PORTUGAL

AMS Gomà-Camps starts production

AMS Gomà-Camps has started production at the new plant in Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal. The mill houses an AHEAD 2.0 line from Toscotec with an overall capacity of 110 tons/day. AMS Gomà-Camps, a newcomer into the tissue industry, is a private company owned by the Portuguese´s Grupo Mateus and Simao Rocha and the Spanish company Gomà-Camps. The plant, designed to operate with virgin pulp and waste paper, will produce both jumbo reels for local converters and finished products and will provide the Iberian and North African markets with a wide range of products including facial tissue, napkins, toilet tissue and towels. The mill will also supply Portuguese-speaking African countries and will be active in the consumer market as well as in the AFH sector.

First reels of paper from the 110 ton/day Toscotec machine that started up recently at AMS Gomà-Camps’ new mill in Portugal.

Toscotec’s turnkey project includes stock preparation plant for virgin pulp, AHEAD 2.0 tissue machine with 15’ steel yankee dryer TT SYD 15FT, machine auxiliaries, a three-ply tissue rewinder (TT WIND-H) with calender, electrification and control system and erection activity.

Machine speed will be 1900 m/min with a net trim width of 2820 mm and a daily production of 110 tons.

AMS Gomà-Camps project was based on best available technology for tissue production and, thanks to the combination of a steel yankee dryer and TT large diameter suction press, was strongly oriented towards energy savings.

Co-operation was “perfect” between AMS Gomà-Camps, according to Toscotec, and the start-up of the new greenfield project was reached in less than 14 months from the order date and five days ahead of schedule. To stay on this schedule, the 30,000 m2 covered area was built in seven months.

One week before the tissue machine startup, and on schedule, AMS Gomà-Camps started the first converting line.

Fapajal starts up new machine

Portuguese company Fábrica de Papel de Tojal SA (Fapajal) started up a new 20,000 ton/yr tissue machine from Toscotec at its mill in São Julião do Tojal at the end of July. The machine, which trims at 2.7 m, gives a big boost to the company’s production, raising capacity to an estimated 30,000 tons/yr. It produced saleable paper in the first week of production, according to the company.

According to Lockwood Post Directory, the mill has two other old machines (one originally from the 1930s, the other from the 1960s) that between them make about 10,000 tons/yr of tissue.

GERMANY

Wepa Mainz reaches record with TissueFlex D2

A TissueFlex D2 felt from Voith Paper has been instrumental in helping to achieve a top speed of 1800 m/min on PM1 at Wepa Mainz in Germany. Furthermore, average production speed was increased to 1700 m/min and daily production of 175 tons was maintained. PM1 is a 5.3 m wide C-Wrap machine and was taken over by Wepa in 2006. Bathroom towel and creped hand towel at a grammage of 17-20 g/m2 are produced at speeds up to 1800 m/min. The top speed of 1800 m/min was reached on 22-23 April 2008 and held over 48 hours. TissueFlex D2 did not show any limitations under these conditions. The targeted dewatering capacity and the specific paper quality parameters were achieved. Besides this success other goals were the increase of average production speed and daily production. TissueFlex D2 was vital to the success due to its outstanding energy-related performance. PM 1 can now be operated at constant level of steam pressure in the Yankee cylinder while the burner temperature has been reduced.

The team that took Wepa’s Mainz No 1 machine to 1800 m/min.

The base structure of the felt supports even pressure distribution and contributes to uniform cross paper profiles. The double-layer baseweave construction with pyramidal batt structure was developed specially for this machine to build up the highest possible capillarity attraction and dewatering capacity. It also provides constant high dewatering capacity and is easy to clean over the felt lifecycle. Furthermore, the fast and effective response to high pressure cleaning ensures the highest possible performance by keeping the running parameters at a constant level leading to significant savings in water and energy. This reduces costs on PM 1 and is positive for the environment.

Several TissueFlex D2 felts have been used to date, all having been run to planned stops with life potential remaining and all having achieved repeatable performances relating to quality and energy savings.

Hans Dieter Schuhmacher, production manager at PM1, summarizes the achieved results: “During recent years we ran tests on various designs in cooperation with Voith Paper Fabric & Roll Systems. TissueFlex D2 proved to be the most efficient felt type for our machine.” The team that took Wepa’s Mainz No 1 machine to 1800 m/min.

FINLAND

Metsä to streamline its businesses

Metsä Tissue, the supplier of tissue and cooking papers and part of Metsäliitto Group, will streamline its businesses effective 1 September 2009.

