Umka Board Mill invested in three large rebuild projects, selecting Valmet as the main supplier. The rebuilds increased their capacity by nearly 70 percent and significantly improved board quality. As a result, Umka now meets the market\u2019s demanding expectations and is attracting new business and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Umka Board Mill is a family-owned business and a member of Kappa Star group, with a long history in paper making. Located in Umka, Serbia, the mill currently produces 220,000 tonnes of recycled coated white lined chipboard annually, with a basis weight range of 210\u2013450 grams per square meter. They utilize an equal amount of recycled paper from the total output. Seventy percent of the board is used in the food packaging sector, while the remaining thirty percent serves the pharmaceutical, hygiene product, automotive, and toy industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, Umka was at a crossroads, with two options. They could continue as before, with old technology and an annual production capacity of 130,000 tonnes. Or they could invest in new technology, increase capacity, and open new markets. Umka chose the latter and started to look for solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investments began with the main goal to increase capacity and enhance the quality of the board. Valmet was chosen as the main supplier for three major rebuild projects. In addition to the investments, both commercial and operational efficiency were improved internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Umka increased the capacity by almost 70 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust a month after the first rebuild, we achieved the best results in Umka\u2019s history. And four years later, Umka increased the capacity by almost 70 percent,\u201d says Sa\u0161a Dobri\u0107<\/strong>, Operations Director at Umka Board Mill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can now serve more than 40 different European markets. We\u2019ve increased the cooperation with our existing customers and opened new projects with them. We\u2019ve also gained new customers, new markets, and new niches,\u201d says Nikola Pejovi\u0107<\/strong>, General Manager at Umka Board Mill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first and largest project started up in 2021, in the middle of the Covid pandemic. The biggest changes were three new headboxes, a hybrid forming section with multiple fourdriniers, a new curtain coater, and a new winder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were guided by the principle that the potential supplier must meet our requirements, both in providing the best possible technology and being reliable \u2013 not only during the project phase, but in the coming years and decades,\u201d Dobri\u0107 explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Covid restrictions challenged the project from the outset. All the meetings in the engineering phase and even the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) were organized online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reconstruction itself was done within 90 days exactly as planned, without a single day of delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the end of the day, we managed to proceed and prepare everything on time. The reconstruction itself was done within 90 days exactly as planned, without a single day of delay,\u201d says Dobri\u0107. \u201cThe second jumbo reel produced was already the sellable product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on the positive experiences, from negotiations to the engineering, start-up, and optimization phases, Umka decided to continue the cooperation with Valmet in the next two projects. In 2023, a completely new OCC line was started up, and seven new coating air dryers were installed in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new\u00a0OCC line, with a capacity of 600 tonnes of bone-dry material per day, has significantly improved production efficiency and stock quality. The advanced screening technology with 0.15 mm slot baskets ensures exceptionally clean stock by removing impurities effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe OCC line is proven technology, and it\u2019s really adjustable throughout the process. Our best experience is with the low-consistency cleaner plant, where we heavily discharge all the sand from the stock, which is very beneficial for all the rotors and baskets, but also for all the machinery that comes after this plant,\u201d Uro\u0161 Man\u010di\u0107<\/strong>, Production Director at Umka Board Mill. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to say we\u2019ve completely combined stock preparation and the machine\u2019s wet end from one supplier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further improvements were achieved when Valmet upgraded the\u00a0DIP line\u00a0with new fine and coarse screening systems and a completely new cleaner plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The wet end consists of three state-of-the-art\u00a0OptiFlo Fourdrinier headboxes\u00a0that have improved the machine\u2019s stability, runnability and board quality remarkably. \u201cThe main benefit of the headboxes is the CD profiling. Previously, the basis weight profile 2-sigma values were from three to five grams per square meter. Now, they\u2019re only up to 1.5. We achieved this with Valmet dilution profiling equipment on the filler ply,\u201d says Man\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new and highly automated\u00a0OptiCoat Layer curtain coating station\u00a0replaced an old air knife. \u201cIt evenly distributes the coating across the width of the web,\u201d says Man\u010di\u0107. \u201cIt\u2019s also reduced the web breaks on this part of the machine by up to 30 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the latest rebuild, the old air dryers and infrared dryers were replaced by new\u00a0OptiDry Coat coating air dryers. Even though the technology is still new for Umka, they have been able to speed up the machine. It also increases runnability stability and the security of the machine by reducing the risk of fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new winder was the starting point of all the investments when Umka wanted to increase capacity significantly. \u201cWe were seeking a completely automated machine that would offer the best performance and runnability,\u201d says Man\u010di\u0107. \u201cWe recognized Valmet\u2019s\u00a0OptiWin Drum two-drum winder\u00a0as the best possible solution on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve Umka\u2019s targets, Valmet delivered the\u00a0Valmet DNA Automation System\u00a0with\u00a0Valmet Performance Center. Umka has been very satisfied with the new automation systems \u2013 even if the changes prompted some initial suspicion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the automation manager, I was strongly opposed to acquiring a new automation system for our mill during the project\u2019s negotiation phase \u2013 I was mostly concerned about how it would interconnect with our existing systems,\u201d says Milo\u0161 Stankovi\u0107, <\/strong>Project Manager at Umka Board Mill. \u201cBut during the start-up phase, I was glad we\u2019d listened to Valmet\u2019s suggestion of acquiring and installing Valmet DNA because it gave us the fastest start-up we could have expected for such a large board machine rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stankovi\u0107 is particularly pleased that all the Valmet DNA data displays can be reviewed historically, showing the values as they were at the time. The system has been reliable, and any improvement ideas for the system have been implemented quickly. According to Umka, Valmet\u2019s support during and after the start-up has been at a high level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All three rebuilds met the investment targets. Umka increased annual production capacity from 130,000 to 220,000 tonnes and significantly improved board quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur final board has much better printing properties. With this level of quality, we can meet the very demanding expectations of the market and our customers all over Europe,\u201d Dobri\u0107 says. \u201cThe decision to partner with Valmet on such a big project was the right call for us, and we\u2019re really looking forward to cooperating more in the future,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Umka Board Mill invested in three large rebuild projects, selecting Valmet as the main supplier. The rebuilds increased their capacity by nearly 70 percent and significantly improved board quality. As a result, Umka now meets the market\u2019s demanding expectations and is attracting new business and customers. Investing in the future Umka Board Mill is a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1367,377],"class_list":{"0":"post-17129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corrugated-folding-carton","8":"tag-umka-board","9":"tag-valmet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17131,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17129\/revisions\/17131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Three large rebuild projects<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Enhancing efficiency and stock quality with the OCC line<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Key paper technologies improve quality further<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fast start-up with automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
High quality and good cooperation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n