Is your maintenance organization reactive? Is work left unplanned and unscheduled? You’re not alone. Years ago, I was in a meeting at a North American chemical company discussing one of their production lines. The operations manager stated his expectations clearly. He said to maintenance: "Just set up your toolboxes at the line and I will let you know when to fix stuff." The line uptime was running at 73 percent, but the target was 90 percent.

The 2020 pandemic brought many challenges to the pulp and paper industry, including longer lead times on spare parts deliveries and difficulties bringing supplier SMEs (subject matter experts) from overseas due to travel restrictions. Considering its aged installed machinery, North American pulp and paper mills cannot remain competitive in the globalized market without proper maintenance practices. Additionally, the industry’s aging workforce increases dependency on technology and equipment suppliers’ knowledge and support.

Thermocompressors operate by using a higher-pressure motive steam source, which is injected through a spindle and nozzle assembly into a convergent/divergent throat section (a venturi jet device).

Tissue paper conversion consists of the transformation of base tissue papers into finished tissue products to meet specific demands. When base tissue paper arrives at the converting line, it  already holds different requirements that were met during its manufacture in the paper machine (e.g., grammage, bulk, tensile index, etc.).

Embossing is a converting process in which the surface of a tissue paper sheet is changed under high pressure, allowing different functions.