Full speed ahead at Iggesund’s Workington Mill

/INS. Production at Iggesund Paperboard’s mill in the UK is now fully operational again. At the beginning of March the board machine was shut down for a rebuild, in which its oldest part, the press section, was replaced with cutting-edge technology. The rebuild will increase the machine’s capacity by 20,000 annual tonnes from 200,000 up to 220,000 and will also enable further quality improvements in the future.

“These are the immediate effects but in the longer term the new press section means we have a more advanced platform for our continued development work, which will be decisive for our future competitiveness,” comments Bengt Löfroth, technical strategy officer at Workington Mill.

A rebuild of a huge paper machine is a race against time. The high capital costs mean that the loss of every hour’s earnings is significant. The rebuild must therefore be planned down to the smallest detail so that all the contractors know precisely what they must do and when. Planning for a stoppage like that at Workington starts more than a year in advance.

After the rebuild is finished, uncertainties still remain: will the machine restart and how quickly can production get back to the quality that existed prior to the stoppage?

“Looking back, this was a superb job by both our own staff and the contractors involved,” says Ulf Löfgren, Managing Director of Workington Mill. “They worked night and day to give us the best possible results.”

Prior to this year’s rebuild, Iggesund Paperboard had invested more than £200 million in Workington Mill since the turn of the millennium. Today Workington is the only remaining paperboard mill using virgin fibre in the British Isles. The mill has a high technological standard and is a good demonstration of paperboard’s environmental advantages over other packaging materials. In 2013 the mill switched overnight from using fossil natural gas to using biomass as its energy source. The change meant an instant reduction of the mill’s fossil carbon emissions by 190,000 tonnes per year, the equivalent of taking 65,000 cars off the road. The investment that made this possible cost £108 million.

The new press section, combined with other measures implemented during the rebuild period, also increases the mill’s energy efficiency.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to become more efficient and save on the resources we use,” Bengt Löfroth says. “What we’ve just done now means that we will reduce our energy consumption by almost 10 per cent – which is an achievement in itself.”

Incada is the name of the folding box board produced at Workington. It is made of virgin fibre and is built to have a stiffness that makes it a preferred packaging material among companies wanting to give their products good protection with low weight while still getting the best possible print results on their packaging.

Caption 1: Iggesund Paperboard’s paperboard mill at Workington is up and running again after almost a month-long stoppage to install a new press section, which will give more consistent quality and an additional 20,000 annual tonnes of production. © Iggesund

Caption 2: The new press section is a technological platform that will be decisive for our future competitiveness,” says Bengt Löfroth, technical strategy officer at Workington Mill. © Iggesund

Caption 3: “Our rebuild went well – everything worked as planned and the restart was a success,” comments Ulf Löfgren, Managing Director of Iggesund Paperboard’s mill at Workington. © Iggesund

Iggesund

Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group Holmen, one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies listed on the United Nations Global Compact Index. Iggesund’s turnover is just over €500 million and its flagship product Invercote is sold in more than 100 countries. The company has two brand families, Invercote and Incada, both positioned at the high end of their respective segments. Since 2010 Iggesund has invested more than €380 million to increase its energy efficiency and reduce the fossil emissions from its production.

Iggesund and the Holmen Group report all their fossil carbon emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project. The environmental data form an integral part of an annual report that complies with the Global Reporting Initiative’s highest level of sustainability reporting. Iggesund was founded as an iron mill in 1685, but has been making paperboard for more than 50 years. The two mills, in northern Sweden and northern England employ 1500 people.

