Paper Production

Hi all. I recently applied for a new job in a paper mill. It was all very impressive on the tour - big, fast, well maintained, clean(ish) etc.

This will be a large leap from the food industry where I am currently based although the job will still be an electrical support role.

I'm looking for your experiences, stories and views on the (paper)industry in general to help me make my decisions.

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Drippin

I don't about the state of the industry in the UK, but here in the USA, paper is still suffering from an excess of capacity. Marginal mills are still being closed, and capital investment is rather low. What grades of paper? Does your facility include a pulp mill too? Is there any converting done at your site or do you just ship rolls?

The wet end of the process leans toward DCS-type controls. You get into PLCs at the winder and through the finishing/converting end. Drives are a big item. There are lots of coordinated drives in a paper mill.

Investment & Capacity

The site is producing newsprint material. There is pulp on-site pulp production and the the rolls from the PM are rewound on-site.

As for capacity - I have done some digging and it appears that the UK is importing around a million tonnes of paper per year. Who says this is newsprint though!

I agree about the drives - never seen so many shaft encoders in my life!

Drippin

PS thanks for your views.

Newsprint is one of the grades that suffers from excess capacity. Newspapers are reducing their page counts as advertising moves to other media. The trend is compounded by declining circulation. Excess capacity means lower profit margins which means less capital spending.

If that million tons of imported paper was entirely newsprint, it would represent the annual production of three large paper machines.

I worked for years in the paper industry (International Paper) it was a very good job, very very very fast, we were in the printing side of things, it was a very stable job for the maintenance.

Several times they laid 75% of the work force but did not touch the maintenance side, the thing that I did like about it was... I can go to any town/city in the world and they will have a print shop, if they are hiring, I have experience... the industry I am in now there are a hand full of companies that do this and most are in Asia (I don't plan on moving)

I say go for it... I have never regretted making a change, a year or two after the change.

Hi,

The UK paper industry is suffering, with mills being closed.
Newsprint is getting more expensive to produce with Gas prices, Chemicals, and the cost of paper going up daily.
That is when you can get the old newsprint before it's shipped out to china!!!

Saying that, its a great industry to work in and with Palm creating a new machine in Norfolk there is the scope still left in the UK.

DCS_BOD

I currently work in a paper mill, and I hate the control system. We have a Metso machine with Metso DNA for the controls...It sucks! I can't believe anybody would buy this trash. Unfortunately, the uneducated management of my company just bought another paper machine, and the same control system, but we are not getting another engineering server, so it's one problem at a time for 2 machines. Approx. $10,000 for a laptop with the engineering client. For all the money spent, I think a control logix with remote i/o would be a lot easier to deal with, and less expensive too. Did I mention Metso Training Sucks also? $6000 per week, to hear stories about the trainer's sister. Only 1 trainer in the US

HI,
I also work on a Metso machine and use DNA, Training and support is 1st class.

We have just upgraded our Fibre Prep from Honeywell/Measurex to Metso DNA and that went very well with no problems.

Metso was picked over PCS7, Honeywell Expeirion, ABB due to completness of tools, easy of configuration and fault finding.
Great service, training and ever green policy.

What don't you like about the DNA system?

As I mentioned, the training here in the US is done by 1 guy. He spends more than half of the class time talking sh*t, therefore, we can't learn a whole lot. I hate that you have to go around your arse to see the state of something (in contrast to online with AB or Siemens). I hate not being able to make online edits. The system is very slow, and completely proprietary. The engineer from Finland (Pasi) is somewhat of a Pri*k and won't answer questions when we have him onsite. The machine itself is not a bad machine I guess, just the DCS seems very cumbersome. It can't do anything that a PLC can't do. The DNAuseEditor is also not ready for primetime. Compared to WinCC it is archaic. I came in from the converting plant where we have cutting edge motion controls etc., thinking this system would be cool to learn, so far I wish I had stayed where I was.

I agree DNAuseEditor is not great but compared with there last revision is 10/10. Modify and download modules on run no problem. Debbuger values online OK

Pasi never dealt with him, but the Finn engineers we deal with are great.
Our system runs very satisfactory and we just use remote desktop to have a second engineering station.

If you have any probs with DNA drop use a mail and I will try and help.

I worked with a material handling company for eight years, our number one customer was the paper industry. Ours was the corrigated end of things, box plants.

From all that I saw, it is easy for someone that knows anything about what they are doing to raise to the top. The box industry here in the US is far from clean, but it is fast paced. Seems many from a slower background just can't cut it. I also agree that it is nice to work in an industry where you can find a job in just about any area of the country.

I know this is not exactly what you asked for, but here goes. I started my carrier in bottling, then when into bakeing, then into fresh cut produce. I am out of the food industry now, and i miss it every day. The one thing I have noticed since I left the food industry, is layoffs, they were un-heard of in the food industry, people have to eat. Another thing I have noticed, is and maybe this is personal, I liked being in an industry where my work was instantly recogniable, to this day I cant walk by a pack of thomas bagels, or Simply Orange juice whithout picking up the container and thinking of my controbution to the product.

Hopfully I can add something to this and for the OP.
I used to work for a UK manufacturer of paper mill equipment (design eng). The UK industry was hard so most of the business was in US. I don't know the scope now.
I moved to the US and I now work for a paper mill. Its a tough industry for the small players (where I work). Machine runs 24x7x365 b to the wall, so any downtime is costly. I only have experience with this small company but there is alot of oppertunity for alot of fun projects and branching out into the unknown. If this is a small company then be prepared to accept alot of hats.

My position allows alot of fun stuff with the usual expected steep learning curves. I am in the process of changing our drive system from an Italian (Ansaldo - 10 years old) to AB (ControlLogix, Powerflex 700VC). Full writing of program the whole thing shebang, changing 2-4 drives at a time in 8 hour monthly shutdowns.
We put encoders on all the motors, but I disabled them and no problems (winder, reel, dryers, fan pump done). Encoders are still going to be put on the rest, just in-case. The drives are running better without encoders than the older ones that used encoders.

We have a Honeywell/Measurex system and looking to change that to AB for DCS (all inhouse programs, as its just interlocks, PIDs, on off so should be easier than writing a drive system) and maybe changing the scanner (looking at Metso DNA - any advice, what questions to ask, pitfalls to avoid would be greatly appreciated).

Clean(ish) machine! esp compared to food industry!!! Wait until you have to sort out a pulper transmitter when its overflowed (usually in the basement) waist deep in stock (nice and warm though) or re-running conduit that someone decided to use as a foot stool under the machine where stock has been sitting for couple days as the crew is shorthanded and does not have utility person free to clean up.