PTC has just announced that, for the fourth consecutive year, it has been named the overall leader and a “Best in Class” vendor for its Vuforia® augmented reality (AR) solution suite in PAC’s Innovation RADAR report.

• PTC’s Vuforia augmented reality solution suite described as “most comprehensive enterprise AR solution suite available in the market…”

The prestigious report assessed AR vendors’ support for connected workers in two criteria categories: competence and market strength.

The Farnborough-based company received the highest scores for both categories, whilst also garnering positive feedback from AR client references for addressing the highest priority industrial and enterprise AR use cases, and supporting a wide range of AR hardware options, from smartphones and tablets to wearable devices, such as the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and the RealWear Navigator 500.

“Our analysis shows that PTC’s Vuforia continues to be the most comprehensive enterprise AR solution suite available in the market,” said the report’s lead analyst and author, Arnold Vogt. “

“It is well positioned to help its customers and their connected workers realise tangible value from AR for use cases like training, service and repair, and manufacturing quality inspection and validation.”

Michael Campbell, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Augmented Reality at PTC, added his thoughts: “Earning this recognition as the overall leader in PAC’s latest AR report reinforces the value that we deliver to our Vuforia customers and the strengths of our product and go-to-market strategies.”

He concluded: “We’re pleased to be at the forefront of the growing enterprise AR market as use cases expand, new hardware providers enter the space, and industrial companies realise increasing value from these solutions.”

The full report, “Open Digital Platforms for the Industrial World 2022” is available here.

About PAC

Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) is a content-based company with a consulting DNA. Since 1976, PAC has delivered focused and objective responses to the growth challenges of software & IT service vendors worldwide. We are the preferred partner for European software and IT service companies to define their strategy, strengthen market share, optimise GTM, and help position their thought leadership. PAC is proudly an analyst-lead consultancy spread over multiple locations across Europe. We cover market research for over 30 countries worldwide, delivered through our portfolio pillars Guidance, Insights and Visibility and our renowned research platform SITSI ®. For more information, please visit www.sitsi.com

About PTC (NASDAQ: PTC)

PTC enables global manufacturers to realise double-digit impact with software solutions that enable them to accelerate product and service innovation, improve operational efficiency, and increase workforce productivity. In combination with an extensive partner network, PTC provides customers flexibility in how its technology can be deployed to drive digital transformation – on premises, in the cloud, or via its pure SaaS platform.

Today the Today the Norway’s Prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and the Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre visited Viken Skog’s Follum mill in Hønefoss. The plan of BillerudKorsnäs and the Norwegian forest owner group Viken Skog to establish production of bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP) in Norway attracts large interest.

Through a long-term partnership with Viken Skog, BillerudKorsnäs will secure both tailormade BCTMP and wood supply supporting the strategy for sustainable and profitable growth in paperboard. The Follum mill already has much of the infrastructure needed to establish such a production line and is in an area with competitive and sustainable wood supply and good transports to BillerudKorsnäs’ board mills. The ongoing feasibility study is expected to be completed during the first half of 2023.

Olav Breivik Jan Christian Vestre Jonas Gahr Støre og Christoph Michalski Foto BHP

-          BillerudKorsnäs strategy  has a clear goal - to deliver sustainable growth in packaging materials.  To get the opportunity to develop the new mill in Follum as a state of the art sustainable operation is in line with our strategy. We aim for negative CO2 footprint in production with bio gas and carbon capture,  says Christoph Michalski, President and CEO at BillerudKorsnäs.

The mill will be developed to a sustainable operation with high energy efficiency and low carbon-foot print from the operation and product in the value chain. The concept will include production of biogas, use of excess heat for district heating, and possibly also carbon capture. All these activities will be developed with their domain partners. This project is well aligned with the Norwegian governments ambition to raise new green industry in Norway based on forest and wood resources. In addition, the project is one of the rare large industry projects in the center of Norway, rather than at the coast.

