Valmet investing in the future by upgrading its pilot machines

Valmet’s Technology Centers with pilot machines for board, paper, and tissue are world-leading resources for cultivating and realizing new ideas and developing new technologies and solutions. But they are also useful for improving existing solutions and joint development together with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.

To support Valmet’s long-term plan to develop solutions that will take the industry to the next level, Valmet is investing in upgrades of its pilot machines for board and paper in Jyväskylä, Finland and for tissue in Karlstad, Sweden.

Towards more flexibility

The target of the upgrades is to add even more flexibility to the pilot machines, to give customers a wider variety of technical combinations and configurations to support the demands of papermaking today and tomorrow.

They will also provide new ways to utilize the Industrial Internet and advanced automation solutions to bring new insights about the production of paper, board, and tissue, as well as to give more detailed analysis, and to improve training and process simulations.

Innovate, realize and optimize tissue production 

Valmet Technology Centers are based on proven technologies supported by deep knowledge and long experience in the industry. Most commonly, in the customers’ pilot trials proven technologies are applied in new ways or tested with new features. The Tissue Technology Center in Karlstad recently celebrated its 1,000th pilot trial together with customers, which corresponds to more than 3,000 trial days.

With access to the best available technologies, efficient operating practices and highly skilled people, the technology center in Karlstad provides a creative environment for developing and testing new products and improving product quality and machine performance.

Over the years, a great number of the world’s leading producers have optimized and verified their production processes there. The upgrade of the tissue pilot machine will offer tissue-makers even more possibilities to test and learn about the leading technologies.

There will be several exciting innovations that our upgraded pilot machine will allow our customers to test at pilot scale.  Mikko Osara, Vice President, Board and Paper Mills

Testing and piloting environment for paper and board makers

The Valmet Paper Technology Center in Jyväskylä, Finland, provides the most diverse range of testing and piloting services for board and papermakers. The upgrade is aiming to increase the flexibility of the testing processes even more.

“With this investment, we will have a renewed pilot machine to introduce new solutions, especially for the wet ends of board machines, to meet needs for improved product quality and sustainability. There will be several exciting innovations that this platform will allow our customers to test at pilot scale,” says Mikko Osara, Vice President of the Board and Paper Mills business unit at Valmet.