Visit the ANDRITZ booth at Tissue World Miami 2018 and you will see the faint blue outline of something in a 2-meter-long clear pane mounted on a white counter. But look at the pane through a pair of artificial reality goggles and it comes alive with an animated representation of the PrimeLine TIAC, ANDRITZ’ window on the future of tissue.
TIAC stands for Tissue Innovation and Application Center, a dedicated pilot plant and research and development facility at ANDRITZ’ headquarters in Graz, Austria. The facility officially opened just two weeks ago, when 150 representatives from all sectors of the tissue business were given a demonstration.
“The machine has eight different possible configurations, four of which have never been tried before,” said Project Manager Alain Chamberland. “It’s up and running at 2,500 meters per minute, yet it’s only 600 millimeters wide. It’s narrow, but it has unlimited possibilities.”
And those possibilities are open to stakeholders from the entire spectrum of the tissue business — producers, pulp suppliers, chemical companies, felt producers and converters. All are invited to come and work with ANDRITZ engineers on R&D to create the next generation of technologies and products for raw materials, including pulp, chemicals and production consumables.
So, if you slip on the AR goggles at the ANDRITZ booth, you will see the PrimeLine TIAC, but you’ll also get a glimpse of the future of the tissue industry.
