Lenzing Papier resumes full production of quality paper on PM No. 1 at its mill in Lenzing, Austria, after 46 days of downtime following Nov. 5 fire; company used shutdown that ended Dec. 21 to modernize the paper machine, do maintenance

Debra Garcia

LENZING, Austria , January 13, 2014 (press release) – Austrian paper manufacturer Lenzing Papier is delighted to announce that full paper production recommenced on 21 December following a serious fire on 5 November.

The fire started in and was mainly confined to the mill’s ventilation system and the cable trays on the back side of the paper machine. Basically, all cabling and electric wiring was lost. Approximately 90,000 metres of cabling had to be replaced.

After only 46 days of downtime, PM1 is producing quality paper again. The fire started in the basement on the drive side of the paper machine in a fan which removes dust from the doctor blades of the first drying cylinders.

The cause of the fire was most probably a short circuit which ignited the paper machine cables. As a consequence the paper machine room was quickly filled with thick black smoke. Nobody was injured during the fire or in the subsequent major repairs that were carried out.

Lenzing Papier made optimum use of the downtime to modernise the paper machine and to do maintenance which is normally difficult because of time constraints.

After the successful restart general manager Ernst Brunbauer commented: “Our paper machine operators worked with the outside contractors to clean and repair the machine. Paper making has again proven to be a real team effort. Shortly before Christmas, paper came from PM1 again - and it was better than ever.”

Industry Intelligence editor's note: Lenzing Papier GMBH's paper mill in Lenzing, Austria, has an annual production capacity of 75,000 tonnes/year of uncoated graphic papers, according to information from Austrian paper industry trade association Austropapier's website.

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