World

Mili boosts production following Voith buy

Brazilian tissue producer Mili has increased its output after it acquired a 5.6m tissue machine from Voith Paper as part of a R200m investment.

The PM7 will be installed at the Três Barras mill in the state of Santa Catarina, where two other Voith Paper tissue machines (MP4 and MP6) are already installed.

It has an operating speed of 2,000m/m and will mean that Mili produces an additional 70,000tpy of high quality tissue paper. Daniel Signori, project manager at Mili, told Tissue World: “The Brazilian tissue market is growing, and Mili believes that it can take a significant part of this market and so we needed to invest.

“We currently produce 360tpd and by the end of this project that will reach 620tpd.” He added that stock preparation, converting, effluent treatment and the rebuild of PM-4 and PM-6 (Tissue Flex, also with Voith), is also planned.

Mili’s 60m, 24 rolls product

The main product for this project is Double Sheet. Production is based on recycled fibres, and the machine is also expected to lower the company’s energy consumption.

The scope of supply includes all technologies from Voith Paper: the MasterJet Pro T headbox with double layer and ModuleJet (dilution control system), crescent former, the NipcoFlex T shoe press, the T-Rib Yankee dryer cylinder with 5,4m diameter, 510ºC high efficiency hood, MasterReel reel with automatic core shaft return, and full automation for machine operation: MCS/DCS and QCS TecoSens.

Rogério Berardi, tissue sales manager from Voith Paper Brazil, said: “Voith is honoured to be chosen by one of the fastest growing companies in Brazil to take part in this new and challenging project.

Mili’s new PM7 will be installed at its Três Barras mill in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

“This is the fifth project we have performed in partnership with Mili since 2000.” Founded in 1983, Mili employs more than 1,200 people over three manufacturing units and two distribution centres.

Its paper mills are located in the states of Santa Catarina, Paraná and Alagoas. Mili is one of the major Brazilian manufacturers in the hygiene and cleaning paper segment. Its products include toilet paper, paper towel, napkins, disposable diapers and sanitary pads. Demand for tissue paper is increasing in Brazil in all regions, not only in the most developed cities from the southeast and south of Brazil. Demand for better quality is also increasing.

Tissue World visited Mili for this issue´s Brazil Country Report. See page 24 for the full article.

Kimberly-Clark´s 2011 operating profit drops 12%

Kimberly-Clark (K-C) has posted full year 2011 operating profits of $2,442m – a decline of 12% compared to $2,773m in 2010.

K-C chairman and chief executive Thomas Falk

Adjusted operating profit of $2,889m increased 1% compared to $2,871m in 2010. Sales of $20.8bn increased 6%.

Thomas Falk, chairman and chief executive, said the company delivered solid improvements in organic sales and adjusted operating profit margin despite “a continued challenging environment”.

4Q operating profit was $611m, down 13% from $699m in 2010. Sales were up 2% to $5.2bn.

Excluding $148m of pulp and tissue restructuring costs, adjusted 4Q operating profit was $759m, up 9% year-on.

4Q operating sales/profit by segment showed:

• Personal care – $2.2bn up 2% – $341m decreased 19%.
• Consumer tissue – $1.7bn even year-on – $246m increased 43% on the back of selling price increases, cost savings, input cost deflation, reduced marketing, research and general expenses, partially offset by decreased sales volumes and lower production volumes.
• K-C Professional (KCP) and other segment – $0.8bn up 2% – $127m increased 13%.
• Health care – £0.4bn up 10% – $60m increased 131%.

Falk said: “Reflecting on the full year, bottom-line results were somewhat below our original goal, mostly due to higher-than expected cost inflation and soft demand in portions of the developed markets.

“Nonetheless, we introduced successful product innovations, executed targeted growth initiatives and improved our market position in several businesses.”

Economic conditions in 2012 were expected to remain difficult in the near term, particularly in developed markets, he added.

2012 outlook sees adjusted operating profit growth of 3 to 6%, while adjusted gross profit is expected to grow at a faster rate.

Cost saving programmes included, in January 2011, a pulp and tissue restructuring to exit its remaining integrated pulp manufacturing operations.

In addition, in January 2012 the closure of its Everett, WA, pulp and tissue paper mill was announce.

Foreign currency exchange rates are also expected to remain volatile.

Axium launches application for facial tissue boxes

Axium has responded to customer demand with the launch of the BD-X-65, a new application that bundles up facial tissue boxes. A client had enquired about a solution to replace hard automation box dispensers because it needed more flexibility as large customers wanted new ways to pack their boxes. Patrice Deschamps, national sales representative, said they needed a flexible option to feed boxes on a log conveyor at 330 boxes per minute, with eight different patterns to begin with and two different sizes of boxes.

Set up time between production of different boxes also had to be minimised and the line has to be adaptable for further change of production configuration in the future.

