Valmet Clothing Days brings people together for inspiration

Simo Metsäranta, Director, Paper Machine Clothing at Valmet, hosted the customer seminar that was organized for the 16th time and attracted around eighty customers from seventeen countries.

Those participating Valmet Clothing Days for the nth time, know what to expect: well-prepared presentations by customers and Valmeteers alike, inspiring discussions, networking in a cheerful atmosphere, and a peek to Valmet’s paper machine clothing manufacturing in Tampere. This year, the guests also witnessed the inauguration of the new press felt machinery while visiting the production unit. 

Finding new directions in the crossroads 

To begin with, João Cordeiro, Senior Principal at AFRY, approached the current and future trends of papermaking.  

“I think that we are at a crossroads and need to decide where we want to go. There’s been a total shift in how the world is developing – today, politics is leading the way while economics is following, and this is something totally different than what we are used to,” he said. 

Of the global megatrends, João Cordeiro lifted three that affect the future of the industry the most: global warming & decarbonization, globalization & trade wars, and population growth & disposable income. 

“In a nutshell, decarbonization and energy transition will continue thus increasing the need for circular economy and low-carbon solutions; protectionism will create more volatility thus requiring the build-up of more resilience to disruptions on the supply chains; and aging population will impact both the demand and supply perspective of the market, namely what will be consumed and who will produce it,” Cordeiro summarized. 

It was a privilege to have (from left to right) João Cordeiro, Senior Principal at AFRY, Steven Finch, Production Manager PM 11, at Saica UK, and Rafael Villa, Paper Process Specialist at Klabin Ortiqueira, among the speakers at Valmet Clothing Days. 

Working together for success at Saica UK 

We were more than happy to have several of our customers get up on stage and share their success stories together with Valmet. 

“It was my pleasure to share what we have done, and it was nice to see that there were so many questions in the audience,” said Steven Finch, Production Manager PM 11, at Saica UK. 

Steven Finch presented the Saica UK way for wet end management to improve runnability, mainly concentrating on the challenges they’ve faced over the years and how they’ve managed to get over them. 

“Our headache for some time were laps or drop offs, mainly caused by low pick-up felt permeability, excess heat on pick-up felt edge, poor trim cut, incorrect pick-up roll vacuum, and incorrect trim stand up. Together with Valmet, we tackled one factor at a time, improving the situation significantly. For example, we installed control valves for our felt cleaning showers and control loop software to control the pressure based on felt lifetime as well as automated the Uhle box vacuum control to increase vacuum levels based on felt lifetime. These improvements along with the Valmet Press Felt TMO design have ensured good felt permeability throughout the 35-day life of the pick-up felt,” Steven Finch said.  

Feel free to copy from other’s success 

Among other customer presenters were Brijesh Bhutki, Production Manager at Ittihad Paper Mill, and Rafael Villa, Paper Process Specialist at Klabin Ortiqueira. 

Brijesh Bhutki shared the story of Ittihad Paper Mill (IPM) and the team that showed the world how paper is made in the desert. IPM is the first printing and writing paper production facility in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) area and the largest producer in the Middle East and North Africa region. It started its commercial production in 2020 and exports to over 50 countries. What is also special about the IPM is that it’s located in an area with no fresh water – a slight challenge that is being tackled by desalinating sea water. 

“It was my privilege to share IPM’s story in this event, and I hope it was a good and inspiring example at a time when our industry is struggling to grow further: if we could do it, everybody else can do it! Personally, I’ve taken every opportunity to meet new people and listened carefully to other’s success stories,” Brijesh Bhutki said after his presentation. 

Brijesh Bhutki, Production Manager at Ittihad Paper Mill, captured the audience’s attention by sharing how they succeeded in building a paper mill in the desert. 

Rafael Villa introduced, among other things, Klabin’s project Puma II with two new machine lines, PM 27 starting up in 2021 and BM 28 following in 2023 – both with Valmet Paper Machine Clothing. 

“Definitely the most important thing for us in the cooperation with Valmet has been the opportunity to utilize Valmet’s experience from mills around the world and the expertise they’ve built over the years. In the future, we’re expecting to continue the development together with Valmet’s specialists,” Rafael Villa said.  

Happy to share the news with customers first 

Clothing Days is also a showcase of Valmet Paper Machine Clothing and related services. This time, the spotlight was especially turned to press felts and forming fabrics with new, revolutionary products. 

Coffee breaks were actively utilized for learning. Here, pictured on the left, Janne Honkanen, Product Manager, PMC at Valmet exhibits the pulling clamps Valmet manufactures from belt production side stream. 

Mika Lahtinen, Director, Processes and R&D Excellence, Fabrics at Valmet, discussed the next steps in lowering the environmental footprint of paper machine clothing, and introduced the new Valmet Press Felt EMX M Bioneer – a press felt containing bio-based raw material. 

Pekka Kortelainen, Product Technology Manager, PMC at Valmet, shared examples of troubleshooting and improvements with forming fabrics while also introducing Valmet Forming Fabrics OP 4E, the next generation product with square cross-machine-direction yarns and a longer lifetime. 

To highlight Valmet’s commitment to its customers, Antti Niskanen, Manager, Business Processes and Digitalization, Fabrics at Valmet, discussed the benefits of Valmet Industrial Internet solutions. 

“Our goal naturally is to provide the best-performing products to our customers, and to do so, we seek to develop long-lasting customer relationships through data-driven performance assessment and development, open discussion and common long-term goals,” he said.

The evening program included some games, magic and music, and of course networking. 

All in all, Valmet Clothing Days was again a huge success with invaluable face-to-face contacts and truly inspiring discussions – both in and outside the seminar room. See you next time! 

Text: Marianne Valta