Metsä Tissue will reduce the number of its business areas from five to three. The former Consumer Northern Europe and Consumer Continental & UK businesses will be merged into one consumer business area. Table Top, focusing on the napkin business, will be merged with both the Consumer and the Away-from- Home business areas. After the changes, Metsä Tissue’s businesses will be: Consumer, Awayfrom- Home and Baking & Cooking. The napkin category will be developed to become a more integrated function instead of the ‘one mill focus’ it had in the past. Synergies with the away-from-home and consumer businesses will be fully utilised.

“We expect the organizational and structural harmonization to be followed by more uniform processes to further increase the supply reliability and efficiency as well as to ensure the optimal company-wide utilization of competences. Our aim is see the positive results in enhanced performance at the customer interface as well as in further strategic brand growth,” comments Hannu Kottonen, CEO.

The following organisational changes took place on 1 September: Hubert Schönbein(SVP, Consumer) heads the Consumer Business Area; Paavo Liestalo (SVP, Marketing & Business Development) is in charge of Business Development including the napkin category business integration, Marketing andProduct Management in Consumer Business Area; Christoph Zeiler (SVP, Away from Home) heads the AFH Business Area; Kari Muttilainen (SVP, Strategic Projects) is working in Metsä Tissue Strategic Projects.

Stronger napkins
In other news, Metsä has invested in three additional napkin machines including printing and packaging equipment. The units were acquired from Herlitz PBS AG in Berlin. The new lines allow the production of both plain deep colour napkins as well as premium printed napkins. As the lines are similar to Metsä Tissue’s existing converting lines, synergies are thus available to further increase the flexibility and reliability of supply. Metsä Tissue will also study new supply locations within its existing mill network.

“Increased flexibility in supply and production will enhance the possibilities to meet customer, end-user and consumer expectations by being able to quickly adopt the latest and future trends in table decoration. What is also important for us is to offer a range of products designed to match the tastes of people in different European regions and countries. Investments in developing our brands and products will continue,” comments Kottonen.

Metso reports “satisfactory” profit in first half

Metso logged new orders worth €1.02 billion in April-June, 41% less than in the same period last year. At the end of June, the order backlog was 14% lower than at the end of December 2008, amounting to €3.51 billion. Net sales decreased by 24% to €1.25 billion, while earnings before interest, tax and amortization were €74.7 million, 6% of net sales, compared to €166.5 million and 10.2% in Q2/08).

“The overall cautious market sentiment in our customer industries has continued - with the positive exception of the paper and board industry in Asia, where we have seen improvement in the past few months. The recovery in China is partly due to the implemented stimulus measures. So far it has resulted in several sizable orders for us, one of which has been included in our second quarter orders received and the rest are to be included later this year,” says Jorma Eloranta, President and CEO of Metso Corporation.

“The order intake for our equipment and project business in the first half of the year was low, while the services demand remained reasonably stable and satisfactory. Our profitability also remained satisfactory. Our overall financial development for January-June as well as our updated estimates for the second half of the year support our earlier guidance for this year. Our financial position is also solid.”

Eloranta notes that the overall market visibility for 2010 is weak. “We are prepared to take additional capacity adjustment measures when needed. Our board has . . . decided not to pay any additional dividend for 2008. This is mainly due to the continuing general uncertainty on the markets. Our financial performance and financial position are stable and have developed according to our expectations. The importance of strong balance sheet increases in an uncertain economic climate.”

UK

UBM raises ownership of RISI to 100%

United Business Media (UBM) www.ubm.com has raised its ownership of RISI from 52% to 100%. "This is great news for you as a customer and RISI as an organization,“ according to CEO Mike Coffey. "UBM is a global organization that specializes in B2B information and services. With 6500 employees and many global resources, UBM is a great foundation for us to continue to build our already healthy business on. We will remain an independent company, but with the addition of UBM’s resources, we will be able to further invest in our content, data, and marketing services products for you.

"Additionally, UBM has confirmed me as CEO, a position I’ve been serving on an interim basis since 1 May 2009. Prior to this role I have worked with many of you in my prior position as RISI's COO. I have a strong background in information products, but most importantly I bring a commitment to put your needs first as customers and I strive for our product offerings to be as valuable to you as possible.

"I recognize the many changes our industry faces, and I recognize the difficult times many of our organizations are facing. I know that RISI can continue to partner with you to help navigate these challenges. Our teams are following the ebbs and flows of the markets every day and working with our customers to provide solutions.

The same teams that worked for you prior to this acquisition will continue to work for you now – we remain the same independent forest products service provider. We will also continue to aggressively invest in our company and our products for you: to provide more compelling services to more people in your organization at an unparalleled value.

More information: mike.coffey@risiinfo.com.