Displaying items by tag: voith paper

When upgrading its PM 2, Koehler Kehl opted for products from Voith's AdvancedPRODUCTS range that enable the company to reduce the machine's water consumption, achieve a faster starting curve and at the same time improve paper quality.

One of Koehler’s major strengths is its willingness to constantly improve. This is why for the upgrade of the press section on the PM 2 the focus was on achieving more stable operation, reliable planning of shutdowns and improved safety in the production process. On the PM 2, the company produces just short of 130,000 metric tons of thermal paper per year with basis weights of between 35 and 47 g/m².

Wiebke Petzold (Voith Product Manager) and Joachim Fuchs (Productionmanager PM 2 / CM 2 at Koehler Kehl Germany) at the PM 2 in Kehl.

In the course of various improvement measures, Voith fitted the press section with products from PressMax range of its AdvancedPRODUCTS. The prime objective was to continually improve the quality of the paper grades and reduce its operational costs.

The latter was especially achieved by using of the QualiFlex press sleeves for the shoe press. Refinements were made to the sleeves and their abrasion behavior was improved. On the PM 2 this led to a doubled runtime. This reduced the maintenance work for replacing the shoe press covers. Previously, the press sleeves had needed to be changed after 180 days on average.

An increase in productivity was also the reason for introducing press felts with PeakElement which allow a faster start and better nip dewatering than standard felts. As a result, the start-up curve of the machine could be shortened considerably following the felt change. “With the installation of the Voith products, we were able to clearly improve the start-up curve after felt change on the PM 2. The machine can be brought to its maximum speed faster and with fewer problems, resulting in greater availability and lower operating costs,” states Joachim Fuchs Productionmanager PM 2 / CM 2 at Koehler Kehl Germany.

In addition, the measurements taken by the FeltView system delivered important moisture and permeability data for targeted conditioning of the pick-up felts. Koehler can use this data to continually optimize machine settings and improve efficiency. Critical felt conditions can be identified before they impair the process and the felts are run in optimum operating condition. FeltView also makes manual measurements redundant, which ultimately improves the safety of the production process.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-conserving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith’s technologies have been inspiring customers, business partners and employees worldwide. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees, sales of €4.3 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Being a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive.

Voith Paper concluded, in October, the start-up of the new XcelLine VTM 3 tissue machine it has supplied to US tissue and specialty paper manufacturer Little Rapids Corporation. The new machine has replaced the company’s old PM 3 at its Shawano production facility in Wisconsin.

The new VTM 3 went online six days ahead of the contract schedule, thereby achieving a total plant downtime of just 30 days from paper to paper, that is, between dismantling the previous equipment and erecting and starting-up the new machine. Besides this outstanding achievement, the second jumbo roll of tissue paper already provided marketable quality, and the machine reached its maximum operating speed during its first week in service.

All of the new VTM 3’s technologies and components are seamlessly coordinated and integrated with each other. Besides the new XcelLine tissue paper machine and its auxiliary equipment – not counting the Yankee cylinder, which has been reused from the old machine – Voith’s scope of supply also included stock preparation and approach flow systems, a steam box, a gas hood, and a mist removal and dust reduction system. The order was rounded off by Voith's automation package, comprised of the DCS and MCS systems, as well as field services.

XcelLine VTM 3 Little Rapids

This project’s key benefits include an improvement in paper quality and increased production capacity, since the new machine will now be producing at a speed of more than 1,800 meters per minute.

All of these measures are not only indicative of the project’s enormous success, but also the outstanding synergy between the Voith, Little Rapids Corporation, and Contract Companies teams. “We are extremely proud of the teamwork demonstrated by all parties involved to safely execute the rebuild within a very compressed timeframe. We are also encouraged by the performance that we are seeing at this early stage of the machine’s start-up ramp and optimistic that this investment will provide additional capabilities and quality enhancements that our customers value,” said Ron Thiry, Vice President and General Manager at Little Rapids Corporation.

About Little Rapids Corporation
Little Rapids Corporation was founded by Charles Egan in 1947 and remains a family-owned business. The company’s core product lines serve the medical and beauty market segments, flexographic printing for a variety of packaging markets, and tissue, MG paper, and wet crepe paper for the specialty paper market. With headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Green Bay, the company, which employs 450, also has a paper manufacturing facility in Shawano, Wisconsin. In addition, the company donates to the region via the Little Rapids Corporation - Egan Family Foundation, a private foundation established by the Egan family in 1986 with the mission to fund charities in communities where Little Rapids Corporation has facilities.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-conserving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith’s technologies have been inspiring customers, business partners and employees worldwide. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees, sales of €4.3 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Being a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive.

