The Paper Mill Services Division encompasses the service activities for the Mechanical Pulping Systems, Fiber Preparation Systems, and Pulp Drying Systems Divisions. Primary emphasis is on establishing service partnerships with customers to increase the overall production efficiency and availability of process equipment.
The Division offers solutions to increase the reliability, efficiency, and availability of equipment while also providing innovative upgrades, engineered wear products (Durametal® refiner plates and Andritz Fiedler screen baskets), automation products, and modernization programs.
The headquarters for the Paper Mill Services Division is Vienna, Austria. The Division is managed in major geographic regions, each with at least one Service Center equipped to provide responsive service to local customers. Durametal® refiner plates are manufactured in Muncy, Pennsylvania, USA, while the manufacturing of Andritz Fiedler screen baskets is performed in Regensburg, Germany (center of competence) and Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
The Division developed favorably in 2004, with customer projects mainly concentrating on modernizing and reducing production costs in paper mills.
Customer requirements to measure process parameters and product quality were the driving force behind Andritz’s purchase of controlling interest in CyberMetrics, a research and development company in the USA specializing in online measurement sensors and other instruments. This will considerably strengthen Andritz’s advanced refiner process control systems.
EMS, the new joint venture of Andritz and Rheinhold & Mahla, offers long-term maintenance and service contracts based upon key performance indicators that are considered most important to each customer facility. Depending on the scope of the service contract, significant economic savings can be obtained for the customer. EMS will assume responsibility for maintenance management for a production area within a mill, or a complete mill.
- Innovations introduced to the market, not only for Andritz equipment but also for competitors’ equipment, enabled the Division to secure several orders for rebuilding competitors’ refiners. The Division completed six Twin Refiner modernization contracts in Central and Northern Europe, and further rebuilds of mechanical pulping lines in North America to increase productivity and reliability of the machines.
- UPM-Kymmene’s mill in Steyrermühl, Austria entrusted the Division with a modernization contract for a FibreFlow® Drum, an upgrade of the bleaching plant to improve the process conditions, and a shaft exchange to extend the life of a Hedemora filter.
- Several high performance screen baskets and screen rotors were started up in various screening lines worldwide. Nine Dragon Paper in China selected Andritz Fiedler as the main supplier of engineered wear products for their screening lines and expanded the service contract for Bar-Tec™ wedgewire screen baskets. The packaging paper producer APP Ningbo in China, and the American printing and writing paper producer MeadWestvaco Corp. in Wickliff, Kentucky, awarded the Division with modernization orders to improve screening performance.
- The high performance and very low energy consumption of LemaxX Spiral™ refiner plate technology for low-consistency refiners convinced several customers, such as Neusiedler SCP a.s. Ruzomberok in Slovakia and Frantschach Swiecie S.A. in Poland, to sign annual contracts for refiner plate deliveries.
- Aylesford Newsprint Ltd. in the UK ordered a complete service and modernization for their Kvaerner washer drums. International Paper at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA ordered a modernization of their Bauer screw press to improve performance and reliability.
Intensive efforts to combine the technology of the Andritz FiberSentry™ and the former Heinrich Fiedler Strong-Bar© screen baskets has led to the creation of a new wedgewire basket. The product, known as the Bar-Tec™ wedgewire basket, will be introduced to customers in the First Quarter of 2005.
Another development in the field of engineered wear products is conical refiner plates. The first mill trial of the design was very successful. In this specific case, plate life is excellent (3,350 operating hours), as is pulp quality.
Development programs for mechanical pulping focused on a versatile new sealing system, comprehensive modular machine diagnostics to enhance condition-based service strategies, and upgrades to allow production increases of TMP at lower specific energy.
Several new techniques for equipment optimization were investigated: pulper upgrades for virgin fiber and broke; and cleaner plant rebuilds (TC 133 vortex control) for both Andritz and other manufacturers’ equipment.
One example of an innovation to reduce maintenance costs is the SCP shaft machining device. This enables customers to repair and rebuild a screw press shaft without dismounting the shaft from the press - saving time and the cost of having a replacement shaft in inventory.
Together with Acutest, the Division developed a new condition monitoring system for the slowly rotating bearings in a twin wire press. The sensors continuously monitor the lubrication condition of the bearings. Defects are detected at a very early stage to avoid unplanned shutdowns.
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