State-of-the-art machines start to rewrite the record books
January 2008
By Annie Zhu, Features Editor
Since our last roundup of the World's fastest paper and board machines (PPI, January 2006), records have been broken in every category except tissue.
The cartonboard speed record has seen the biggest jump with APP Ningbo's PM 6 achieving an average speed over 24 hours of 833 m/min in April 2006, a 28% increase on the record figure of two years ago (set by PM 2 at Oji Paper's Fuji mill, Japan, back in February 2003). Two months prior to the APP record run, Stora Enso Skoghall's PM 8 had raised the bar to some 775 m/min. This remains the second-fastest cartonboard machine, while the #3 slot in the rankings has been taken by another new Chinese machine: PM 3 at Shandong Chenming's Shouguang complex, Shandong Province.
Asia now has a 37% representation in our speed record table, up from 25% two years ago. The region is particularly strong in coated and uncoated woodfree paper, cartonboard and tissue. China has seven high-speed machines appearing in this year's table, up from three in 2006.
Europe's share of high-speed machines has fallen from 70% to 58%. Europe remains ahead of the curve in newsprint, supercalendered (SC) paper, lightweight coated (LWC) paper, and thermal paper.
USA, the world's largest paper and board producer and consumer, does not have a single entry in the ranking, maintaining the same situation as two years ago, and indicating the lack of investment in new equipment in the country.
PM 2 at Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury mill in Canada continues to be the sole North American representative. However, it has been usurped from its position as the fastest SC paper machine, losing out to PM 12 at Stora Enso Kvarnsveden in Sweden, supplied by Metso Paper.
UPM has five of the world's fastest paper and board machines this year, giving it top ranking among the world's paper and board companies, followed by APP and Stora Enso.
From the suppliers' point of view, Metso Paper delivered 56% of the units in our table, Voith Paper 32% and Andritz 8%.
Holmen Paper Madrid's PM 62 is noticeable among the record-breakers because it only started up in January 2006.
The contenders
Machines that could be figuring in the ranking two years hence include Shandong Huatai Group's PM 12, which started commercial production in November 2006. The 400,000 tonne/yr newsprint unit (supplied by Voith Paper) has a design speed of 2,000 m/min. On the tissue side, Fujian HengAn (China) Paper's PM 4 at Anhai mill, has a design speed at 2,200 m/min.
| World ranking | Company | Machine and mill | Machine type and supplier | Speed (m/min) | Date achieved | Design speed (m/min) | Design capacity (tonnes/yr) | Machine startup date |
| 2008 | 2006 |
| NEWSPRINT |
| 1 | NE | Holmen | PM 62, Madrid, Spain | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,977 | May-07 | 2,000 | 300,000 | Jan-06 |
| 2 | 1 | Myllykoski (Rhein Papier) | PM 1, Hürth, Germany | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,954 | Jul-06 | 2,200 | 300,000 | Jul-02 |
| 3 | 2 | Norske Skog | PM 2, Golbey, France | SpeedFormer, Metso Paper | 1,902 | Apr-02 | 1,800 | 330,000 | Jan-99 |
| SC PAPER |
| 1 | NE | Stora Enso | PM 12, Kvarnsveden, Sweden | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,900 | Mar-07 | 2,000 | 420,000 | Nov-05 |
| 2 | 2 | UPM | PM 6, Jämsänkoski, Finland | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,815 | Sep-06 | 1,600 | 300,000 | Oct-92 |
| 3 | 1 | Stora Enso | PM 2, Port Hawkesbury, Canada | SpeedFormer, Metso Paper | 1,806 | Apr-05 | 1,800 | 350,000 | Apr-98 |
| LWC PAPER |
| 1 | 2 | UPM | PM 4, Rauma, Finland | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,912 | Jan-06 | 1,800 | 400,000 | Jan-98 |
| 2 | 1 | Burgo | PM 9, Verzuolo, Italy | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,904 | Oct-04 | 2,000 | 400,000 | Dec-01 |
| 3 | 3 | UPM | PM 3, Augsburg, Germany | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,840 | Feb-06 | 2,000 | 400,000 | Jun-00 |
| UNCOATED WOODFREE |
| 1 | NE | UPM | PM 1, Changhsu, China | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,700 | Jun-06 | 2,000 | 450,000 | May-05 |
| 2 | 1 | Portucel Soporcel | PM 2, Figueira da Foz, Portugal | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,583 | Jun-04 | 1,700 | 400,000 | Jul-00 |
| 3 | 2 | Gold East Paper (APP China) | PM 1, Dagang, China | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,553 | Apr-03 | 1,700 | 500,000 | Feb-99 |
| COATED WOODFREE |
| 1 | NE | Gold East Paper (APP China) | PM 3, Dagang, China | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,720* | May-07 | 2,000 | 700,000 | May-05 |
| 2 | 1 | UPM | PM 8, Kuusankoski, Finland | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,604* | Feb-05 | 1,500 | 400,000 | Aug-83 |
| THERMAL PAPER |
| 1 | 1 | August Koehler | PM 2, Kehl, Germany | DuoFormer, Voith Paper | 1,613 | Sep-06 | 1,500 | 140,000 | Dec-01 |
| TISSUE |
| 1 | 1 | Lontar Papyrus (APP) | PM 1, Jambi, Indonesia | CrescentFormer, Andritz | 2,110* | Dec-04 | 2,200 | 60,000 | Mar-98 |
| 2 | 2 | Gold Hongye (APP China) | PM 2, Suzhou, China | CrescentFormer, Andritz | 2,100* | Jan-04 | 2,200 | 60,000 | Dec-98 |
| 3 | 3 | Oji Paper | PM 1, Tokushima, Japan | CrescentFormer, Metso Paper | 2,080* | May-03 | 2,000 | 45,000 | Dec-98 |
| CONTAINERBOARD |
| 1 | 2 | SAICA | PM 9, Zaragoza, Spain | DuoFormer Base, Voith Paper | 1,564* | Mar-07 | 1,500 | 350,000 | Oct-00 |
| 2 | 1 | Papierfabrik Palm | PM 6, Wörth, Germany | OptiFormer, Metso Paper | 1,511* | Sep-06 | 1,800 | 600,000 | Oct-02 |
| 3 | 3 | Nine Dragons Paper Industries | PM 3, Dongguan, China | SymFormer MB, Metso Paper | 1,100* | Nov-03 | 1,200 | 400,000 | May-02 |
| CARTONBOARD |
| 1 | NE | Ningbo APP** | PM 6, Xiaogang, China | SymFormer MB, Metso Paper | 833* | Apr-06 | 800 | 700,000 | Nov-04 |
| 2 | NE | Stora Enso | PM 8, Skoghall, Sweden | SymFormer MB, Metso Paper | 775* | Feb-06 | 900 | 420,000 | Oct-96 |
| 3 | NE | Shandong Chenming | PM 3, Shouguang, China | Various | 750* | May-06 | 800 | 400,000 | Jan-05 |
| 4 | 1 | Oji Paper | PM 2, Fuji, Japan | DuoFormer D, Voith Paper | 650* | Feb-03 | 800 | 290,000 | Oct-01 |
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