USA
PROCTER & GAMBLE LAUNCHES INVESTMENT PROGRAM
Procter & Gamble has ordered a new tissue/towel machine from Andritz. It is destined for a new Family Care plant being built in Box Elder County in Utah, USA. P&G has also ordered a rebuild for its PM1 in Oxnard, California, from Metso Paper.

The new plant in Box Elder County “will enable P&G Family Care to better serve the Western US, which is the fastest growing region of the United States,” according to an Andritz press release. The new machine is scheduled to start-up in early 2010. In 2007, Andritz started up a similar tissue/towel machine at P&G’s Green Bay, Wisconsin USA site that, it says, “fully met Procter & Gamble’s expectations”.

Andritz’s office in Janesville, Wisconsin, will provide overall project management and engineering support for the machine and auxiliaries. Andritz facilities in Graz, Austria, and Lachine, Quebec, Canada, will produce the majority of the tissue machine equipment. P&G has also ordered a rebuild for its PM1 tissue machine in Oxnard, California, USA. The rebuild, to be carried out by Metso, includes elements in the dry end and forming section with the key technology being Metso’s Advantage reel and dry end.

“P&G has repeatedly employed Metso in their program to improve machine capacity and efficiency. This is one of several rebuilds for which the company has secured Metso services and technologies to achieve the productivity goals. Other rebuilds have included Metso’s OptiFlo headbox and Advantage foils,” according to Metso.

With past and present projects that have been executed, Metso has regularly demonstrated the ability to meet Procter & Gamble’s production and efficiency goals, says Don Adams, Procter & Gamble, Paper Technology.

WAUSAU PAPER TO REBUILD TOWEL MACHINE
Metso Paper has been awarded a former and press section rebuild as part of a modernization project planned for towel machine TM 1 at the Wausau Paper mill in Middletown, Ohio, USA. The value of the Metso order is not disclosed.

The project will increase toweling capacity at the Middletown mill by 16,000 tons annually. The rebuild, scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2009, will utilize state-of-theart technology to substantially improve manufacturing capabilities and capacity, support future product introductions, and reduce manufacturing costs.Metso will deliver the latest OptiFlo headbox technology and Advantage DCT technology for the rebuild to support the increased capacity of the production line.

HAYEK IN P&G PROMOTION
Actress Salma Hayek lends a hand in fingerpainting to Matthew Erickson prior to the kickoff announcement of the Pampers "One Pack = One Vaccine" program. For 12- 24 months, for every specially marked pack of Pampers product purchased in the US and Canada, Pampers will provide UNICEF with funding for one life-saving tetanus vaccine to protect a woman and her newborn against maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), a preventable disease that claims the lives of about 140,000 infants and 30,000 mothers in developing countries each year.

BRAZIL
SANTHER ORDERS NEW METSO TISSUE MACHINE
Metso Paper will supply a complete Advantage DCT 100 tissue machine to Santher F brica de Papel Santa Therezinha S/A, Braganca Paulista Mill, Brazil. The Metso machine is of the latest technology with stateof- the-art equipment and is scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2009.

Metso’s scope of delivery will comprise a complete Advantage DCT 100 tissue machine equipped with an OptiFlo II TIS headbox, a 16-foot Metso yankee cylinder and an Advantage AirCap Yankee hood. Metso Paper will also deliver stock preparation equipment including OptiFiner conical refiner, OptiSlush pulping equipment and OptiScreen cleaning and screening technology.

Metso Automation will supply metsoDNA machine and drive controls and PaperIQ quality controls.

The delivery will also include services for installation and start-up of the machine. The tissue machine has a trim width of 2.7 m, an operating speed of 1800 m/min and production of up to 112 tons/day of high-quality facial, bathroom tissue and towel grades. The production will be based on virgin pulp. Santher F brica de Papel Santa Therezinha SA, founded in 1938, produces about 200,000 tons/yr of paper for industrial and other specific applications, including toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins, female absorbents, towels, special papers and institutional line. It has 1,200 employees.

FUTURA OPEN HOUSE ATTRACTS ALL MAJOR PLAYERS
Tissue converting machine specialist Futura held an open house at its Joinpaper manufacturing facility in Brazil during March, and attracted all the major Latin American tissue manufacturers, as well as companies from North America, Italy and Asia, the company reports.

The purpose of the event was to demonstrate a Futura converting line with a new embossing unit F88.G, with integral fourcolour printer, known as the JOI embosser. The JOI is described by Futura as highly innovative in terms of construction and ease of use.

Alberto Bianchini, managing director of Joinpaper, said: “This was a very rewarding event for us: visitors were genuinely interested in what we are doing. Feedback was extremely positive, and our technology is definitely doing the talking.”

COLOMBIA
UNIBOL STARTS-UP PM1 AFTER REBUILD
On 19 April Fabrica de Bolsas de Papel Unibol started-up its PM1 machine in Barranquilla, Colombia, after a major rebuild. Italian company Toscotec was responsible for the rebuild of the existing PM1 to add a crescent former as well as the engineering for the upgrade of tissue machine’s auxiliary systems: approach flow system, vacuum plant and AC drive system.

PM1 was a fourdrinier type machine and now has been converted into a Toscotec Ahead 1.5 Crescent Former configuration including new headbox, new wire and felt section. While the previous configuration allowed for a machine speed of 500 m/min, PM1 actually ran at 700 m/min, trimming at 3060 mm. The new section can run at 1250 m/min.

SPAIN
LC PAPER WRAPS UP MACHINE REBUILD (News from RISI)
LC Paper has wrapped up the upgrade of the 24,000 ton/yr PM2 at its mill in Gerona, Spain. The machine produces tablecloth and wrapping paper.

Brunnschwieler has installed a new in-line printing system, which will allow the production of low-grammage coloured paper for the hotel industry. An LC Paper spokesman said the work, which was initially due to wrap up at the end of 2007, was completed last month. Meanwhile, the company is moving ahead with the installation of a new 50,000 ton/yr tissue machine, PM 3, at the mill.

POM will supply the wet end of the 2.7 m wide unit, and Milltech will provide the machine’s hood, mist and steam recovery systems, the dust removal systems and room ventilation. It will also deliver a system that will provide energy for the wet end hood by using heat from the dryer section. The spokesperson declined to reveal other details on the project for the moment.

PM 3’s output will be used to improve LC Paper’s range of hygiene and healthcare products for the away-from-home market. It will start up sometime after June, rather than during the second quarter as previously announced.

HERNANI STARTS UP NEW TISSUE PM (News from RISI)
Celulosas de Hernani has brought a new PM online at its mill in Hernani, northern Spain The 22,000 ton/yr recycled tissue unit came on stream on March 17. It was originally scheduled to start up in February, but the project was delayed. A spokesperson for the mill said that full capacity should be reached by the first week of April. Output will be sold to the converting market in Europe.

The site is also home to the 15,000 tonne/yr tissue machine, PM 1.

CANADA
PAPERSOURCE CONVERTING MILL BUYS PCMC REWINDER
Papersource Converting Mill in Grandby, Quebec, Canada, has bought a new Forte surface rewinder from Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC). The new rewinder has been designed to improve productivity, according to the supplier.

“We expect the installation of the Forte line to definitely improve productivity, quality, flexibility and profitability for Papersource,” said Benoit Laferriere, President of Papersource. He also cited the PCMC Active X HMI interface with integrated Allen-Bradley ControLogix platform for the Forte line as a valuable benefit.

“This system simplifies the work of the operator,” he said. “Setups and fine tuning of the machine are made faster and more accurately, saving time and improving the quality of the winding.”