GERMANY
WEPA CUTS MAINTENANCE COSTS WITH SOLARSOFT

Wepa Müschede has started using Voith's new SolarSoft polyurethane cover for the pressure roll on PM 6, completely cutting out the need for water cooling. This has resulted in major cost savings in maintenance, according to a press release from Voith.

"Until now the pressure roll was covered with rubber covers, therefore water cooling was absolutely necessary. Some time ago the water cooling failed and the rubber cover was destroyed within a few hours. The maintenance costs for the cooling were very high. Now SolarSoft is in operation without cooling since several months. During the next planned downtime the cooling will be permanently removed. This saves us time and money", says Stephan Frank, plant manager of Wepa Müschede.


SWEDEN
SCA INVESTS HEAVILY IN PERSONAL CARE

To support continued growth of Personal Care products, investments totalling SEK 1,050 million have been decided on during the year to date.

•	For the Tena Lady brand of light incontinence products, which are showing sales growth in both Europe and the USA, during the second quarter SCA decided to invest in production capacity at its plants in Hoogezand, the Netherlands, and in Bowling Green, USA. These investments together amount to approximately SEK260 million。
•	To take advantage of growth opportunities in the Russian market, the decision was made during the first quarter to start own production of personal care products in the Moscow region. This investment is worth SEK450m.
•	In addition, to meet rising demand for incontinence products, the decision was made during the first quarter to invest SEK340m in expanded capacity at SCA's plants in the Netherlands.
•	SCA's half-owned company Productos Familia, with operations in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, is investing SEK420m in a new tissue machine to meet the strong growth in sales in the region (see separate news item).

Metsä Tissue continues to expand operations

Metsä Tissue will increase supply chain efficiency and enhance the service towards customers in continental Europe by building a 36,000 m2 state of the art warehouse in Düren, Germany. The new warehouse will make operations more efficient by combining four warehouses earlier used in the region.

Investments made in Mänttä mill have helped improve the quality of Serla toilet paper and raise the efficiency of the production line. Improvements in quality were followed by the modernisation of Serla package design.

Expansion of business activities in Russia continued with the launch of production of Katrin products in Naro Fominsk, 70 km from Moscow. At the present Metsä Tissue has a sales office in Moscow and warehousing, distribution and converting facilities in Naro Fominsk.

Decline of the economic growth rate in Europe is not expected to influence dramatically the sales volumes of tissue and cooking paper.


SPAIN
HERNANI BRINGS PM UP TO TOP SPEED

On 16 March 2008 Celulosas de Hernani brought a new Toscotec PM online at its mill in Hernani, northern Spain. A few weeks after start-up, the company reached the full production with 1200 m/min operating speed with toilet tissue at 17.5 g/m2 for a daily production of 67 tons. On towel products the mill reached a production of 70 tons, according to Toscotec.

The plant includes the Modulo Plus tissue machine equipped with Crescent Former, double nip press section and a TT-SYD 3.2 steel Yankee dryer with a diameter of 3.2 m high efficiency gas hood, steam & condensate system, vacuum plant and approach flow system. The stock preparation plant for the treatment of waste paper already existed and has been modified to satisfy the new demand for production.

Thanks to this investment, Celulosas de Hernani is now the largest independent supplier of de-inked tissue jumbo rolls in the Spanish market, according to Toscotec. It continues to produce virgin-pulp-based jumbo reels from PM1, however.

The new machine was originally intended to be a rebuild of PM1, which was ordered in December 2006. During the first half of 2007.


ROMANIA
PEHART TEC TO EXPAND WITH NEW LINE

SC Pehart Tec, based in Petresti, Alba county in Romania (part of the MG-Tec Group Dej), has just finalised contracts for a €25 million investment. The expansion will take place in two phases and includes the supply of a converting line from CMG (Costruzioni Meccaniche Gambini) and of a complete tissue plant from Toscotec.

Toscotec's turnkey project includes an AHEAD 2.0 tissue machine with double-layer headbox, 15' steel yankee dryer (TT-SYD), machine auxiliaries, stock preparation plant for virgin pulp, a three-ply tissue rewinder complete with roll handling system, electrification and control system. Machine speed will be 2000 m/min with a net trim width of 2750 mm and a daily production of 110 tons.

Start up of the new converting line is foreseen for January 2009 while the tissue plant will start up in April 2009. Pehart Tec started its tissue production in 2005 with the installation of a 60 ton/day tissue machine.

"This investment will be a milestone by launching our company among the most modern and quality oriented tissue producers in Eastern Europe, setting new standards for the Romanian market," said Ioan Tecar, president of Pehart Tec. Output is expected to be sold on the domestic and export markets.


UK
LPC GROUP NAMES MANAGING DIRECTOR

LPC Group has appointed Tony Camp to the role of managing director for UK Operations. The Leicester-based company is the UK's largest manufacturer of tissue-based hygiene products and world's leading supplier of specialist tissue, with an estimated sales turnover of about £200 million ($356 million).

Camp comes from the UK FMCG grocery market, having worked in the sector for almost 30 years. His primary role in the coming months will be to oversee the Group's continuing expansion, with both organic growth and further acquisitions a distinct possibility in the near future.

LPC Group continues to invest heavily in developing a state-of-the-art manufacturing base capable of offering technically advanced and high quality bathroom tissue, kitchen towel and facial tissue retailer branded products for both the grocery and AfH sectors. Camp's remit will cover the use of the group's strengthening European operations for the benefit of the LPC's UK customers and their retailer brands.’’