MHI-MS launches world's first AI warp-control device for corrugated board

The device addresses a specific production problem: corrugated sheets are made by gluing two liner sheets and a wave-shaped medium sheet and drying them at high temperature, and many paper types warp easily under standard machine settings. Until now, skilled operators adjusted the machine for each paper type based on experience and intuition. Recent retirements and labor shortages have made that know-how hard to pass on, and domestic demand for small-lot, multi-product box production has outpaced conventional warp-control devices, with warp also changing over time.

MHI-MS's approach draws on AI technology held by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' research institute. The system continuously and automatically accumulates data on liner moisture, temperature and warp amount per paper type, and trains the AI on appropriate machine settings, so the AI predicts settings that avoid warp for each paper type. According to MHI-MS, this lets production run warp-free from the very first lot.

MHI-MS has supplied more than 300 corrugate machines since delivering its first in 1956. It says it will keep developing products for domestic and overseas market needs by expanding synergies with the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group's technology.