A Midwestern US tissue mill, which produces light, dry crepe tissue on a traditional crescent-forming machine, recently expanded its relationship with Voith.
The customer was experiencing issues with cover wear, which allowed Voith and the customer to explore options for new roll covers and other opportunities for optimizing the tissue machine. In particular, the customer wanted improved mechanical reliability, greater running speeds, and longer run times. Upon weighing its options, the customer was sold on Voith’s roll cover design, crown optimization plan, service program, and ideas for reduction of water and electrical consumption.
The mill saw benefits through the expanded partnership with Voith:
• Reliability: Voith’s SolarSoft roll cover helped the mill reach its reliability and production goals.
• Resource savings: Voith’s HydroSeal device also delivered water and energy savings, reducing the mill’s suction pressure roll water consumption by 75 percent and cutting the drive load energy by more than 1 percent.
• Service excellence: Top-tier service was a key element as Voith partnered with the mill to implement a Total Roll Management (TRM) program, making Voith responsible for roll service, roll covers, and roll repair needs. Voith’s fabric and roll specialists offer unparalleled roll application expertise, excellent service, and focused technical support. One key element of this service was crown optimization. The crown and taper of the suction pressure roll were analyzed by Voith and adjusted for optimum performance when the mill made the switch to Voith’s SolarSoft roll cover. These adjustments have proven to be a big part of the winning combination that has produced excellent machine performance year after year for the customer.
Voith’s expertise, experienced personnel, hands-on service capabilities and continuous presence in mills can help make the difference on roll mechanical service and cover projects. Voith claims it can deliver a quality of service that cannot be matched.
“Our customers know we’re looking out for their best interests,” said Ian Meinke, product manager, Voith Paper FRS North America. “At this mill, the customer put its faith in Voith to maintain the reliability of their most critical rolls and provide a roll cover that could help push the machine to the high level of performance they needed. We did this by optimizing the machine with Voith products and services, including HydroSeal, SolarSoft, and outstanding mechanical roll services.”