BillerudKorsnäs provides packaging materials and solutions that challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. We are a world-leading provider of primary fibre based packaging materials and have customers in over 100 countries. The company has 10 production units in Sweden, Finland and the US and about 5800 employees in over 13 countries. BillerudKorsnäs has an annual turnover of about SEK 37,2 billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.com

Change in the Kemira Oyj’s Management Board: Antti Salminen appointed as President, Pulp & Paper segment

Antti SalminenAntti Salminen (1971) has been appointed to lead Kemira’s Pulp & Paper segment as of 15.8.2022. He’s had several prior leadership positions in Kemira, latest as President, Industry & Water segment and has been a member of Kemira’s management board since 2011. He has a PhD in engineering.

”I’m very happy that Antti takes the lead in our largest business segment. He has a long and diverse experience in the business development and leadership and he’s done a good job executing the I&W segment strategy. He’s well equipped to take over this new role and further develop Pulp & Paper segment growth strategy”, says Jari Rosendal, President & CEO of Kemira.

”I’m excited about this new challenge. It is great to take the Pulp & Paper growth story forward together with the expert team”, says Antti Salminen.

The search for Antti Salminen’s successor will be initiated shortly.

Kemira is a global leader in sustainable chemical solutions for water intensive industries. We provide best suited products and expertise to improve our customers’ product quality, process and resource efficiency. Our focus is on pulp & paper, water treatment and energy industry. In 2021, Kemira had annual revenue of around EUR 2.7 billion and around 5,000 employees. Kemira shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.
www.kemira.com

Due to continuing high cost and volatility in raw materials, energy and transportation Sappi Europe will increase its prices to its European customers by 8-10% on its range of Woodfree Coated and Uncoated papers, and Paperboard  from 12 September.

This is in addition to previously communicated increases.

The cost outlook remains uncertain and Sappi will continue to adjust pricing if costs escalate further.

Sappi’s European sales team will be in further contact directly with customers to discuss the details of the implementation.

About Sappi

Sappi is a leading global provider of sustainable woodfibre products and solutions, in the fields of Dissolving pulp, Printing papers, Packaging and speciality papers, Casting and release papers, Biomaterials and Bio-energy. As a company that relies on renewable natural resources, sustainability is at our core. Sappi European mills hold chain of custody certifications under the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™ C015022) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC/07-32-76) systems. Our papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50 001 and ISO

45 001 certification. We have EMAS registration at 5 of our 10 mills in Europe. 

Sappi Europe SA is a division of Sappi Limited (JSE), headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 12,500 employees and 19 production facilities on three continents in nine countries, 37 sales offices globally, and customers in over 150 countries around the world.

Learn more about Sappi at www.sappi.com.

The recycling process in paper production is complex. Fluctuations in fiber quality and the degree of contamination of the recovered paper bales have a direct influence on production output. At the same time, resource efficiency is more important today than ever before. However, with the current state of the art, it is hardly possible to determine the specific causes of losses and optimize them directly. Yield is usually only measured on a weekly or monthly basis - by the time paper manufacturers receive the information, the losses have already occurred. Furthermore, it is very difficult to estimate whether losses in individual stock preparation areas have increased or decreased compared to the last analysis. To address these issues, the leading full-line supplier Voith has developed OnView.MassBalance.

The innovative digital tool displays losses in stock preparation in real time to further increase the sustainability and efficiency of paper production. At a glance, the operator can locate the specific areas with optimization potential on the screen. For this purpose, a Sankey diagram maps each feed, accepts and rejects at each process step. As soon as a critical value is reached, OnView.MassBalance reports this to avoid high losses. In this way, standardized processes can be established that can be quickly and easily performed by operators across different shifts. Suitable countermeasures can be, for example, checking the pressure drop or the feed consistency of the last screening stage.

Successful customer installation
"The solution is already being used very successfully, for example in an OCC mill in France with an annual capacity of 250,000 tons,” according to Flavio Granito, Global Product Manager Fiber System 4.0 at Voith Paper. “After the optimization phase, 600 tons of rejects, including raw material, could be saved per month. This corresponds to a two percent improvement in yield.” As there is less rejects to dispose of and at the same time more paper can be produced with the same amount of raw materials, the solution pays for itself in less than a year. Flavio Granito further explains: "OnView.MassBalance is another example of how digitalization can strengthen more sustainable and cost-efficient papermaking. As part of our major sustainability program Papermaking for Life, we have set the goal of optimizing recycling processes and minimizing fiber losses. We aim to achieve a 90 percent recycling rate by 2030."