A consistently high quality for all basis weights and low energy consumption were the two main requirements to be met by the new PM 1 at Kipaş Kağıt. This is why the Turkish paper manufacturer opted for an XcelLine system from Voith featuring a high degree of automation.

• Efficient production of high-quality board and packaging papers
• Basis weights from 90 to 400 g/m2 possible
• Automation package guarantees process reliability

At the end of September 2017, Voith won a contract from Turkish paper manufacturer Kipaş Kağıt to build the PM 1 at the company's mill at Söke in Western Turkey. The company will use the XcelLine facility to produce around 700,000 metric tons per year of high-quality board and packaging papers with basis weights of 90 to 400 grams per square meter. Kipaş Kağıt is planning to run at a production speed of 1,200 meters per minute. The wire section has a flexible design allowing the production of two-ply and three-ply paper.

One of the key priorities for the Turkish papermaker was high paper quality with high machine efficiency even in the case of low grammages. In addition, the machine should be particularly energy efficient, i.e. use less power, water and steam. XcelLine meets both these criteria thanks to its perfectly matched components.

In the stock preparation unit of the PM 1, for example, various products of the BlueLine family reduce the costs for energy, fresh fiber treatment, water and maintenance. In four stock preparation lines featuring processing technology specially designed for various recovered papers and pulp and with a total production capacity of more than 3,000 t/day, the conditions have been created for manufacturing high-quality paper products. Apart from the process machines, Voith will also supply the complete water, sludge and reject system and the main components for the effluent treatment plant.

Stock distribution is done via three MasterJet Pro headboxes. The OnQ ModuleJet dilution water system, which is integrated into the headbox for the middle ply, allows the dilution water to be dosed directly into the intermediate layer. This results in a uniform distribution over the entire height of the layer. The system improves the accuracy of the control response in the paper web by over 50 percent compared with conventional systems, allowing optimum CD profiles and an excellent fiber orientation to be achieved.
A key element of the Combi DuoRun dryer section are the EvoDry steel cylinders which allow the number of drying cylinders in the pre-dryer and after-dryer sections to be reduced. This reduces the weight of the dryer section and saves investment and electricity costs, without compromising the quality of the products.
In addition, the PM 1 will be fitted with a Tandem NipcoFlex shoe press with four felts and a downstream third press to improve smoothness, a SpeedSizer AT film applicator unit and an EcoCal Hard and EcoCal Soft nip calender. If the paper is to be coated this is done using up to three DynaCoat AF coaters and a DF Coat unit for direct coating. Non-coated papers are transferred via an intermediate Sirius winding system directly to the two VariFlex winders with two-drum winder technology. Voith will also supply the complete initial clothing for the PM 1 and three further clothing sets.

A comprehensive automation package consisting of OnControl process control system, OnQ quality control, OnView information system and OnCare CM condition monitoring increases process reliability and allows preventive maintenance. Interminable and costly machine shutdowns can therefore be avoided. Moreover, the OnV energy management system that is also integrated into the PM 1 identifies, localizes and visualizes all energy consumptions during ongoing paper production and offers the user numerous options for improvement. In this context, the entire machine air system, which guarantees high heat recovery rates and operational reliability, makes an especially important contribution to energy saving and economic efficiency.

The good experience that Kipaş Kağıt had with Voith in the past during the construction of the new stock preparation unit in 2013 was the reason the company decided from the very outset that the new facility had to come from one source. The Turkish paper manufacturer was more than satisfied with the performance and reliability of the stock preparation unit and therefore decided to award Voith the entire contract for the PM 1 and also entrust the technology leader from Heidenheim with the complete planning of the facility. As part of its Process Line Package, Voith assumes total responsibility for the project and guarantees scheduled completion of the system at the agreed price.

Moreover, Kipaş Kağıt is planning to work with Voith again to build another paper machine for non-coated packaging papers in the same width and with a similar production capacity at the same location.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

Since the beginning of the year, the Government of India has been producing for the first time large volumes of paper for its rupee banknotes through the Indian Central Bank. For this purpose, Voith supplied two complete production lines to Mysore – Bank Note Paper Mill India (Pvt.) Ltd., in Southern India. The scope of supply included the water mark wire workshop, cotton, stock and broke preparation and two paper machines as well as the entire finishing unit with two rewinders, three cross-cutters and fully automated packaging lines. The two paper machines have an annual capacity of up to 12,000 metric tons of banknote paper for the local market. To house the production facilities new facility were erected adjacent to the banknote printing works. Among other things the new lines will produce the base paper for the new 500 and 2,000 rupee banknotes.

