Italy's Sofidel opens new tissue mill and converting plant in Circleville, Ohio. The facility in Circleville is Sofidel's largest, most modern and sustainable plant to date. The site has required total investments for around $400 million, and will employ approximately 700 people once running at full capacity, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
The Circleville production site is an integrated facility, that is to say, a factory that incorporates both the paper mill (where pulp is transformed into paper) and the converting plant (that produces the finished product). The plant is characterised by the use of innovative technologies for the papermaking, converting and warehousing stages.
The Circleville plant will be equipped with two Advantage New Tissue Technology (NTT) 200 paper mill machines, manufactured by Valmet, for a total production capacity of 140,000 tons/year. Each one of the two machines works with a format of 5.5 m and a speed of 2,000 m/min.
As for the converting process, the Circleville plant will be equipped with 10 lines, which will be used to produce the finished product, including three Constellation lines manufactured by Fabio Perini.
Alongside the use of co-generation plants for the joint production of energy and heat, Sofidel will be introducing a system for the recovery of heat generated by the turbines. This recovered heat will be used first to dry the rolls of paper, and then to produce steam. This system will supply almost all the energy needed to dry the paper and will be able to supply the entire machine in specific operating conditions.
In addition, the plant is pioneering in terms of automation of logistics. Through the application of techniques borrowed from the food & beverage sector to the paper mill industry, a system for the automated transfer of paper reels from the paper mill to the converting lines has been created – using LGVs, laser-guided vehicles. Moreover, complete automation of finished product handling is provided, through the Smart Store automatic warehouse, capable of handling more than 50,000 pallets of manufactured goods. This choice enables space savings of up to 40%.
The Sofidel Group is one of the leading manufacturer of paper for hygienic and domestic use worldwide.
