Extending the lifecycle: the key to lower costs

The pulp and paper sector is characterized by severe competition and cost pressure. This can be very cost intense when it comes to new investments. This is why service is gaining more and more importance with customers recognizing the benefits of improving the performance of their equipment, adapting and extending the overall lifetimes. In addition, in the paper sector, service activities are often requested to solve runnability, quality or energy issues. Customers are also recognizing how professional services such as consultancy, training and measurements can help improve their business performance.

From old to new

One of the recent ANDRITZ projects, for example, combined all three service activities. We were asked to dismantle and relocate a mothballed kraft paper machine previously owned by Finnish company UPM from Finland to Russia and to transform it for the SFT Group into a fluting and testliner machine. It was an impressive project, each piece of the dismantled machine was inspected, condition noted, and tagged before being placed in one of 280 containers for Russia. The rebuild and conversion concerned the entire wire, press and reel section, and a new hybrid former, shoe press, steel cylinder, and process pumps were installed, as well as the complete automation. The customer was told by a consultant that the project would take a minimum of three years. Together they completed it in 23 months.

Headbox overhauls

One real speciality of the ANDRITZ service team are headbox overhauls. Headboxes work in very demanding environments: heat, moisture, and vibration. Over time, their performance will degrade as the forces of corrosion, damage to the lips, the wear of adjustable components, and defects in the heating channels, take their toll. When this happens, sheet quality and operational safety can be impacted. The decision then becomes “replace” or “recondition”? ANDRITZ offers an annual service to inspect, recondition and when necessary, rebuild headboxes from any OEM to restore the performance – while extending the life of the customer’s initial capital investment. The headbox overhaul service includes a lot of specific actions, including lip repairs. Since any damage to the top or bottom lip – even the smallest scratches – will have a negative impact on CD sheet profiles, we offer lip repair service as an alternative to costly replacements. Our specialists will perform all the operations – levelling, planing, grinding, shaping, and deburring – to bring the lips back to specifications. These operations can be directly done on-site in the mill or in our workshop in Austria (Graz) depending on the level of damage.

Yankee service

A real highlight of the ANDRITZ paper services is the Yankee lifecycle management. It includes customized solutions for new Yankees and rebuilds and escorts the customer through the complete Yankee life cycle. No matter if cast or steel, no matter what brand and what end product (tissue, paper, board, MG paper, tobacco). The services include solutions

and support for upgrades and replacements, safety, production, and analysis (e.g. on the run measurements). A real highlight is the ANDRITZ coating and grinding with mobile units directly at the customer’s site. Grinding up to 6800 mm Yankee shell length is possible.

Service for drying cylinders

Apart from the large drying Yankees ANDRITZ can manufacture and/or service small drying cylinders (dryer cans) for paper and board machines as well and achieve great results. Like for example at the Varel mill in Germany: The replacement of more than 30 cast iron drying cylinders with PrimeDry Steel cylinders led to a considerable improvement in the throughput and efficiency of the machine. The drying cylinders were custom-designed to fit the Varel machine. Due to the special design Varel can now use the width of the drying cylinder surface to create a uniform drying profile across the sheet, especially at the edges. The drying cylinders have a high performance design to increase drying rates without increasing energy consumption. This improvement of about 5-7% is possible, because drying cylinders made of steel have a thinner shell thickness than cast iron cylinders.

Saving maintenance costs

ANDRITZ has spent a lot of efforts in developing service solutions to improve production efficiency and quality at the same time as reducing maintenance costs. One innovative result is for example the ANDRITZ wire and felt guide unit that enables reliable wire tracking. Conventional mechanical tracking systems comprise many parts which require a lot of maintenance and perform a machine directional movement that is failure-prone. A reliable, well functioning wire tracking system is crucial for ensuring trouble-free operation. The wire and felt guide unit enables precise control due to pneumatic design. It features a pivoting saddle to which the bearing housing of the wire tracking roll is bolted. The saddle is pivoted by two air bellows (one constant pressure, the other variable), resulting in a skewed position of the guide roll. The guide centers the wire by a proportioned air flow into the controlling air bellow.

Industry 4.0

ANDRITZ is already preparing the basic data and tools for future implementation in new service products, and We are already gaining experience from the first automation installations of paper machines. Our focus is to approach Industry 4.0 from a technology enabling and lifetime prolonging standpoint. Digitalisation is the vehicle, smart applications the driver, customer need is our focus. This is quite to the contrary of available solution, which are promoting digitalisation as primary focus. Customer need is profitable production, with quality, productivity and sustainability constraints. Our products in this segment already deployed at pulp & paper mills provide information to mill staff where it is needed, and are able to steer processes well ahead of substantial hick-ups due to prediction capabilities derived out of data analytics.

Seeing the complete picture

The customer’s challenge is to find a service partner who understands the customer’s equipment, processes, and procedures and knows the complete production process and the factors of influence. There are many “maintenance” companies. Unfortunately, many of these companies do not understand the unique processes, equipment demands, and safety requirements of a paper mill. Based on its long-term experience and tradition as a paper machine supplier ANDRITZ AG helps – from replacement parts to comprehensive service programs – protect and extend the life of equipment and lower lifecycle costs.