Mysore – Bank Note Paper Mill India (Pvt.) Ltd..

• Annual production capacity 12,000 metric tons
• Production of base paper for all denominations, predominantly the new 500 and 2,000 rupee banknotes
• Order includes transfer of expertise on producing banknote paper

Thanks to the two machines in Mysore, India can now produce in its own country a substantial part of its requirement for around 28,000 metric tons of banknote paper per year. As the customer in Mysore did not have any previous experience in producing banknote paper, the necessary expertise was transferred by Voith through appropriate training and long-term support on site. This included the preparation of the embossing stamps for the watermark, the necessary chemical formulations, as well as the operation of the entire plant, up to the packaging of the banknote sheets. Today the Bank Note Paper Mill India runs the entire system very successfully and completely independent.

The first banknotes produced on the two production lines included the new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes. The Indian government took a long time to announce the issue of the newly designed banknotes. To curtail corruption and the black economy, all old banknotes with a value of more than 100 rupees were declared invalid virtually overnight in November 2016 and a deadline of the end of December was announced for exchanging the old banknotes. At the same time, banks were instructed to issue a limited amount of the new notes which now had comprehensive security features.

Caption: Mysore – Bank Note Paper Mill India (Pvt.) Ltd..

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

By individually setting the height and angle, VForm makes it possible to precisely adjust the activity of the pulp suspension. This increases the dewatering capacity and improves e.g. the strength of the paper. The optional integration in ComCore makes VForm a Papermaking 4.0 solution.

• Increasing the dewatering capacity and paper quality
• Compatibility with the ComCore platform for automatic setting
• Successful use at Schönfelder Papierfabrik

With the new VForm hydrofoils from Voith, papermakers can decisively improve the quality of all grades of paper already in the wire section. Unlike conventional dewatering systems the VForm allows the height and angle to be set for each individual hydrofoil. This increases the activity in the fiber suspension, which in turn leads also to a significant increase in the dewatering capacity.

Every VForm hydrofoil can be adjusted by up to five millimeters in height and up to seven degrees in the angle. This adjustment can be made manually. But in order to obtain a consistently high paper quality, the positioning of the hydrofoils needs to be adapted to the paper grade. For this reason, it makes sense to install an electric control system. The VForm foils can be adjusted for the specific grade using the Voith automation platform ComCore. Moreover, this also makes it possible to react to process fluctuations. The VForm is therefore another production solution from Voith that makes Papermaking 4.0 a reality – that is, the digitalization of paper production.

Click the picture above to see more

Through the interaction of height and angle adjustments in connection with ComCore, VForm simultaneously combines three setting options that make it possible to increase paper quality. “Thanks to this genuine 3-in-1 solution, it is possible to significantly improve the formation, for instance. Moreover, the more homogeneous pulp suspension results in greater paper quality with respect to its strength as well,” stresses Dr. Thomas Jaschinski, Global Product Manager at Voith Paper. VForm therefore helps to reduce the use of starch and other chemicals in paper production, for example.

Integration in ComCore also increases the process reliability. This is because the paper manufacturer can store the ideal setting of the VForm hydrofoil for each paper grade. The setting process is then performed automatically. Since it is possible to adjust each individual foil, papermakers have many more levels of freedom compared to conventional systems when it comes to achieving the desired paper quality. At the same time, this means an increase in flexibility during paper production.

Adjusting the dewatering system precisely results in better homogenization of the fiber suspension, thereby leading to greater paper strength. “With the new VForm hydrofoil from Voith, we are achieving greater dewatering capacity and better formation. At the same time, we have been able to increase the static strength properties and obtain improved pulp orientation,” adds Andy Diedrich, Production Manager at Schönfelder Papierfabrik. VForm is in operation since March 2017 there.

VForm will be delivered completely preassembled with hydrofoil boxes or as a retrofit of existing dewatering boxes.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

Jiangsu, China: In February 2017 Bohui Paper Group contracted Voith to supply a new board machine. The BM 4 will be built at Dafeng in the Chinese province Jiangsu and following completion will be one of the largest board machines in the world. Voith will supply the complete XcelLine process line from Wet End process to winder. This reduces the number of interfaces for the customer to a minimum and provides cost transparency for the entire project.

