Post by graham on Jan 22, 2023 15:33:51 GMT
Other than a brief interlude in the 80s, I've worked in the soft tissue industry since I was 21. It never fails to amaze me that huge machines are required to make the softest, most delicate products so it was with some excitement that my colleagues and I had been invited to take a tour of the Diecimo complex, Lucart's main European paper mill and converting plant. Lucart is the second biggest supplier by tonnage of soft tissue paper in Europe and has 12 mills and 40 converting lines spread across eight countries which includes France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the UK since they acquired my old company in March 2021.
The huge machines, often three or four storeys high are the actual paper machines - these are fed a concoction of either pure pulp or recycled fibres with water and various fillers and chemicals. This soup or "stock" is laid on to what is called a wire where the paper is created after which it is spun on a vast drum called the Yankee Dryer which forces excess water from the newly formed paper and blows warm air through the mixture following which it is would onto a huge reel known as a parent or mother reel.
The paper machines at Diecimo produce parents reels 5.4 metres in width which in old money is about 17ft 8in. These reels are then loaded onto the converting lines or "rewinders" where they are wound onto cardboard cores to form "logs" the same width as the parent reel, after which they travel through the log saw which cuts them precisely to the required width according to the finished product spec.
The final process sees the machines gather the finished rolls or sleeves into their case configurations after which they either travel through the shrink tunnel or are boxed and finally, are stacked in pallet quantities by robotic stackers and then transported by unmanned fork trucks into the finished goods warehouse.
20230117_154356 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
20230117_154554 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
20230117_155443 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
20230117_160003 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
20230117_160051 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
The huge machines, often three or four storeys high are the actual paper machines - these are fed a concoction of either pure pulp or recycled fibres with water and various fillers and chemicals. This soup or "stock" is laid on to what is called a wire where the paper is created after which it is spun on a vast drum called the Yankee Dryer which forces excess water from the newly formed paper and blows warm air through the mixture following which it is would onto a huge reel known as a parent or mother reel.
The paper machines at Diecimo produce parents reels 5.4 metres in width which in old money is about 17ft 8in. These reels are then loaded onto the converting lines or "rewinders" where they are wound onto cardboard cores to form "logs" the same width as the parent reel, after which they travel through the log saw which cuts them precisely to the required width according to the finished product spec.
The final process sees the machines gather the finished rolls or sleeves into their case configurations after which they either travel through the shrink tunnel or are boxed and finally, are stacked in pallet quantities by robotic stackers and then transported by unmanned fork trucks into the finished goods warehouse.
20230117_154356 by Graham Brown, on Flickr20230117_154554 by Graham Brown, on Flickr20230117_155443 by Graham Brown, on Flickr20230117_160003 by Graham Brown, on Flickr20230117_160051 by Graham Brown, on Flickr