 actuators and set jet-to-wire to 0.994 to hold formation index through the basis-weight ramp.
-
06
press.nip
SUCCEEDED
48 s
Form-and-Press — Nip load reduced 620 → 540 kN/m to protect the lighter web; post-press dryness landed at 47.1%.
-
07
dry.steam
SUCCEEDED
3 m 18 s
Dry-and-Coat — Re-phased the steam schedule across 6 dryer groups and rebalanced the hood; reel moisture converged to 7.4% ±0.19 2σ at 6.1% less steam than the standing recipe.
-
08
inspect.web
SUCCEEDED
continuous
Defect-and-Inspect — 18 line-scan cameras streaming; two edge-crack precursors detected at the drive side and cleared by a 40 kN/m nip trim before either propagated.
-
09
approve.human
APPROVAL
52 s
Mill Orchestrator — Speed ramp 1,180 → 1,245 m/min exceeded the site autonomy threshold. Held for the machine tender; approved by J. Okonkwo at 04:57:12.
-
10
reel.qualify
SUCCEEDED
1 m 31 s
Quality-and-Conformance — Reel R-24188 released: full genealogy written (furnish, chemistry, CD profiles, defect map, operator actions) and checked against grade spec.
Tool calls
What changed in the tool log
Release notes reference these tool names directly.
- 04:51:04mes.read_orders({ machine: "PM4", next_grade: "TL-110" })
- 04:51:04ok spec locked · basis 110 g/m² · moisture 7.4% ±0.5
- 04:51:05twin.simulate({ candidates: 48, horizon: "18 min" })
- 04:51:39ok best recipe #31 · est. off-spec 6.4 t · break risk 0.07
- 04:51:40policy.evaluate({ recipe: 31, autonomy: "L3" })
- 04:51:40ok 9 writes permitted · 1 write requires human approval
- 04:51:41dcs.write_setpoint({ tag: "REF4.SEL", from: 1.9, to: 1.4 })
- 04:53:51ok freeness 388 → 412 CSF · consistency 3.4%
- 04:53:52chem.dose({ retention_aid: "214 g/t", sizing: "1.1 kg/t" })
- 04:55:18ok first-pass retention 71% → 78%
- 04:55:19dcs.slice_profile({ actuators: 78, jet_to_wire: 0.994 })
- 04:56:24ok formation index 84 · CD basis 2σ 1.7 g/m²
- 04:56:25vision.stream({ cameras: 18, model: "webdefect-v7" })
- 04:56:41precursor: edge crack risk 0.62 · drive side · 1,412 mm
- 04:56:42dcs.nip_load({ delta: "-40 kN/m", zone: "press-2" })
- 04:56:58ok edge crack risk 0.62 → 0.09 · web stable
- 04:56:59approval.request({ action: "speed_ramp", to: "1245 m/min" })
- 04:57:12ok approved by J. Okonkwo (machine tender) · logged
- 04:58:44mes.log_reel({ reel: "R-24188", genealogy: "full" })
- 05:02:46ok run complete · 11m42s · off-spec 6.2 t · breaks 0
Reasoning trace
Plan → thought → action → observation, exactly as the orchestrator recorded it.
GoalMove PM4 from 135 gsm kraftliner to 110 gsm testliner with zer…
Move PM4 from 135 gsm kraftliner to 110 gsm testliner with zero breaks and under 14 minutes of off-spec production.
PlanSimulate the transition on the twin first. Lead with stock and…
Simulate the transition on the twin first. Lead with stock and chemistry so the furnish is right before the basis weight ramps, then trim forming and press, then re-phase drying. Watch the web continuously; hold the speed ramp for a human.
ThoughtThe standing recipe drops basis weight and speed together. On …
The standing recipe drops basis weight and speed together. On the twin that produces a 3-minute moisture excursion because the dryer section unloads faster than the steam schedule can follow. Sequencing the steam re-phase ahead of the basis-weight ramp removes it.
Actiontwin.simulate(candidates=48) → recipe #31 re-phases steam 40 s…
twin.simulate(candidates=48) → recipe #31 re-phases steam 40 s before the basis-weight ramp and holds nip load until post-press dryness confirms.