Further information:

Staffan Sjöberg
Public Relations Manager
staffan.sjoberg@iggesund.com

Iggesund Paperboard
SE-825 80 Sweden
Tel: +4665028256
Mobile: +46703064800
www.iggesund.com

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Company Information

Iggesund Logo


Iggesund Paperboard Head Office

Iggesund Paperboard AB
SE-825 80 Iggesund
Sweden / Sverige

Phone: +46 650 280 00
Fax: +46 650 288 00

info@iggesund.com

www.iggesund.com

Press contact

Therese Rahm
Communication Manager

Phone: +46 70 595 56 10

therese.rahm@holmen.com

     Via social media

Company Information

Iggesund Logo


Iggesund Paperboard Head Office

Iggesund Paperboard AB
SE-825 80 Iggesund
Sweden / Sverige

Phone: +46 650 280 00
Fax: +46 650 288 00

info@iggesund.com

www.iggesund.com

Press contact

Therese Rahm
Communication Manager

Phone: +46 70 595 56 10

therese.rahm@holmen.com

     Via social media

About Iggesund Paperboard AB

 

Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group Holmen, one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies listed on the United Nations Global Compact Index. Iggesund’s turnover is just over €500 million and its flagship product Invercote is sold in more than 100 countries. The company has two brand families, Invercote and Incada, both positioned at the high end of their respective segments. Since 2010 Iggesund has invested more than €380 million to increase its energy efficiency and reduce the fossil emissions from its production.

Iggesund and the Holmen Group report all their fossil carbon emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project. The environmental data form an integral part of an annual report that complies with the Global Reporting Initiative’s highest level of sustainability reporting. Iggesund was founded as an iron mill in 1685, but has been making paperboard for more than 50 years. The two mills, in northern Sweden and northern England employ 1500 people.




The Iggesund Mill


Making the world’s best paperboard is easy. You need water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow a seedling into a tree. Then you need sustainable forest management that can deliver first-class timber. There must be a pulp mill and a paperboard mill, and then distribution channels to get the paperboard to everyone who wants to use it. Most important of all, though, to the manufacture of Invercote are the skilled professionals who do their best – people who are proud of what they achieve and do not compromise on the quality of their work. Iggesunds Mill has traditions stretching back to 1685. Throughout that time dedicated individuals have done their utmost to use the renewable forest to benefit other people.

A world-class mill


Iggesund Mill (including Strömsbruk Mill) in Sweden is one of the most advanced, fully integrated pulp and paperboard mills in the world. Not least thanks to our long term majority owner, we have very well invested mills. There are many benefits having an integrated saw mill – we manage raw material together and we can use all the waste from their production to either make pulp or energy. In return we feed the saw mill with steam used to dry the timber. At Iggesund Mill, 100% of the pulp used to make Invercote is produced on location and pumped wet to the board machine. This means that we use no market pulp. Not drying the pulp preserves some mechanical properties of the fibres.

This advanced technology – hundreds of metres of paperboard machines – is controlled by employees with various forms of special expertise. The machines work around the clock and year round to produce tonne after tonne of dazzling white paperboard. Technical perfection and numerical control processes are all well and good but for excellent results you also need team spirit and a good working atmosphere. Invercote’s unique properties are the result of the interplay between expertise, a positive spirit and cutting-edge technology.

Actively investing in bioenergy


In 2012 the new recovery boiler was inaugurated at Iggesund Mill, an investment made possible by the long term perspective of our majority owner. With it in operation, the mill produces all the heat it needs, and can also provide district heating to the nearby community. It also produces nearly all the electricity needed for the mill, and is connected to the grid to be able to output excess electricity if needed. As the new boiler was trimmed into operation, it drastically reduced a lot of emissions between 2013 and 2014: fossil CO2 by >85%, particles by ~45% and sulphur by ~35%

With the installation and trimming of the new recovery boiler, emissions to air have reduced drastically from already low levels – graph being updated shortly. Measurements have shown that only 1% of particles in the air of Iggesund village comes from the mill. The majority of particles comes from domestic fire places and cars.

Care for our customers and their businesses


Paperboard must be there when the customer needs it. All the quality features in the world are meaningless if the deliveries don’t arrive in time. Delivery precision is a high priority. A maritime transport system guarantees overseas customers receive shipments with the lowest possible environmental impact. The service doesn’t stop there. Every tonne of Invercote comes with access to documentation and knowledge about how to make best use of the paperboard. The knowledge and market-based technical support provided by Iggesund, help customers to achieve dazzling end results and optimal production economics.

 

 

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