The order is the result of the long and successful cooperation between the companies to build the BM 1 and BM 3. The experts from Bohui Paper Group had already been impressed by the fast and smooth commissioning of these two machines in 2003 and 2013 respectively. The subsequent efficient production process also ensured a high degree of customer satisfaction.

f.l.t.r. Andreas Endters, President Business Line Projects Voith Paper, Yang Yanliang, Chairman Bohui Paper Group, Thomas Holzer President Voith Paper Asia

From December 2018 the new BM 4 will operate at a speed of 1.200 m/min to produce folding box board with a basis weight of 250 g/m2. The production line offers a range of special technical features that both improve the quality of the finished paper and reduce energy consumption. The Wet End section of the BM 4 impresses with a new Clean Design concept that achieves particularly high runnability. In the BM 4, the use of a Triple NipcoFlex press not only ensures tremendous dewatering efficiency while preserving volume, but also achieves a smooth surface on the board. The scope of supply also includes three MasterJet Pro headboxes, a DuoFormer DII, four TurboDryers, and the energy-efficient qDry Pro non-contact drying system. Moreover the BM 4 is equipped with EcoCal Hard and EcoCal Soft calenders, a Sirius winding system as well as two VariFlex winders, MCS and DCS are completing Voith Paper’s scope of delivery.

Voith Financial Services also helped secure the project by developing and organizing an attractive financing concept tailored to the customer's needs. In this area, too, there was close collaboration with Bohui Paper Group based on a spirit of mutual trust.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

On June 10, 2017, Voith Paper, Huazhang Technology, Jianhui Paper and Jinzhou Paper reached an agreement to rebuild the headboxes and shoe presses of existing paper machines. Under this new contract, Voith Paper has been commissioned to rebuild the headboxes and shoe presses of Jianhui PM 3 and PM 4 as well as Jinzhou PM 3 and PM 4.

Attendees of the signing ceremony included President of Jianhui Paper, Mr. Li Guihua; Deputy General Manager of Jianhui Paper, Mr. Chen Bo; President of Jinzhou Paper, Mr. Li Huihua; President of Huazhang Technology, Mr. Zhu Genrong; President P&S of Voith Paper Asia, Dr. Gregor Wiche; Managing Director P&S of Voith Paper China, Mr. Frank Wu; and P&S Rebuilding Business Director of Voith Paper China, Mr. Jason Jiang.

The rebuilds will lead to an increase in production capacity of 10 to 15% and a considerable improvement of the paper quality, such as an improved grammage profile and boost in paper formation. As a technology leader, Voith Paper continuously offers top performance in every sector over the entire life cycle of the paper machine while providing resource-saving solutions to ensure the sustainable success of our customers. Along with eight headboxes and two Tandem NipcoFlex, the scope of supply includes two CB turn, rolls, sleeves, press felts and services.

This is not the first cooperation between Voith Paper, Jianhui Paper and Jinzhou Paper. This rebuild contract not only shows how much the clients recognize Voith’s high-quality products, technology and service, but also lays a solid foundation for long-term strategic cooperation between the parties. This new cooperation further demonstrates the position of strength Voith Paper has in the market for rebuilding medium-sized paper machines in China.

About Huazhang Technology
With a major market share in automation within the Chinese papermaking industry, Huazhang Technology Holding Ltd. provides research, development, design, manufacturing, sales and value-added services for premium comprehensive one-stop automatic systems and solid-liquid separation products.

About Jianhui Paper
Founded in 2002 with a total investment of 4.3 billion yuan, Jianhui Paper occupies an area of 480,000 square meters and is situated within the No. 1 Industrial Park in Huangchong Village, which is part of the Dongguan town of Zhongtang. The company specializes in manufacturing high-grade single-coated duplex boards and environmentally friendly kraftliner, boasting world-leading production capacity.

About Jinzhou Paper
Occupying an area of over 400,000 square meters, Jinzhou Paper was founded in 2002 with a total investment of 1.8 billion yuan. It is also located in the No.1 Industrial Park in Huangchong Village in the Dongguan town of Zhongtang, and is a leading paper manufacturer in China that specializes in packaging paper with recovered paper as raw material.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About Voith
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

Through its "Servolution" concept, Voith offers comprehensive, tailor-made service expertise that covers all machine segments and supports customers from the planning phase over the entire service life of the machine and beyond. Under this kind of partnership, Spanish paper manufacturer Papel Aralar entrusted its entire service operations to Voith and is now benefiting from higher machine availability and improved paper quality.