ObservationRecipe #31 estimates 6.4 t off-spec against 9.8 t for the stan…
Recipe #31 estimates 6.4 t off-spec against 9.8 t for the standing recipe, with break risk 0.07. Two candidates scored lower on steam but raised break risk above the 0.15 site limit and were discarded.
ActionExecute recipe #31 under autonomy level L3: nine setpoint writ…
Execute recipe #31 under autonomy level L3: nine setpoint writes permitted, speed ramp routed to the machine tender.
ObservationEdge-crack precursor at 1,412 mm drive side at 04:56:41. Nip t…
Edge-crack precursor at 1,412 mm drive side at 04:56:41. Nip trim of −40 kN/m in press-2 cleared it in 16 s without a break.
OutcomeRun complete in 11 m 42 s. 6.2 t off-spec, zero breaks, 6.1% l…
Run complete in 11 m 42 s. 6.2 t off-spec, zero breaks, 6.1% less dryer steam than the standing recipe. Reel R-24188 released with full genealogy.
Support
Version support matrix
What is supported, what is deprecated and when it stops receiving fixes.
| Version | Released | Status | Security fixes until |
|---|---|---|---|
| v0.9 | Current | Supported | Rolling |
| v0.8 | Previous | Supported | +12 months |
| v0.7 | Previous | Supported | +9 months |
| v0.6 | Older | Maintenance | +6 months |
| v0.5 | Older | Maintenance | +3 months |
| v0.4 and below | Legacy | Unsupported | Ended |
Policy
How a release reaches a machine
No release auto-updates a mill-edge node. Every promotion is a decision.
Publish
Release notes are published with write-path changes flagged and the replay diff attached.
Replay
The mill replays its own last 90 days of runs against the candidate version and reviews the decision diff.
Shadow
The candidate runs in shadow on one machine while the pinned version stays in control.
Sign-off
For write-path changes, the site signs off explicitly. Advisory-only changes may be promoted by the platform owner.
Promote
The pin moves. The change takes effect at the next scan cycle boundary, never mid-step.
Rollback
One command returns to the prior pin. Rollbacks are logged like any other change.
Roadmap
What is coming next
Directional, not committed dates. [ASPIRATIONAL]
Coating and specialty grades
Extending dry-and-coat to coated board and specialty release grades with their own defect taxonomies.
Cross-machine scheduling
Yield-and-takt planning across multiple machines and winders inside one mill.
Multi-mill fleet learning
Federated improvement across a group's mills without moving raw process data off site.
Recovery and utilities agents
Extending beyond the machine into recovery boiler and utilities optimisation.
Autonomous grade qualification
Qualifying a new grade against standards with the human role reduced to release approval.
Tissue-specific creping control
Yankee and creping blade dynamics as a dedicated agent scope.
Autonomy
Four levels, set per agent and per tag
A mill does not go from manual to unattended in one step. Pulpum makes the level explicit, auditable and reversible at any time.
| Level | What the agent does | What the human does | Typical time to reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Advisory | Recommends setpoints and explains why | Enters every change manually | Week 1 |
| L2 · Supervised | Proposes a write; it executes on approval | Approves each write in the HMI | Week 3–6 |
| L3 · Bounded | Writes inside tag, rate and magnitude limits | Approves ramps and grade releases | Month 2–4 |
| L4 · Unattended | Runs the envelope without prompting | Sets the envelope; reviews the shift record | Month 6+ [ASPIRATIONAL] |
Accelerated computing
Physical AI, at the machine
Paper moves at 1,200 metres a minute. Perception has to be local, deterministic and fast, so Pulpum runs GPU inference at the mill edge and keeps training, simulation and optimisation in the cloud or on-prem.
Edge perception
8–24 synchronised line-scan cameras per machine. Sub-100 ms defect classification, sub-250 ms break-risk updates. [ASPIRATIONAL design targets]
Model serving
Vision, time-series prognostics, grade embeddings and process reasoning behind one orchestrator, with deterministic rollback by model version.
Training
Defect vision, break precursors, wet-end response and drying models trained on reel genealogy, QCS histories and operator corrections.
