“The PrimeLineTIAC will be the birthplace of new products and processes.”
ANDREAS ANZEL
Director, PrimeLine TIAC
The taxi driver drops us off at 8:00 am sharp outside the prestigious offices of ANDRITZ global headquarters on the outskirts of Graz, Austria. After identifying ourselves at the reception, we are quickly met by a very friendly and smiling Klaus Gissing, ANDRITZ’s Vice President of Tissue, and the founder of the PrimeLineTIAC dream.
After polite greetings, Gissing whisks us off through the tight security barriers and into the inner realms of ANDRITZ’s office block. But there is no meeting room for us here today. We are swiftly escorted past all the offices, led through a glass door and into a long pedestrian tunnel; it’s as if we are going from one world into another – and we certainly are.
As we come out of the tunnel, blinking into the daylight of a large factory yard, wooden crates containing precision-made, heavy metal rolls and objects of all shapes and sizes are being stacked ready for transportation to destinations around the world.
And there, after a short walk along a well-marked path, and gleaming in the autumn sunlight, we have our first sight of the revolutionary PrimeLineTIAC, the solid, purpose-built base of trailblazing R&D for the global tissue industry. “This was our dream, which became a vision, and now here is the reality,” says Gissing gesturing proudly.
The PrimeLineTIAC concept is a revolution for the tissue industry. For the first time, all stakeholders are involved from across the board of the tissue industry: producers, pulp suppliers, chemical companies, felt producers, converters – all are welcomed here to share in the development of the future of this dynamic tissue industry. The partners in PrimeLineTIAC are given regular access to the pilot plant, and allowed to carry out their own R&D alongside ANDRITZ experts in an effort to create the very best in technology and products in the areas of raw materials including pulp, chemicals, and consumables used in the production process.
“This exactly fulfills our idea,” says Gissing. “A place where all stakeholders in the industry can come together, and work together on creating the future of the tissue industry.”
ANDREAS ANZEL
Director, PrimeLine TIAC
At the fundamental center of PrimeLineTIAC is knowledge and experience. These two vital ingredients are provided by people with unheralded experience in innovation in tissue globally. Gissing says, “You can have all the technology in place, but it is the knowledge of people that really makes a difference when it comes to innovation.”
One of them is Andreas Anzel, ANDRITZ’s own tissue R&D head who has over 13 years’ experience on the front line of tissue innovation, and is now Director of PrimeLineTIAC. The combination of Anzel and Scherb’s many years of experience on the front line of tissue development brings unique expertise and synergies that allow the center to thrive when it comes to tackling new ideas and innovations.
After around three hours, our tour of the PrimeLineTIAC came to an end and we were taken back through the tunnel and past the security of the ANDRITZ headquarters. As we left the building we at SPECTRUM could only conclude that the finished PrimeLineTIAC – already being massively well received by the tissue industry – is an R&D center that is totally equipped for any ideas a customer, supplier, or university professor could ever want to throw at it.