Plant Services - October 2007 - (Page 44)

ManageMent Personnel common of management teams in this incredibly conservative industry.” The employee-designed recovery projects were the largest of the five, and their completion earned the company “There are still another 70 projects on the board and the mill is working to fund the top seven. The estimated $3 million worth of capital costs is projected to generate $7 million per “Our primary obstacle is the price of paper. To compensate, we are getting out of commodity grades.” the Wisconsin Governor’s 2007 Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency Award. Capturing heat lost from vented steam and the hot water system, and recycling the heat and hot water back to the pulp mill and paper machines, cost $190,000. It saved $2.1 million in natural gas cost savings the first year, increased pulp production by 12 tons per day, improved paper machine operations, and reduced demand on the Flambeau River by as much as 1,500 gallons per minute. year in energy savings for the mill, with an average of six months to payback,” English adds. Less coal, more wood The mill’s large conventional boilers fire wood and coal, and they want to get to 100% wood if feasible. Robert Govett, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources, introduced the new owners to the Wood-Fueled Boil- TIgHT nEW COnTROlS Three weeks after startup, Butch Johnson, CEO and majority owner of Flambeau River Papers, set his sights on process control inprovements. The mill had lost its process control manager following the bankruptcy, but Honeywell had nearly three decades of experience with the installed equipment. They were called upon to provide the necessary guidance, and $3.5 million was invested. “We can do things with computers today that were physically and mathematically impossible 20 years ago,” says Dennis Davey, regional sales manager at Honeywell. “What this mill needed from a quality standpoint could not be accomplished with control systems that dated back to the early ‘80s.” The equipment on two of the machines was technically and economically obsolete. “Technologically, it was well past the 10-year Honeywell guarantee for parts and service. Economically, in the past 20 years to 25 years the industry’s tolerances on quality parameters had grown tighter. Flambeau River Papers needed a modern quality control system that makes continuous online measurements of key paper qualities, such as basis weight, moisture, and caliper [thickness],” says Davey. Johnson established goals to increase throughput, improve quality and save energy, and asked Honeywell to develop an economic justification for upgrading the equipment. “We identified three products that would return benefits in excess of $2 million per year for the mill,” says Jason Isselmann, Flambeau River Papers account manager at Honeywell. “A new quality control system [QCS] and cross-direction actuators for moisture (Devronizer) and basis weight (AutoSlice) were budgeted for #3 machine, the newest and highest-production machine in the mill. A used QCS System was put on #1 machine, along with an AutoSlice. Devronizers were added to both #1 and #2 machines.” Installation was done in spring, 2007 during a planned series of shutdowns. The mill saw instant results and the ROI rate is tracking as expected. It now has a technology path forward. “Honeywell brought our paper machines up to a competitive level,” says Randy Stoeckel, Flambeau vice president and general manager. “It was a leap of faith for them to install the equipment in our facility where we did not have a long operating history. They helped us improve production quality, increase our run rates, and realize energy savings.” In addition, the recovery time from upsets now takes a few minutes versus 20 minutes or longer with the old technology, resulting in at least 20 minutes worth of saved paper following each paper break or machine downtime. er Financial Feasibility spreadsheet program (http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/BoilerProgram.xls). The spreadsheet provides a starting point for analyzing financial feasibility. The program allowed mill analysts to calculate the costs, annual savings and payback period of displacing coal with wood. They used models to calculate the cost per net million BTU of different fuels, factoring variables such as moisture content and efficiencies against mill-specific operational parameters. The calculations revealed that coal consumption could be reduced by decreasing the moisture content in the biomass, giving it a higher BTU value. By making this change, the boiler that once burned 50 tons of coal per day is now burning 10 tons per day. “The people at Flambeau River Papers were very quick studies. We helped them access suitable feed stocks and assess raw material costs, and we helped them get started with the spreadsheet,” says Govett. “They used their analyses in clever, creative ways to generate efficiencies that established a competitive advantage.” Teams drive improvements A series of mill improvement (MIP) teams organized by the employees are driving best practice process and technology initiatives. “These are typically 10-week teams that set their own goal, capture the savings, and then sustain the savings in their designated areas,” says Byrne. “We try to structure the teams with 60% hourly and 40% salaried personnel from various departments affiliated with the team’s targeted goal. The improvements are generally implemented on the side while the plant is running.” MIP initiatives include: • Broke reuse: The first MIP team concentrated on changing work processes to reduce losses in waste fibers, known as broke. Formed in early June, the broke reuse team targeted wasteful habits to reduce bulk reprocessing costs and increase the use of de-ink October 2007 44 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/BoilerProgram.xls http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/BoilerProgram.xls http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - October 2007

Plant Services - October 2007 Contents Monetize It Letters Step into the Blogosphere What it Takes to be a Leader Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works From the Summit Treat Them Right Access Control Out of the Woods Show Me, Don't Guess Condition Assessment Made Easy The Air Above the Floor Power to the Prime Movers In the Trenches Illuminating Maintenance

Plant Services - October 2007

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