We’ve got you covered!

Papier- und Kartonfabrik Varel (PKV) is a German family-owned company with around 620 employees. It produces cardboard and corrugated cardboard from wastepaper for the domestic and international packaging industry using the latest technologies. With an annual production capacity of over 970,000 tons on four modern production lines, PKV is one of the largest production sites in the European paper industry.

Metaphorically, papermaking can be compared to an escape room: you are set to solve complex challenges with your team to get to the final destination. For PKV, one of the challenges over the past years has been the unexplainable vibration on their PM5, leading to problems with the film press including roll cover barring and an extremely short running time of the covers.

Due to constant grinding and replacing of the covers, they were becoming a bottleneck in our production. We initiated discussions with Valmet’s experts to find alternative solutions and ultimately decided to go for roll cover optimization and switched from rubber covers to polyurethane covers. The Valmet Sizer Roll Cover CF selected immediately achieved extremely good running times of over 6 months with no signs of barring,” says Jonas Niebling, Operating Engineer, Mechanical Maintenance at PKV.

Longer roll cover running time leads to improved production availability

Valmet Sizer Roll Cover CF is a wear-resistant applicator roll cover designed for film coating and surface sizing. It’s excellent with smooth and grooved rods and features high-quality coating film formation for easy operation.

The first Valmet Sizer Roll Cover CF covers were installed on PKV’s PM5 in the beginning of 2022. Due to the excellent first impression, more covers have been ordered and installed over the next years.

The performance and service life of Valmet Sizer Roll cover CF have been excellent, and by the end of 2024, all sizing rolls on our PM4 and PM5 were equipped with these covers. Our decision in favor of Valmet covers has been repeatedly confirmed over the last two years,” says Oliver Kern, Head of Production PM4 and PM5 at PKV.

The film quality and the applicator rod lifetime are as good as before, but barring is no longer an issue and the cover lifetime is outstanding, generating predictability and stability in sizer operation,” summarize Tammo Garn and Matthias Rennert, Line Technologists at PKV.

Good cooperation leads to success

In addition to delivering the latest technologies and solutions in papermaking, Valmet strives to work side by side with its customers to achieve outstanding results. Introducing the new polyurethane roll covers to PKV is a great example of Valmet’s experts’ dedication to customer service.