Did you know that ...

Sun Paper Holding Laos started up its 300,000 t/a greenfield pulp mill near the small town of Xepon, Savannakhet Province, Laos, last year after just 20 months from the signing of supplier contracts. ANDRITZ was chosen to supply various key technologies for the project.

Smurfit Kappa Nettingsdorf has been something of a trailblazer through the years. It was one of the first paper mills ever to use a shoe press and one of the first to try out “continuous batch” pulp cooking. And now, they have another world first to report ...

When integrated Swedish mill Holmen Paper Hallsta wanted to further enhance its book paper production process, it called on ANDRITZ to carry out a rather unique project of utilizing two second-hand twin wire presses, and an existing, pre-used screw press to increase capacity and improve pulp quality for its PM 12.

In modern mill and wood processing plants, adding value all along the production chain has become a “must have”. ANDRITZ Universal Shredders provide a vital link in the chain by solving waste wood problems at the same time as turning them into valuable, sellable products.

Industrial IoT, Industry 4.0, digitalization – current buzzwords that industries use when seeking to improve their performance and equip themselves for the future of industry.

Manifattura Fontana (Sioen Group), near Venice, Italy, is one of those hidden gems – a small-sized company with big ideas where innovation is in the very fabric of its being. The company recently doubled capacity in the manufacture of specialist nonwoven geotextiles by installing a complete state-of-the-art neXline needlepunch line supplied by ANDRITZ, making it the most productive geotextile line in the world.

Imagine the ability to produce the best product at the lowest cost every hour of the day – based on the current realities, constraints, and opportunities. That is optimization in a nutshell. Automation plays a critical role in achieving optimal performance and remarkable results.

ANDRITZ made one of the largest acquisitions it has ever made when it bought Xerium Technologies in October 2018. As anyone working and operating in the pulp and paper industries will know, the name Xerium is synonymous with high quality consumable products used in the paper, board, and tissue industries. It is also a well-known supplier to pulp drying plants around the world. In fact, for ANDRITZ and its vast portfolio of superior technology supplying all those industries above, it is the perfect fit.

The new Metris Performance Center expands service to papermakers around the world by putting an ANDRITZ expert virtually in the mill’s control room whenever needed.

Well-known with over 5,400 pressure screens installed in numerous stock preparation lines worldwide, ANDRITZ presents the latest evolution in screening – the PrimeScreen X. The innovative design of the new screen builds on the successes of the widely valued ModuScreen family, but offers innovative key benefits. The improvements in energy efficiency, screening performance, and maintainability are significant.

Over the years, chemical recovery technology suppliers have worked with pulp mills to “close” the chemical recovery loops in order to reduce emissions and effluent – and also to increase recovery efficiency. These loop closures have sometimes led to a build-up of certain chemicals and the creation of side streams that are either ignored or disposed of.

Hardware, software, and everything in between: ANDRITZ integrates several innovative technologies to increase chipper throughput and wood chip quality.

ANDRITZ Fabrics and Rolls has developed a new forming fabric portfolio with plain weave paper side structure and improved dimensional stability with the lowest caliper in the tissue market. With anticipation, the latest technology called QSB (Quattro Support Binder) can now be applied to this new tissue product line. The patented QSB forming fabric design allows producers to improve tissue product quality and machine performance. It has already been tested successfully at the new ANDRITZ Tissue Innovation and Application Center (TIAC) in Graz, Austria.

We are living in a century where digital devices monitor every move and our own mobile devices know everything about us – where we go, what we do, our health status, and much more. The data available on our lives transfers mobile phones into our private assistants and supports us in many endeavors with helpful functions and hints. Industries are being enabled in a similar way to monitor and control all assets and plants and improve performance in an effort to achieve perfection.

Arauco’s MAPA project in Chile represents not only the most important expansion the company has ever undertaken, it is also currently the only major eucalyptus pulp project taking place in the world. The company operates five mills in Chile, one in Argentina, and has a joint venture in Uruguay, together with Stora Enso.

On October 28, 2017, Laakirchen Papier AG in Austria celebrated production of its first containerboard reel: a milestone in an ambitious rebuild project that was of great strategic importance for the papermaker and for the main supplier – ANDRITZ. At the beginning of January 2019, more than one year later, PM 10 was running with basis weights of around 100 g/m2 at a speed of 1,300 to 1,330 m/min. CEO Thomas Welt comments, “We have achieved the goals set for speed development.”

Digitalization is progressing in leaps and bounds: The main reasons for this are technical progress, constant further development of the internet, mobile applications and technologies based on artificial intelligence, and increasing globalization. Technology trends emerging as a result of digitalization, such as IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), data analytics by means of Big Data, and AR (Augmented Reality), not only have a considerable impact on society and the working environment, but also on business operations in industry.

Simo Pylkkänen took over as Managing Director of the ANDRITZ Savonlinna Works Oy on January 1, 2019. After starting as a Quality Engineer at the Savonlinna Works in 2006, Pylkkänen was appointed Quality Manager18 months later. During this time he also completed his Master’s thesis at the engineering works and graduated as Master of Science in Engineering in 2007. In 2013, he took up the position of Production Manager, which preceded his position as Managing Director. Pylkkänen very much enjoys working in Savonlinna; he says, “This has been an excellent workplace – we have a good and strong collective spirit here.”