He said: “Delta robots adapted with a very special Axium design tooling system combined with an upstream intelligent flow separator conveyor.

“This resulted in a saving of $600,000 in the first year.”

The new application creates 330 boxes per minute and special tooling is used to grab the boxes one by one.

Axium offers a complete range of high quality automation services.

SCA taps Voith for new tissue machine at Kostheim mill in Germany

(PPI Europe) – SCA Hygiene Products has bought a Voith Paper-supplied 60,000tpy tissue machine for its Kostheim site in Germany. The project amounts to around Euro115m ($151.2m), according to the firm.

The new TM 5 line, with its 18-foot Yankee cylinder, is of double width (wire width: 5,500 mm). It will produce high-quality tissue paper at a basis weight of 20.5 g/m?.

Besides the line, Voith Paper will also provide an UltraHood high performance drying hood and the entire electrification and automation system.

The startup is planned for spring 2013. The Kostheim facility currently houses three tissue machines which manufacture a total of 102,000tpy as well as 20 converting lines with a capacity of 141,000tpy.

News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

APP China plan on narrow tissue machines for big expansions in China

(RISI) – APP China has altered its tissue expansion scheme. After having planned to install several 5.6m wide tissue machines at its mills in China, it is now opting for smaller units.

It is going for 2.8m wide machines manufactured in-house by its own subsidiary, Jin Shun Paper Machinery. It did not specify their capacity.

APP China has already ordered ten 5.6m wide tissue machines, with each having a capacity of 60,00tpy, from A Celli for its five mills in China.

Six out of the ten units were planned to be erected at the firm’s Hainan complex.

The other four machines were each to be installed at mills in Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, Xinmin city, Liaoning province, Xiaogan city, Hunan province and Sunning city, Sichuan province. Startup for all ten PMs was scheduled for either this year or next.

APP China installed and started up such an A Celli machine, PM9, at the Suzhou mill last year. But the company has found that operating the PM might not be economically viable.

The source said that the A Celli PMs are required to use liquefied natural gas as fuel, which is costly in China.

He added that the largest converting equipment the company has is just 2.8m wide. The output on the 5.6m wide machine therefore needs to be reeled and sheeted before it is sent to the converter at the mill for processing into finished products.

The contact indicated that the output can be fed directly from a 2.8m wide PM to a converter of the same width. This will make the entire production process more efficient.

After evaluating the performance of PM9, the company decided to replace two 5.6m wide machines planned for the Hainan mill with two 2.8m wide PMs.

These two smaller units are slated to come on stream by the end of this year. And the smaller tissue machines use electricity generated from power plants, which is less pricey than using natural gas.

Jin Shun has already provided six 2.8m wide machines, each having a capacity of 20,000tpy, to APP China affiliate Asia Pulp & Paper’s Jambi plant in Sumatra, Indonesia. All six PMs came online last year and they have operated smoothly since then, said the APP China contact.

He indicated that the company is also considering opting out of the two 5.6m wide PMs planned for the greenfield Sunning site in favor of two 2.8m wide units.

It would still aim, however, to get them online by the end of next year.

It is unknown if APP China will cancel orders for the 5.6m wide machines that are being dropped in favor of the narrower machines, or if the firm is just postponing their deliveries.

Meanwhile, the company aims to start trial runs on a 5.6m wide machine, PM11, at the Suzhou mill at the end of February. The 60,000tpy unit was supplied by Voith Paper.

The project hit a delay due to a labor shortage. Startup was previously slated for 2011.

APP China is also looking to commission another 5.6m wide machine at the greenfield mill in Xinmin by the end of March.

The installation of the A Celli unit was completed in late 2011. But the startup is on hold, pending power supply starting from a local electricity company.

News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

Syassky starts up Toscotec line

Syassky pulp and paper mill has boosted its presence in the domestic market after it started up a new Toscotec AHEAD 1.5m tissue line.

It features a single layer headbox, single press configuration TT SPR 1050, a 3,660mm diameter Steel Yankee Dryer TT SYD 12FT and a renewed reel TT REEL-P.

Machine speed is up to 1,400mpm with a trim width of 4,200mm for a daily production of 125 tonnes.

The move is part of a two-year investment programme that has resulted in the start up of new converting lines, packaging lines and a new Toscotec rewinder TT WIND-H.

Syassky said it has seen an increase in demand for domestic products, but also a rise in demand for AfH export markets.

The company said it is one of the most modern tissue producers in the northwest Russian region, and the only integrated tissue producer in the area with a line pulp mill, tissue production (PM2, PM3 and PM5) and converting and packaging facilities.

The new Toscotec tissue line has replaced an existing PM2.

Toscotec’s scope of supply also included upgrading of the existing stock preparation plant, a new approach flow system, gas heated hood, steam and condensate system as well as electrification and control system.

A complete engineering, erection supervision, commissioning, training and start up assistance package was also provided.