Valmet started up new coaters at Mayr-Melnhof Kolicevo board machine in Slovenia

Valmet Corporation's trade press release on November 16, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. EET

Valmet has successfully started up new coating technology, featuring multilayer curtain coating, at Mayr-Melnhof Kolicevo board machine 3 (BM 3) in Slovenia. Valmet's delivery included a new OptiCoat Layer curtain coater with supply system and a new OptiCoat blade coater.

Compared to other curtain coating solutions OptiCoat Layer is compact in size and straightforward to install. This enables lower investment cost and shorter shut-down time. The start-up was very smooth, thanks to the pre-assembly and pre-testing. This and the good cooperation between Valmet and experienced Kolicevo mill resulted in high-quality production right after the start-up.

"The assembly was finished on time and the start-up was done by just pushing the button. We are happy that the high targets set for this project have been met. The cooperation with Valmet was very good, on an open base during the whole project and startup phase, preventing all possible disturbances, before they even could occur," says Technical Mill Manager Rado Kunavar from Mayr-Melnhof Kolicevo.

Benefits with curtain coating

Mayr-Melnhof has been using curtain coaters from different suppliers for several years. Due to the compact design of Valmet's coater, the coating trials performed in Järvenpää and the good cooperation during the sales phase, they decided to choose Valmet this time. The selected coating concept including the 2-layer curtain coating makes it possible to reduce coat weight resulting in cost savings.

OptiCoat Layer uses slide dye curtain coating, which enables versatile use of coating color substances and layer thicknesses. The method also provides flawless coating coverage. The supply system includes the necessary degassing equipment. Effective degassing is essential in curtain coating since even the smallest air bubbles affect the stability of the curtain.

"2-layer coating has been tested with dry edges, and equipment works as expected. It has proven to be very good that we chose the degassing system from Valmet. We are very pleased with it," says Production Manager Aljaz Hafner at Mayr-Melnhof Kolicevo.

Valmet OptiCoat Layer curtain coater

Information about the customer Mayr-Melnhof Group and the Kolicevo mill

The Mayr-Melnhof Group's operations are entirely concentrated on the core business areas which are managed in two operative segments MM Karton and MM Packaging. MM Karton is the worldwide leading manufacturer of coated recovered cartonboard with a growing position in virgin fiber based board. The Division is composed of seven mills in Europe with a total annual production capacity of more than 1.6 million tons.

The recycling and virgin fiber based cartonboard grades are produced at the Kolicevo mill. Specializing in weights between 200 and 500 g / m², the products are used in particular for food packaging, cosmetics, pharmaceutical packaging and other high-quality applications.

VALMET
Corporate Communications

Further information, please contact:

Michael Kremsner, Product Sales Manager, Paper Mills Business Unit, Valmet, tel. +43 1 7996255 83

Petri Paloviita, Product Manager, Coaters and Sizers, Paper Mills Business Unit, Valmet, tel. +358 40 5918622

Valmet Corporation is the leading global developer and supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. Valmet's vision is to become the global champion in serving its customers.

Valmet's services cover everything from maintenance outsourcing to mill and plant improvements and spare parts. The strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bio-energy production. Valmet's advanced automation solutions range from single measurements to mill wide turnkey automation projects.

Valmet's net sales in 2014 were approximately EUR 2.5 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd.