Operation Report: Intertissue maintains pace
“When we started PM1 in August 2006 we were selling quite a bit of the paper as jumbo rolls,” says Giuseppe Munari, Sofidel’s UK Country Operations Manager. “But now we are only selling a very small amount. Instead, as demand for our converted products has rapidly grown, we are actually buying tonnage to serve the UK market.”
Sofidel began considering a UK tissue
making plant in 2002. The group has expanded
rapidly from its base in Lucca, Italy, over the
past decade to become a pan-European
organization with operations in France, Poland,
Germany, Turkey and Spain.
Thus in 2003, to get its foot in the UK
market, it started a small converting plant in
Cardiff with two lines for toilet tissue and
household towels. The strategy, which is fairly
common when entering a new market, was to
use the converting lines to build market
awareness.
“We wanted to develop in the UK market,”
says Munari. “So the Cardiff plant, which we
operated on the site of an old Arjo Wiggins
paper mill, was an effective way to introduce
ourselves to the UK customers. It was very
valuable in demonstrating our capabilities as
a supplier to meet the particular requirements
of the UK such as delivery timetables,
reliability and quality goals.”
After looking at various sites around the
UK, Sofidel chose South Wales at the Baglan
Bay Energy Park, just west of Cardiff near
Port Talbot. The location, Munari says, is
ideal as far as reaching the population centres
in the UK via the motorway network. London
is less than three hours away, with
Birmingham two hours by road and
Manchester about four hours distant. In
addition, although it is not presently being
used, there is a railway connection available
to serve the mill in the future. Also Swansea
port, on the Bristol Channel, makes for easy
sea transport of incoming pulp and other raw
materials.
The company was welcomed by the local
community and Sofidel was actively
encouraged by the Welsh Development
Agency to come to Baglan Bay, which is
located on the site of an old steel mill. The
area has lost many jobs over the past decades
as those plants have closed down and the
possibility of the tissue mill bringing over
300 jobs motivated the authorities to support
the project.
One aspect of the site which made it
particularly attractive was the possibility to
get energy from a combined new generation
heat and power (CHP) plant located next to
the site on the old BP chemical plant which
closed down in 2004. The 500 MW CHP unit
was a demonstration plant built by GE to offer
efficient energy to Baglan Bay. Thus the name:
Baglan Bay Energy Park. As tissue making
is an energy intensive process, it made a lot
of sense to use this source for Intertissue’s
power requirements.
So in 2002 Sofidel decided that the Baglan
Bay Energy Park was the ideal location for
its UK tissue operations. The original plan
was for a paper machine to start in 2005.
However, various unforeseen issues delayed
the project by almost one year. There were
complex negotiations, which were started with
BP and ended with GE which in the meantime
had taken over all BP’s assets, for guarantees
of utilities, water, gas and electricity to the
site, as well as concerns about the environmental soundness of the site that
necessitated remediation work.
There was also the potential for flooding
at the 320,000 m2 mill site next to the Bristol
Channel, which is famed for its large 15-m
tidal swings. The risk was addressed by
moving about 250,000 tons of sand to raise
the ground level by about 50 cm.
Finally after all the ground work, the paper
mill construction started and the paper machine
started in August 2006. “Within 20 minutes
we were making saleable paper,” says Munari.
“It was an incredible start-up; we simply
threaded the tail through the machine, made
a few checks and were making quality paper.
It could not have been better.”
The machine is a Metso DCT 200 TS that
is designed to run at 1900 m/min. It includes
the world’s first ViscoNip press, part of a joint
development effort between Metso and Sofidel
to prove the viability of the new technology.
The press trials ran for about two years and
since July 2008 it has been swapped out to
allow full scale comparison with a standard
configuration, says Munari.
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Sofidel’s flagship brand Regina in the XXL version
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Regina Blitz
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Regina Chamomile
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The machine is running very well with
production reaching 57,000 tons in 2008 and
it is on target for about 60,000 tons in 2009.
