We have revamped the production line of the Elmacart paper mill, a turnkey industrial modernization project.
With plant modernization we mean all the industrial revamping actions required to overhaul and update existing industrial plants.
The target is to extend their operating life within the production process and to integrate the original project with leading-edge solutions to meet the current requirements.
In detail, our industrial revamping actions have focused on the following paper mill systems:
- medium-voltage cabinets
- PPC cabinets (Power Control Center)
- MCC cabinets (Motor Control Center)
- DCS – Distributed Control Systems
- drives
- active filters
- mounting and mechanical revision
The Elmacart paper mill & Alsiter
The Elmacart paper mill was established in Broccostella, near Frosinone, in 2005.
It operates in the business of paper and cardboard production, and the related raw materials.
The Elmacart mill can manufacture quality products with their diverse team, constant updates to the equipment fleet and automation of production processes.
Automation and industrial modernization are the focus of the synergy between Elmacart and Alsiter.
Specifically, we executed the full turnkey revamping of the paper mill, implementing the following updates:
- full reconstruction of the paper manufacturing plant
- new control systems for the paper production process
- SSI supervisory system
Full reconstruction of the paper manufacturing plant
Elmacart turned to us for the full reconstruction of the plant and modification of the PM1 cardboard production line.
The goal of the project was to increase the width of the cardboard sheet, up to 2.800 mm of production format.
The solution we identified was the reconstruction of the MC1 continuous machine for cardboard.
In detail, the parts involved were the following:
- the gap former and upper former in the wet section
- the combi press with shoe press in the upper position in the press section
- the drying room with slalom batteries and dual felt batteries
- the winder
- the machine pumps
The new control system
We installed a new control system for the drives and the production process of the continuous machine. We selected a system based on a full-featured control integrated into PLC S7.
This system can process all the calculations of references internally, and through the Profibus DP interface, it controls all the drives.
In this way, we have updated both the mechanical construction and the instrumentation of the cardboard production line.
The new control system is based on last-generation automation technology and is equipped with Siemens hardware.
It also offers two huge intrinsic capabilities: the intuitive human-machine interface (HMI), and quick and efficient process diagnostics.
It must be noted that this type of diagnostics helps minimize the “fault time” which often affects continuous cycle industrial production.
“When production was launched in November 2020, the new cardboard production line soon showed the benefits compared to the previous plant, with positive figures in terms of efficiency and runnability (i.e. the capacity to operate without interruptions). This result was very satisfactory for all the companies involved, which supplied their latest technologies to achieve the required improvement of the production system” said Roberto Altieri, President of Alsiter.
SSI supervisory system
The project also includes the Windows-based SSI supervisory system, which exchanges data with the PLC via Ethernet.
The supervisory system is particularly fast and reliable in the human-machine interface.
It also allows to view and control the entire line. It can display concurrently the speed, motor current and active current of all the motors included in the production cycle.
The collected data are stored on the hard disk, virtually with no time limit, and can be retrieved and viewed at any time. The operator has access to a recipe page to store and retrieve the synchronization data set in each motor for each type of production.
Each user interface onboard the machine consists of Siemens operating panels that can control the synchronization of each motor and allow to view and control the entire line.
If you want to find out how you can optimize your plant, contact us