Digital twin
GPU-accelerated CFD, drying and web-dynamics simulation of the as-run machine — 10–100 candidate recipes evaluated per grade change.
Synthetic data
Rare break, contamination, wrinkle and formation-upset variants generated and always validated against real mill events before promotion.
Optimisation
Grade-change sequencing, dryer energy allocation, machine-speed balancing and maintenance windows under production and energy constraints.
Guardrails
An agent that can move a nip needs a leash
Pulpum writes to production equipment. Every capability is scoped, every write is policy-checked, and every action is written to an append-only audit log the mill owns.
- Bounded action space. Each agent can only write to an explicit tag allow-list, inside per-tag rate and magnitude limits.
- Policy engine before every write. Autonomy level, shift, grade, interlock state and operator presence are all evaluated before a setpoint moves.
- Human-in-the-loop gates. Anything above the site threshold — speed ramps, grade releases, safety-adjacent moves — waits for a named approver.
- Immutable audit log. Append-only, hash-chained, exportable, and retained on the mill's own storage.
- Hard fallback. Loss of the edge node, the network or the model returns control to the DCS's last known-good state within one scan cycle.
- Tenant and IP isolation. Furnish recipes, grade models and defect libraries never cross a customer boundary. On-prem deployment available.
Compliance posture
| Standard | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type II | Cloud control plane | RUNNING In progress [ASPIRATIONAL] |
| ISO 27001 | Company-wide ISMS | QUEUED Planned [ASPIRATIONAL] |
| IEC 62443 | Mill-edge OT security | RUNNING Design-aligned |
| GDPR | Operator data | SUCCEEDED Compliant |
| ISO 9001 / FSC | Quality + chain of custody records | SUCCEEDED Supported |
Integrations
It speaks mill, not cloud
Pulpum reads and writes through the systems already on the floor. No rip-and-replace, no parallel historian, no new HMI to learn.
Valmet IQ, ABB 800xA QCS, Honeywell Experion MX
Profiles, scans, lab results
ABB 800xA, Valmet DNA, Honeywell Experion, Siemens PCS 7
Setpoint reads and guarded writes
WIS/WMS line-scan, IR and transmission cameras
Frames, defect maps, break replays
SAP PP/QM, ABB cpmPlus, custom historians
Orders, grades, reel genealogy
OSIsoft PI, Aspen IP.21, InfluxDB
Time-series backfill and replay
NVIDIA Isaac, winder and wrapper PLCs
Reel, roll and clamp-truck motion
Azure AD, Okta, on-prem LDAP
SSO, RBAC, named approvers
NVIDIA Jetson Orin, IGX, on-prem GPU
Sub-100 ms inference at the machine
FAQ
Straight answers
The questions mill managers and process engineers actually ask in the first meeting.
Yes, but only within an explicit tag allow-list with per-tag rate and magnitude limits, and only at the autonomy level your site has set. Level 1 is advisory-only: Pulpum recommends and a human enters everything. Most mills spend their first weeks there before enabling supervised writes.
Control returns to the DCS last known-good state within one scan cycle. Pulpum is designed as a supervisory layer on top of your existing control system, never as a replacement for it, so a Pulpum outage degrades the mill to its current way of running — not to a stop.
Break prediction and defect classification typically need 8 to 12 weeks of QCS, DCS and inspection history per grade family, plus labelled break events. Advisory recommendations start in week one from the physics-based twin, and improve as mill-specific history accumulates.
Only if you choose cloud training. Recipes, grade models and defect libraries are tenant-isolated and never used to train another customer's models. A fully on-prem deployment with an air-gapped mill edge is available for sensitive producers.
You are, the same as with any control strategy — which is why every write is policy-checked, bounded, logged and reversible, and why anything above your risk threshold waits for a named approver. The audit log records the request, the reasoning, the limits applied and the human decision.
A 90 to 120 day mill-edge deployment on one paper machine, scoped to a single workflow with a pre-agreed baseline [ASPIRATIONAL]. Weeks 1–3 are connection and shadow-mode observation; weeks 4–8 advisory; weeks 9+ supervised or bounded writes if the mill is satisfied with the recommendations.
Get started
Follow the release line
Design partners get release candidates, replay diffs and the write-path review before publication.