The Pulp Mill Services Division encompasses the service activities for the Wood Processing, Fiberline, Chemical Systems, and Recovery Divisions. Primary emphasis is on the production efficiency of woodyards and kraft pulp mills, and the availability of process equipment, whether supplied by Andritz or other equipment manufacturers.
Today, there is more emphasis on Overall Production Efficiency (OPE®) of a mill’s machinery throughout its lifetime. The Division provides services for continuous improvement and optimization of mill operations, as well as field services, rebuilds and upgrades of equipment, and replacement parts or engineered wear products.
The Division is headquartered in Savonlinna, Finland. It is managed through Regional Centers and operates through service centers worldwide in all important pulp producing countries. Production facilities for rebuilds are located in Austria, Finland, and the USA. The Division also partners with external workshops in other locations around the globe.
The Division’s business has developed satisfactorily. There was continued strong demand for services in North America, especially for HQ Plus™ knife systems for woodyard chippers (recently introduced to the North American market), recovery boiler services, and woodyard services.
Andritz services were enhanced by acquiring the smelt pumping service business from Kaakon Teollisuuspalvelu Oy of Finland. Andritz previously was a licensee of the company's technology for North and South America.
Acutest Oy, which was acquired in 2003, was merged into the Division as a specific product group, supporting the OPE® service business. The acoustic emissions condition monitoring technology from Acutest will be utilized to support the Life Cycle Management concept offered by Andritz for different processes.
- Significant orders for recovery boiler rebuilds and upgrades were received from customers in diverse geographies. For example, the CRISOBA mill in Mexico ordered a Vertical Air™ System upgrade, Georgia-Pacific ordered upgrades for two mills in the USA, and Visy Pulp & Paper selected the Division to perform an air system upgrade for their boiler in Tumut, Australia.
- The Division signed agreements with Metsä-Botnia's Joutseno mill in Finland for maintenance services and development. Based upon their positive experience with Andritz OPE® in one process area (white liquor plant), Metsä-Botnia expanded Andritz's role to include the entire fiberline.
- Several HQ Plus™ chipper knife systems were started up in wood processing operations. UPM-Kymmene’s Wisaforest mill in Finland asked the Division to expand its service to both of the mill’s chipper lines. In the wood processing area, several significant debarking drum rebuild orders were also received.
- A large boiler monitoring system based on Acutest® technology was awarded to Andritz for VCP’s Luiz Antonio in Brazil. This is the second Acutest® installation in South America, showing global acceptance of this technology.
- The Division was selected to supply a displacement washing upgrade for the digester system at the Mead Westvaco mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, USA. This delivery will include the first set of new diagonal digester screens sold in North America.
- Andritz's burner technology for lime kilns was selected by APP of Indonesia. New burners will be supplied for five lime kilns in the company’s Perawang and Jambi mills.
Development work in diagnostics and condition monitoring continues, with the primary focus on applications for specific Andritz process equipment. The goal of the development program is to combine data from the condition monitoring equipment with certain data collected from the processes, to optimize efficiency from both a maintenance and operations view.
New applications for Acutest® technology are being researched and developed. A program to optimize the performance and adjustment of DD Washer seal elements is one of the most recent examples. This optimizes washer performance while simultaneously reducing start-up time and life cycle costs.
To support and supplement the OPE® concept, new development agreements with customers were introduced. These agreements increase cooperation between customers and Andritz to improve both the production process and the machinery. This cooperation utilizes Andritz’s complete knowledge and experience - from all relevant Andritz Divisions.
The development and testing of two new style (step-in and tapered) digester screen plates continues. The step-in design simplifies the addition of new screen rows to existing digesters or the reinstallation of screens that had been previously removed. The tapered design may allow for an increase in the circulation or extraction flow for a given amount of open screen area. Both of these designs have been sold and installed on Andritz continuous cooking systems. The early operating data is extremely positive.
Many smaller improvements for existing equipment were developed to improve the customer’s process. Examples include new wash piping systems for filter washers and the cleaning of rotating wires. An example for recovery boilers is the patented cleaning device for secondary and tertiary air ports.
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