Prism Systems, located in Mobile, Alabama – an area rich in wood and raw materials – has been immensely involved in the Pulp and Paper Industry for several years. The Pulp and Paper Industry brings in annual revenues of more than $160 billion, which makes it among the most heavily regulated industries in the United States. The leading products of the Pulp and Paper industry are paper, paperboard, and insulation. Considering the core materials involved with creating these products the Pulp and Paper Industry faces a great deal of criticism from several activist groups. Because of its impact on the environment and its comparatively dangerous working conditions, there are now several government regulations and agencies. Prism Systems created a solution to regulate emission events that occur in these industries.

Environmental Reporting Solution (ERS) is a long-term project at Prism Systems, Inc. we have been working on for over a decade. Over the span of that time, ERS has grown into a key product for our customers. By using ERS, our customers have been able to automate many manual processes and dramatically improve malfunction response time. This means more production time and less overhead.

There are two major features ERS provides: operational monitoring and compliance reporting. The operational monitoring piece is tailored to the customer's needs. We work closely with plant administrators to define rules based on customer requirements and permits that will trigger automatic alarm notifications. These notifications will display in the primary system and can also be configured to automatically be emailed to key users. These kinds of alarm notifications typically refer to specific manufacturing equipment startup and shutdown events, as well as equipment malfunction detection.

The compliance reporting features involve custom reports that are required for day-to-day plant operation, as well as monthly, quarterly, and annual compliance. We work with our clients to replicate existing reports, letting the system automatically create these using data collected by the system. This saves a great deal of time and money. Also, it eliminates errors that come into play when creating reports by hand.

Over time, the product has grown in functionality but has not seen a significant overhaul in the user-facing pieces. As many applications have moved to the web, the web has evolved and demanded greater ease of use. When ERS was first developed, the Internet was largely dominated by Microsoft and corporations used Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, times have changed, and Internet Explorer is far from the 'top dog.' Prism Systems has spent the last six months modernizing the ERS application to create a richer user experience, as well as cross-browser support. By doing this, our users can pick whichever browser they love most. Prism has launched the new interface at seven locations and our customers have responded very positively to the new look and feel.

Because of the Environmental Reporting Solution created by Prism Systems, Pulp and Paper Industries have a tool to monitor the emission events that take place. By having a way to effectively monitor, these industries can comply with government-issued agencies and regulations. This also helps provide a safer work environment for the employees of these facilities.