• Individually tailored service packages
• Greater data transparency means more efficient operations on site
• Reduced use of resources and better paper quality

Senen Amunarriz, Managing Director of Papel Aralar (right), and Mitxel Etxezarreta, Managing Director of Voith Paper Spain (left). The partnership between Papel Aralar and Voith includes the outsourcing of all service and maintenance works to Voith.

"Voith's experts always have an overview of the entire process. They are familiar with the latest state-of-the-art and capable of determining when new technologies should be integrated," says Senen Amunarriz, Managing Director of Papel Aralar. This is why the paper manufacturer located to the east of Bilbao has outsourced all service and maintenance works to Voith. In doing so it is reaping the benefits of the expertise that Voith has accumulated in its 150 years of existence. And the outcomes prove that this was the right decision for Papel Aralar, because since partnering with Voith the company has experienced far fewer production downtimes. And Papel Aralar can go back to focusing on its core area of expertise – the production of paper.

Voith has brought together its comprehensive, tailored service packages in the Servolution concept. A major feature of the concept is the close contact with customers. This means that Voith supports and advises its partners from the initial planning phase through the entire service life of the machine and beyond. In doing so Voith helps its customers increase machine availability, process reliability, paper quality and production speed. The maintenance and optimization services include proposing solutions for significantly reducing consumption of energy, water and raw materials. Apart from maintaining all machine components, Voith also provides Papel Aralar with IT support.

A high level of data transparency and its availability at all times are key elements of the Servolution concept. Because not only do the data provide the basis for efficient operations on site, this digital support also supplies important information for predictive maintenance. At Papel Aralar, therefore, the partnership includes regular audits conducted jointly by Voith and the company's production team. In this context, Voith's service team proposes various options for improvements. Already, the consumption of energy, raw materials and chemicals could be reduced as a result. And at the same time, the cost efficiency and quality of the paper was increased, ''As the Voith team is permanently on site and knows the facilities inside out, any optimization proposals can be readily implemented in the short term,'' says Mitxel Etxezarreta, Managing Director of Voith Paper Spain.

Papel Aralar is completely convinced of the success of its collaboration with Voith: Senen Amunarriz has already signaled that the papermaker wishes to extend the service contract, which is due to expire in 2019, by another five years.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a corporate division of Voith and is one of the leading partners and pioneers in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-conserving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About the company
For 150 years, Voith’s technologies have been inspiring customers, business partners and employees around the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees, sales of €4.3 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Being a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive

Since January, papermakers around the globe have been able to purchase Voith products and services quickly and easily around the clock in the Voith Paper Webshop. But the new online platform offers more than just an easy way to purchase replacement parts. It also enables all information about a machine, from the original delivery to the order history and operating instructions, to be viewed at a glance.

Ordering matching replacement or wear parts for paper machines that have tens of thousands of technical components can often be very timeconsuming and is therefore a significant cost factor. Even if the machine documentation has been scrupulously kept, the ordering process often has to be preceded by extensive research with the manufacturer. It is estimated that searching for the required components can take up to 30 percent of the time needed to prepare for maintenance work.

Fewer incorrect orders and faster processing thanks to Voith Paper Webshop: Alain Gafner, Maintenance Manager at Perlen Papier AG (middle), and Christian Stocker, Team Leader Technical Purchasing at Perlen Papier AG (right) talk about more efficient ordering processes with Michael Thoma, Director Global E-Business Solutions Voith Paper (Ieft).

Initial customers, such as Perlen Papier and Papierfabrik Palm, were the first to gather experience with the platform during a test phase. On the basis of their experience Voith continued to refine the platform, focusing on making it more user-friendly.

• Readily accessible, clearly structured machine Information
• Order tracking and integration into customer ERP System simplifies planning and implementation
• Perlen Papier and Papierfabrik Palm among the first satisfied customers

For example, customers can opt to search for the spare parts they need using a clearly arranged tree structure or the order number, which may also be a customer-defined internal part number. "A search based on our own part numbers makes the order process much simpler and helps us to avoid ordering the wrong parts," says Christian Stocker, Team Leader Technical Purchasing at Perlen Papier. In the meantime, the Swiss paper manufacturer is ordering around 90 percent of its replacement parts from the Voith Paper Webshop.