Installation and operation support
To calculate the mass balance in stock preparation, the innovative tool uses the signals from the sensors installed in the stock preparation plant. Voith experts identify the sensors required for this and develop a suitable concept together with the customer. Voith also separately offers the OnPerformanceLab (OPL) service. Based on bundled know-how, the OPL provides pragmatic support in analyzing losses, defining and implementing new countermeasures, and preparing monthly reports in close coordination with the respective paper technologists.

Sustainability program Papermaking for Life
Optimal production and resource savings with the help of the Papermaking 4.0 digitalization and automation portfolio are key topics of Voith’s Papermaking for Life sustainability program. As part of the innovation and development offensive, Voith Paper presents versatile technologies and initiatives that lead to more efficient and sustainable processes in paper production. The focus is on water, energy and fiber savings as well as digitalization, innovations and partnerships as levers for more sustainable production. Learn more about Voith Paper's commitment to sustainability: voith.com/Papermaking-For-Life.

About the Voith Group
The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, the company today has around 20,000 employees, sales of € 4.3 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the larger family-owned companies in Europe.

The Group Division Voith Paper is part of the Voith Group. As the full-line supplier to the paper industry, it provides the largest range of technologies, services and products on the market and offers paper manufacturers holistic solutions from a single source. The company’s continuous stream of innovations facilitates resource-conserving production and helps customers minimize their carbon footprint. With its leading automation products and digitalization solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio, Voith offers its customers state-of-the-art digital technologies to improve plant availability and efficiency for all sections of the production process.

International technology group ANDRITZ recently received the Final Acceptance Certificate for the upgrade of two ANDRITZ P-RC APMP (Pre-Conditioning Refiner Chemical Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulp) fiberlines delivered to APP’s Guangxi Jingui Pulp and Paper, Guangxi Province, China.

The fiberlines – originally supplied by ANDRITZ in 2010 and the first mechanical pulping systems ever supplied to APP – were rebuilt to expand the aggregate capacity significantly and thus meet the considerably raised mechanical pulp demand resulting from the customer’s new board production line.

The project comprised the rebuild of the chip pre-treatment system for optimum chemical impregnation and the upgrade of the existing high-consistency (HC) refining stages with advanced feeding systems to ensure high capacity and even feeding. A new fiber-steam separation stage contributes to energy-efficiency by maximum steam recovery and low fiber losses in the steam.

TX68 refiner with advanced feeding system © ANDRITZ

The successful start-up was managed by the mill staff, supported by experienced engineers from ANDRITZ China on site as well as with the remote support from ANDRITZ experts in Europe.

Guangxi Jingui Pulp and Paper was established in 2003 and is part of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a leading global player in the production of a broad range of tissue, packaging, and paper products.

ANDRITZ GROUP
International technology group ANDRITZ offers a broad portfolio of innovative plants, equipment, systems, services and digital solutions for a wide range of industries and end markets. ANDRITZ is a global market leader in all four of its business areas – Pulp & Paper, Metals, Hydro, and Separation. Technological leadership, global presence and sustainability are the cornerstones of the group’s strategy, which is focused on long-term profitable growth. The publicly listed group has around 27,400 employees and over 280 locations in more than 40 countries.

ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER
ANDRITZ Pulp & Paper provides sustainable technology, automation, and service solutions for the production of all types of pulp, paper, board and tissue. The technologies and services focus on maximum utilization of raw materials, increased production efficiency, lower overall operating costs as well as innovative decarbonization strategies and autonomous plant operation. Boilers for power generation, flue gas cleaning systems, various nonwoven technologies, panelboard (MDF) production systems, as well as recycling and shredding solutions for numerous waste materials also form a part of this business area. State-of-the-art IIoT technologies as part of Metris digitalization solutions complete the comprehensive product offering.

Vajda-Papír has chosen Voith Paper and Toscotec’s digital documentation platform OnCare.eDoc for the comprehensive and user-friendly management of all the technical information of its new tissue line. On 6 July 2022, Vajda-Papír has started up an AHEAD 2.2L tissue machine supplied by Toscotec on a full turnkey basis including the complete production line and all auxiliary systems. 

