Finland’s Kotkamills has signed a €70m contract with Valmet, a technology, automation and services supplier and developer for the pulp, paper and energy industries, to convert its paper machine product from magazine paper to packaging boards.
Kotkamills said that the deliveries will be divided between Valmet and Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery.
As a part of the contract, Valmet will deliver different kinds of coating units, new center driven OptiReel and new OptiWin two-drum compact winder.
Valmet will also modernise its dryer section and calender and related automation including air and chemical systems. Valmet DNA machine and process control, condition monitoring and machine vision systems will be included in the automation delivery.
Kotkamills CEO Markku Hämäläinen said: "Kotkamills is very pleased to have the know-how of Valmet's advanced coating technologies available for the important rebuild project from magazine paper to innovative packaging boards."
With the equipment upgrade, the capacity of the board machine will be 400,000 t/a, with the basis weight area of the end product being 150 - 500 g/m2.
The primary products to be manufactured will be a high-quality Nordic folding boxboard and recyclable barrier board for the food industry.
Speaking about the project, Valmet Vice President of paper mills sales and marketing Petri Paukkunen said: "Valmet delivers key technologies for the grade conversion to enable cost efficient and flexible production of recyclable and sustainable packaging materials. Our advanced coating solutions are a good fit for this demanding project."
With this initiative, Kotkamills will be able to manufacture products with the protection layers required to prevent grease, liquids or moisture from being absorbed into the package.
The construction is slated to commence at the beginning of 2016.