A few clicks are all it takes to access prices, delivery times and availability. For Michelle White, Senior Purchaser for the UK at Papierfabrik Palm, the Voith Paper Webshop has meanwhile become one of the most important platforms used by the company: “The Webshop shows me all information on component specifications and sizes – and also, exactly where the part is located in the machine." She believes that the benefits of the Voith Paper Webshop are much greater than those of other online shops she is familiar with.

"Thanks to order tracking the person placing the order can see exactly when a part arrives at the plant, allowing for highly accurate scheduling of maintenance works. Being able to see the current availability of parts also allows paper manufacturers to maintain a leaner spare parts inventory," explains Michael Thoma, Director Global E-Business Solutions Voith Paper.

A seamless integration of the Webshop into the customer's ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system allows ordering and order processing to be realized effectively without system interruptions. As a result, ordering history and tracking are rendered transparent for both parties, the ordering process is easier to plan and is much simplified for all participants.

Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and the leading partner and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-conserving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets.

With the new EcoCal Plus calender, Voith is ensuring that papermakers can produce high-grade board products with high stability and lower basis weight. The special thermal smoothing of the EcoCal Plus allows raw material savings of up to 3.5 percent. In addition, the process results in an improved surface structure of the paper.

The demand for board grades with maximum possible bulk has been growing steadily over the last few years. With lightweight and stable board products, significant cost savings can be achieved for example in the mail-order business. At the same time, board packaging products are increasingly important for advertising of consumer goods by focusing attention on the package contents which indirectly support its sales. Good printability and surface quality are just as important as stability and low weight. Both properties are positively influenced by the EcoCal Plus calender.

For the production of these board grades, the manufacturers usually use high fresh fiber content. Secondary fibers are only added in some cases. Lower basis weights and maintaining or improving board properties are therefore crucial for lowering resource consumption and production costs on the manufacturer side.

The new Voith EcoCal Plus calender is ensuring that papermakers can produce high-grade board products with high stability but with low raw material use. It can be integrated into existing plants as part of an upgrade.

Thermal smoothing key to paper quality
The hard nip calender plays a decisive role in the manufacturing of high-quality, stable board with low basis weight. It smoothes the paper surface and gives the board a uniform surface. This is where Voith’s EcoCal Plus comes in. The machine calender used for pre-calendering makes use of the fact that surfaces can be smoothed more easily when moisturized and warm. Voith thus equipped the EcoCal Plus with an external induction-heated system that additionally heats the thermo roll to a temperature of up to 260°C. This is considerably higher than the temperatures of conventional systems with 200°C. The EcoCal Plus also has an additional nozzle moisturizer for intensifying the bulk-preserving smoothing effect by regulating the paper web temperature.

More bulk and better surface structure
With thermal smoothing, less mechanical force must be applied to the paper web. As a result, the bulk loss is much lower than with conventional calendering. Paper smoothed with the EcoCal Plus thus has a higher specific volume. The process has another advantage: through the optimum interplay between temperature, moisture, and line load, the board surface structure is optimized. This is especially important for the packaging of high-grade foodstuffs, cosmetics, electronics, and medical products. The uniform surface and the higher stiffness greatly ease the tasks of board finishing and printing.

Cost savings through lower fiber consumption
The moisture and temperature gradients used in calendering with the EcoCal Plus require only a negligible amount of additional energy. However, this is more than balanced by the economic advantages offered by the EcoCal Plus. The EcoCal Plus technology allows papermakers to reduce their fiber consumption. This saving greatly improves the cost efficiency of the plant: an annual production of 500,000 tonnes with a one-percent saving in raw materials use translates into savings of around 250,000 euros per month for the manufacturer. In practice, the savings potential is much higher: EcoCal Plus calenders have been in operation since 2011 and have achieved bulk savings of up to 3.5% due to the uniqueness of the technology. Thus, the break-even point for investment in the technology can be reached after half a year, depending on the machine size. Alternatively, with the EcoCal Plus, lower-cost raw materials can be used to achieve the same board quality, which also drastically lowers production costs.

The EcoCal Plus calender can be integrated into existing plants as an upgrade. Especially practical is the ability of the calender to be installed in a short period of time during a planned shutdown. In new plants the technology provides great efficiency right from the start.

Voith Paper is a group division of Voith and is one of the leading partners and pioneers in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

For 150 years, Voith’s technologies have been inspiring customers, business partners and employees around the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees, sales of €4.3 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Being a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive.