Paper Technology International 2024 - Journal - Page 36
PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
Figure 2: Johannes Holubec.
With Johannes Holubec as a freelancer, nothing and yet a
lot changes, because as a former employee of a paper factory with
concrete practical experience in waste paper stock processing, R&D
projects and product market launches, he adds a further perspective
into the way KPNB works.
Focus on customer bene昀椀ts
KPNB takes customer needs and bene昀椀ts into account.
KPNB operates largely independently and does not have to sell X
instead of Y to earn 2 euros more. The goal is to help the customer
build and maintain a long-term, positive business relationship. The
customer must have bene昀椀ts and advantages from the offer so that
the next time they have a request, their 昀椀rst thought is: “I’ll call KPNB
now! They are so well connected! They probably know someone
who can help me!”
KPNB is often approached by companies at trade fairs who
are looking for of昀椀cial representatives or want loose support on the
DACH market. “We take a close look at whether the company, the
products and the way of working 昀椀t in with the KPNB philosophy,”
says Nicole Buschmeier, owner of KPNB.
It is interesting that KPNB is one of the youngest companies
in the paper industry and is being approached even though there are
more experienced sales representatives in Germany. Maybe KPNB
is doing something different and right?!
While the main business takes place in Germany and
neighboring countries, KPNB maintains contact with other regions
worldwide where the markets are important for its partners.
Language skills are a big advantage and also the fact that Nicole
Buschmeier has taught languages. Being able to chat and work in
Spanish with clients in Spain, Argentina or Mexico is a plus. English
is almost always possible and, in addition, it helps to know how
dif昀椀cult it is for some people to learn a foreign language. This is
how you understand each other even if the technical terminology is
sometimes missing.
What is the best con昀椀rmation for Nicole Buschmeier is that
customers contact her because they trust her to have a solution to
their problems or the right partners for their projects.
The following are just a few examples of successfully
connecting the right suppliers to paper and board producers.
Lanex: Unplanned shutdowns due to necessary changes of
paper carrier ropes?
When using paper carrier ropes the paper and board
producers are looking for longest possible lifetimes to reduce effort
and time needed for changing and splicing ropes. The worst case is
when the ropes wear and rip during production. To reach the longest
lifetimes for all different sections in paper or board machines Lanex
develops new ropes and has tried and tested ropes on stock. There
are large differences for ropes in „easy“ operating conditions and
ropes used for example in coating or drying sections with coating
colour and high temperatures.
36
If you have not invested time to test some new or simply
other ropes, maybe you are missing out on a simple tool for
improvement in your production process. We had two cases, where
a simple test made a huge difference and the paper and board
production team happier! And happy customers are the best!
Paper production and paper carrier ropes in the coating
section:
Life time of ropes was more than doubled from 8-14 days to 28
days.
Operating conditions
Basis weight: up to approximately 200 gsm
Machine speed: up to approximately 1.000 m/min
Application section: Coating and Drying Sections
Surrounding Temperatures: maximum 100 °C
Customer tested Lanex Technoline DUO ropes and after
the 昀椀rst trial quali昀椀ed them as standard rope for this speci昀椀c paper
machine and section.
In general, Lanex ropes are extremely 昀氀exible and wear
resistant due to special impregnation(s) and thermo 昀椀xation(s).
These serve to minimise rope stretching and make the ropes more
resistant to chemicals and unfavourable surroundings.
Board production and paper carrier ropes in the coating
section. Smur昀椀t Kappa Herzberg Solid Board changed all paper
carrier ropes after a few weeks of testing to Lanex ropes. In all
sections of the board machine the life times of the ropes was longer
than the previously used types. The chosen rope Lanex Doubleline
DUO (Duo = with core) is extremely is extremely friction resistant
and reduced the number of required rope changes signi昀椀cantly.
Lanex manufactures high-quality paper carrier ropes from
their own R&D department. In other industries, even lives depend on
Lanex ropes:
Lanex supplies, for example, mountain rescue services, the
military, the German SEK and similar professional groups. For this
reason, quality checks and safety tests are a standard and always
carried out.
Pixact: Real-Time Stock Monitoring and Analysis to Optimise
the Bleaching Process
In the summer of 2020, a specialty paper producer of
security papers was looking for a system for detecting dirt particles
in their stock preparation before and after bleaching. The aim was
to, among other things, reduce broke production and optimise the
use of bleach.
A member of the technical purchasing staff called Nicole
Buschmeier: “Our production wants a system that monitors dirt
particles already in the stock preparation – in the suspension –
online. I thought, you might know a company that can supply that.”
With some research and checking the right places KPNB
was able to deliver the perfect provider of a stock monitoring system,
namely Pixact from Tampere. By chance a neighbour to the already
KPNB-net-work-partner Tasowheel.
Pixact products combine online process microscopy with
advanced real-time image analysis techniques to provide highly
detailed information on various suspension properties.
The technology is able to analyse the properties of both the
dispersed phase (such as particle size, shape and colour) and the
suspension (speed, turbidity, homogeneity and colour).
