Buying knowhow boosts competetiveness of Cartiere del Garda

Lecta Group’s Cartiere del Garda mill in Riva del Garda, Italy, decided to utilize Valmet’s iRoll Portable press nip analysis service to resolve a problem with moisture profiles and reduced press felt lifetime. In addition to increasing production and saving money, the mill gained fundamental knowhow to further strengthen their position in the market.

“In order to succeed in the papermaking market, knowledge is vital,” says Antonio di Blas, Production Manager at Cartiere del Garda. “If you lose the knowhow, you lose your margin and you’re out”.

Finding an accurate measurement solution 

The mill had noticed an increase in the wearing of the fabrics on its PM 3 and suspected that the problem was caused by a press nip overloading effect. “Despite conducting infrared and temperature measurements, the fabric lifetime kept decreasing, and we were not able to measure anything useful or find partners to help us. So we started looking for other options, including new technologies, and we learned about Valmet’s iRoll technology,” explains di Blas.

The iRoll Portable press nip analysis service combines dynamic nip profile measurement with the capability of doing testing in real process conditions. “We soon understood the possibilities of iRoll measurement technology in the press section. For example, we could measure dynamically over a long time period, which sounded fantastic for us.”

iRoll improved runnability in the press section

The iRoll Portable analysis took place in April 2015. The measurements showed that the nip loading was actually low in the area where the felt was wearing quickly.

“As a result, we added extra cooling to the Nipco oil distribution system, and the Nipco itself was loaded based on parameters drawn up with Valmet’s specialists according to the measurement results,” says di Blas. The mill started adjusting the nip in manual mode with the new loading profiles suggested by Valmet.

For Cartiere del Garda, utilizing iRoll technology was justified not only from a problem-solving perspective, but also from a knowhow point of view. 

“In our case, we were able to improve the press section’s runnability by introducing iRoll technology”, says Antonio di Blas, Production Manager at Cartiere del Garda.

Longer lifetimes and better profiles

Within just a couple of months, the changes made based on the iRoll Portable Analysis results were showing positive results. The felt lifetime was increased from 30 days to 50 thanks to less wearing, which means a reduction from using 12 felts every year to eight. In addition, moisture profiles and reeling performance have improved, and the cover lifetime of the press roll has grown longer, resulting in reduced maintenance and regrinding costs.

Above all, the better profiles mean that production has increased due to improved runnability and higher speeds. “As the wrinkles have disappeared, we have been able to increase the speed of the machine by 30 meters a minute. For us, that’s really a lot,” says di Blas.

“We are really satisfied with Valmet’s service and the results,” di Blas reflects. “We got a solution to our problem. Actually, it was a double success: we got an accurate technical explanation plus a ‘free-of-charge’ solution for further savings.