The grammage range of the tissue is 14.5-22
g/m2 for toilet paper, household towel and
facial tissue. Paper from the PM is fed to the
modern converting area which includes major
lines and equipment from Perini, W+D, TMC,
Pulsar, E80 and MacWrap.
For the future, a second paper machine is
being considered as planning permission was
originally already granted for two paper mills
from the local authorities. However, there is
at the moment no definite timetable for the
project, though Intertissue wants to be ready.
With the mill using more paper than the present
paper machine can supply, it makes sense to
build a new source of supply rather than
importing jumbos from other Sofidel mills or
buying tonnage on the market.
The Baglan Bay mill has to be one of the
most modern and clean tissue mills in the
world. Housekeeping, as well as safety, are
top priorities and it shows in the appearance
of the mill.
Waste management is also a top priority. For
example, dust collected from the dust
collection systems in converting and paper
mill is sold to a local producer of pellets for
use in heating. Old pallets are reused, scrap
polyethylene packaging and wrapping film is
recycled for production of new poly pellets.
“We take the environment very seriously,”
explains Munari, “and want to do our best in
reducing landfill and waste generation. In
addition, we get paid for some of these waste
streams so, instead of paying for disposal
charges, we are actually earning money on
the activities. It’s a win-win situation.”
Intertissue is also completing the process to
get the Enviromental ISO 14001 and the
Occupational Health and Safety Assessment
Scheme OHAS 18001 Certifications within
the current year.
Sofidel is also taking an active role with the WWF Climate Savers
Program being the first Italian company admitted to the program with
companies such as Nokia, Coca-Cola, Tetrapak, etc. Thus it has made
energy savings and reduction of CO2 emissions a top priority at Baglan
Bay as well as in all its other plants.
With a major focus on energy over the past few months, Intertissue
has been able reduce power consumption by nearly 15% in 2009
compared with 2008. By taking a very close look at the process and
fine-tuning operations, the mill has achieved energy savings without
any drop in quality. Again, says Munari, it is positive for both the
environment and the bottom line to be taking these actions and cutting
energy use.
For the future, Intertissue is actively working on a project to install
high-efficiency wind turbines for electricity generation at the Baglan
Bay site. It is a windy area and the potential for producing green energy
is significant, says Munari. Thus a plan is underway to evaluate the
installation of two 2.5 MW wind turbines that would be about 120 m
high and could make up to 10,000 MW/yr. This too would lower the
carbon footprint while saving money. There is public opposition to
wind power in the UK, making Munari a bit uncertain if the company
will get permission to go ahead with the plan, though.
Overall, after nearly three years since the paper machine started,
Munari says Intertissue is well above its budget and plans as far as
market development goes. “Obviously, we have been successful with
our entry to the UK market. We have very rapidly gained significant
market shares with our Nicky brand which we introduced when we
were running at Cardiff. Since we have moved to Baglan Bay we have
also introduced our top brand Regina in the market. Considering how
it’s performing we believe it will largely overtake Nicky’s success.
We also have gained a lot of business in the private label area.”
Intertissue’s product mix is about 60% private retailer labels and
40% its own brands at this point. The priority is to grow the proportion
of brands, with Regina, Sofidel’s flagship brand across Europe, getting
the biggest push.
The geographical region covered by the mill includes all of the
UK and Ireland. To serve customers the company has set up a sales
force which separately covers the Regina, Nicky and private label
lines. The idea is reach the retailers with dedicated sales forces. “It
costs extra money to have separate sales teams for each brand as well
as the private label business but we see it is worth the investment,”
explains Munari. “We are selling well and the sales teams are all
working well. We have good results and no confusion about which
line should be pushed harder than the other.”
With plenty of space for a second, and even a third paper machine,
it seems Intertissue will continue to grow in the UK market based on
its impressive Baglan Bay mill.
