ContiRoll® at its best
The Polish furniture manufacturer Fabryki Mebli “Forte” S.A. has officially opened its latest plant for wood-based panel production in Suwałki in eastern Poland. Since mid-March, the manufacturer has been producing particleboard in three-shift operation here for its furniture plants in Mazowiecka, Białystok, and Hajnówka and soon also for the new production site in Suwałki.
The fact that Forte was already able to start regular particleboard production in March is thanks to the record commissioning achieved by the SIEMPELKAMP team. One and a half months earlier, on February 3, the first board was produced – originally scheduled for mid-March. Since then, the Polish furniture manufacturer has been producing 15 mm particleboard with a density of 530 kg/m³ itself, in outstanding quality.
And as early as April 12, all promised production qualities and quantities were met as part of the acceptance runs – meaning that customer acceptance took place a full four months before the contractually agreed target date. Already in the following tertial, Fabryki Mebli “Forte” S.A. will use the profit generated on the plant to pay off its investment costs – a dream start to the return on investment.
December 15, 2017: In fact, the first board could already have been produced by this date, as the SIEMPELKAMP team and the highly cooperative, experienced “Forte” crew had established production readiness of the turnkey particleboard plant. However, since Christmas was not far off and the Christmas vacation period is highly valued, especially in predominantly Catholic Poland, the teams decided to start production in the new year. This one-and-a-half-month postponement in no way strained the project specifications; quite the opposite was the case. The actual contractually guaranteed date for producing the first board had been set for mid-March.
On February 3, the time finally came: for the first time, the particle mat entered the ContiRoll® in order to leave it again after the pressing process as the first pressed particleboard. This first commissioning in 2018 marked the start of a whole series of five commissionings scheduled for the first quarter of the new year – the SIEMPELKAMP team led by Christian Löffler congratulated the committed and experienced team of Fabryki Mebli “Forte” S.A. on starting production at the most modern particleboard plant in Europe.
The pure installation time up to the early start of production was eight months – the period in which the turnkey particleboard plant was installed and commissioned. Undertakings of this kind require experienced and well-coordinated teams, perfectly functioning machine technology, experience, and sophisticated components. It is a good thing that the Krefeld press specialist has consistently and systematically relied on technical innovative strength and in-house manufacturing of all components throughout its 135 years in business. On site at the construction site at the latest, it always pays off that the installation teams, for example, install complete hydraulic assemblies that have already undergone test runs at the Krefeld plant.
In this way – to stay with the hydraulic example – fully equipped function carriers and other assemblies are installed and connected accordingly – “plug and play.” But the most important factor that can ensure rapid commissioning on site is, and remains, the human factor.
Only experienced project and installation teams are able to respond to situational imponderables. Exactly these skills were also required in Suwałki, despite all the conscientious preparations and well-structured project phases. A necessary official approval procedure delayed installation of the two Büttner systems – the drum dryer and the energy plant – by as much as three months. This unforeseeable incident naturally jeopardized all target agreements for commissioning the entire production plant.
At the customer’s explicit request, the SIEMPELKAMP subsidiary then significantly reinforced its installation team and, with considerable effort, made up for this long delay. The team led by project manager Dirk Goebel even succeeded in commissioning both systems one month earlier than planned despite the three-month delay. This spectacular success is based on Büttner’s sophisticated engineering and the experienced team on site, which carried out all the necessary work including refractory lining, steel construction, and insulation. With a total firing capacity of 49.9 MW, the energy plant not only supplies heat for the chip dryer and thermal oil for the ContiRoll®, but also provides energy for building heating. The high-performance dryer, whose inlet drum measures 5.6 m in diameter and 28 m in length, has a chip throughput capacity of 42 t/h bone-dry and is heated exclusively with flue gas from the energy plant.
In addition, the overall scope of supply to Fabryki Mebli “Forte” S.A. included the complete forming and press line as well as the end-finishing section. From the start of installation in early May 2017, the entire SIEMPELKAMP installation team scored with extremely tight and in some cases even early project milestones. For example, the end-finishing section, consisting of a diagonal saw, cooling and stacking station, automated storage, and the sanding line, was already completed in November 2017.
The central role is played by the ContiRoll®, here configured with a length of 40.4 m and a production width of 7′. The plant is designed for a daily production capacity of 1,500 m³ of particleboard. With the handover of production to Fabryki Mebli “Forte” S.A. in March 2018, the Polish board producer can now supply its furniture factories with high-quality particleboard – fully four months earlier than planned. Sophisticated technology from in-house manufacturing and experienced personnel: these are market advantages that SIEMPELKAMP offers its customers even before and during commissioning – and that pay off. “To keep pace with constant technological change, we use the knowledge of the best experts at home and abroad. SIEMPELKAMP is the ideal partner here thanks to its technological expertise,” says Maciej Formanowicz, Chairman of the Management Board of Forte. Executive Board member Klaus Dieter Dahlem adds: “With the new production facility, we are pursuing ambitious goals – and we are delighted to be achieving them together with the SIEMPELKAMP team.”