Zoltan Pataki, Operations Director at Vajda-Papír, says, “The OnCare.eDoc platform contains the entire scope of supply of our new line. It is very easy to pull any type of technical document such as manuals, drawings, and process flow diagrams. Easy access to specific information allows us to increase operation and maintenance efficiency. With this flexible platform we can finally say goodbye to hours spent searching for documents and data”.

OnCare.eDoc delivers a clear user guidance and easy-to-use structure both from desktop and from portable devices. As a key advantage, it includes all the technical documentation of the entire paper mill, so that any equipment supplied by Toscotec and Voith can be sourced in one single point. Due to the large amount of collected data, OnCare.eDoc also offers an effective search function for all kinds of documentation needs. 

“Efficiency and digitalisation go together. In the future Toscotec’s technical documentation will be delivered on OnCare.eDoc. Our goal is to provide customers with a clear and easy-to-manage digital documentation platform. On a large supply such as Vajda-Papír’s turnkey project, we are confident that OnCare.eDoc will make the difference” comments Lorenzo Melani, Documentation Technical Coordinator at Toscotec. 

Henrik Tallowitz, Strategic Product Manager Webshop at Voith Paper, adds: “Many customers from us benefit from the advantages of OnCare.eDoc. With customized functions such as a favorites list, paper manufacturers can sort their documentation according to specific requirements. This can minimize future search efforts.”

For more information, please contact: 
Lorenzo Melani, Toscotec Documentation Technical Coordinator: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Henrik Tallowitz, Strategic Product Manager Webshop & OnCare.eDoc: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Automatic warehouses: current state of the art

Automation 4.0 has arrived in warehouses, and it was definitely needed. Perhaps still considered as static places where goods simply remain parked, today warehouses have become and are increasingly becoming dynamic and smart environments, where there is a place for robotics (especially for AGVs - Automatic Guided Vehicles), computer science and sensors. It did not happen out of whim, because in the last few years a significant increase in complexity has affected the activities of warehouse and logistics.

Regardless of the type of goods sold, warehouses today contain many more products and much more data than in the past. In order to satisfy more and more demanding customers, who are informed and expect a greater customization, the offers have expanded and deepened.

Furthermore, with the introduction of traceability and monitoring systems, sensors and Internet of Things connectivity in many factories and supply chains, a veritable explosion of data has occurred. Data are indeed a resource but also a complicated material to manage. Moreover, in order to pursue the levels of service provided by Amazon and other e-commerce giants, even the most traditional companies find themselves under pressure, having to increasingly reduce delivery time.

Read more: Warehouse logistics: IoT sensors and new handling systems

How can we deal with such an important and probably irreversible change? Automation is a powerful tool for reducing complexity – and costs! – and is also a forward-looking investment that pays for itself quickly. There are two types of automation: "material", related to the storage and handling of goods; and "immaterial", made with management and control software solutions. It sounds complicated, but the tools to support the technological transformation of the warehouse are certainly not lacking.

Automated racking and AGVs, Automated Guided Vehicles, overturn the old model of a static warehouse and bring new efficiency in the storage, handling, picking, loading and unloading of goods (palletized, in boxes or in bulk). All these procedures are suitable for being automated, with excellent results.

A dynamic and automatic storage and handling system, for example, allows the entire height of the warehouse to be exploited (transforming it into a "vertical warehouse"): up to 90% more space can be saved, at the same square footage, compared to a traditional layout. And, in addition to space optimization, greater speed is obtained (no time is wasted searching for an article or lot), precision (zero human error) and safety (no difficult handling, loading and unloading operations are attempted).

We can define the automated warehouse as an automated plant for the storage of goods, consisting of four main elements:

• the shelving, which allows the vertical volumes to be exploited;
• the stacker crane, a frame that moves vertically and sometimes horizontally, sliding on a rail, with rope, belt or chain traction;
• the handling, i.e. the set of devices that extract and move load units (automatic conveyors, shuttles, rollers or chains and other elements);   
• the electronic component, i.e. the electrical cabinet, a computer and a management and control software.

Both the handling of materials and products and the loading and unloading operations are suitable to be automated, leading to great savings in time and great gains in efficiency and precision.

