DS Smith starts up new Bellmer TurboWinder at its Spanish paper mill in Alcolea del Cinca, which produces 120,000 t/a for packaging agro-industrial products on PM 3; winder has design speed of 2,500 m/min, will increase paper roll production, quality

The decisive criterion for this project was that the production of the paper machine should not be interrupted. For this purpose, it was decided to continue working with the existing winder until the new winder in the neighboring building was put into operation. The existing (older) winder can be used as an extension in the future to process paper rolls with different widths and diameters. In this way, DS Smith can supply its customers with paper quickly and efficiently.

Integrated into the TurboWinder winder project was a transport system that moves the roll from the poperoller to the winder with two rolls stored in holding position. The system, which was specially developed for this application, grips and transports the rolls of PM 3 automatically. The TurboWinder solution includes an edge trimming unit with separator and an entire electrical drive and integrated control through a Siemens S-7 PLC.

The components were assembled and tested in advance and transported to the factory in a modular design. Being in well-conceived sub-assemblies, the winder was quickly assembled on-site with extreme precision. All the project’s contractually goals in terms of operator safety, quality, production increase and technological guarantees were met or exceeded. Key to this success was the collaboration between the plant, the DS Smith project team, Alcolea and Bellmer.

An important fact confirmed by Alcolea’s plant manager, Jose Luis Pomar, was: “Everything related to this investment was designed and implemented with the future of the plant in mind for the next decades and the generations of people who will work there.”