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World’s first continuous large-bed paper former outperforms competition

BMG, the world’s leading provider of forming, tooling and automation solutions announces the QuadPro^TM paper former, which provides the highest production output and lowest scrap rate in the industry by using a patent-pending, continuous forming process. This innovative system is the product of cooperation among three BMG companies, Brown Machine, Freeman Tooling and NAS Nalle Automation Systems. These companies brought together state-of-the-art technologies and processes to create an innovative turnkey paper forming, tooling and automation solution that meets industry demand.

The QuadPro^TM consistently outperforms the market leader in paper forming. When compared to its competition, QuadPro^TM achieves up to 3.5 times as much product output, over 95% product yield, and under 5% product scrap. Moreover, it produces higher quality products with improved rigidity.

One significant feature of the QuadPro^TM is its ability to provide material scoring without cutting blanks while running printed or unprinted paper with automatic continuous decurling and splice detection, enabling easier operation. This means that no operator adjustments are needed, machine jams are drastically reduced, product quality is significantly improved, and machine operation is easier overall. 

The system’s automatic splice detection capability also allows it to bypass score and form stations, achieving a faster changeover and less scrap. Further, its servo-controlled score depth adjustment allows for easy on-screen adjustments stored in a recipe for recall, as well as on-the-fly adjustments that reduce downtime. This helps achieve consistent, ultraprecise score depth in increments of .0005 inches. 

Other benefits of the QuadPro^TM include its ability to, to cut and form in place, and its automated product extractions, stacking, counting and conveyance. In addition to running printed and unprinted paper, the system can also form plates, bowls, and trays, allowing for a diverse set of products to be produced.

Visit www.BMG-Solutions.com for more information.  

About BMG 

BMG in Beaverton, MI, is a global leader in thermoforming, tooling and automation with best-in-class quality and innovative product lines. It designs and manufactures a complete line of continuous thermoforming equipment, tooling, material handling and packaging automation, robotics, and related services including system upgrades, prototyping, process optimization, and technical support. Its equipment has been “Made in North America” for nearly 70 years, with systems operating in over 70 countries serving customers worldwide. Visit www.BMG-Solutions.com for more information.

After 2021, the international rating agency ISS ESG has again awarded the Voith Group’s sustainability performance a B- rating this year. According to the current rating, Voith is among the three best companies worldwide in terms of sustainability, compared with 176 other plant and mechanical engineering companies. With the current rating, Voith achieves prime status for the 5th time.

“I’m pleased that we were able to maintain our top position as a leading company in our sector in terms of sustainability. Being awarded B- again confirms our sustainability strategy to date and is also an incentive to rigorously continue our commitment,” says Dr. Toralf Haag, CEO of the Voith Group.

The independent rating agency ISS ESG (Institutional Shareholder Services – Ecological Social Governance) evaluates the sustainability performance of companies around the world. The agency currently lists about 5,000 companies and analyzes their performance in the areas of environment, social issues and corporate management. The ESG company rating uses a twelve-point grading system, ranging from A+ (excellent performance) to D- (poor performance or lack of transparency for a performance assessment). The rating is not only an important indicator of the effectiveness of sustainability measures, by now banks also increasingly use it as a criterion for granting credit.

The external evaluation by ISS ESG is mainly based on the current Voith Sustainability Report, which has been published annually since 2011. Additional measures in the areas of energy management, supply chain and diversity & inclusion played an important role in stabilizing Voith’s rating.

Sustainability program “Papermaking for Life”
The sustainability of Voith's own activities is a focus topic of the recently launched sustainability campaign Papermaking for Life. As part of the innovation and development offensive, Voith Paper is also presenting versatile technologies and initiatives that lead to more efficient and sustainable processes in paper production. The focus is on water, energy and fiber savings as well as digitalization, innovations and partnerships as levers for more sustainable production. Find more information here: https://voith.com/Papermaking-for-Life/Own-Activities.

About the Voith Group
The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, the company today has around 20,000 employees, sales of € 4.3 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the larger family-owned companies in Europe.

The Group Division Voith Paper is part of the Voith Group. As the full-line supplier to the paper industry, it provides the largest range of technologies, services and products on the market and offers paper manufacturers holistic solutions from a single source. The company’s continuous stream of innovations facilitates resource-conserving production and helps customers minimize their carbon footprint. With its leading automation products and digitalization solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio, Voith offers its customers state-of-the-art digital technologies to improve plant availability and efficiency for all sections of the production process.