Cartiera Fornaci di Fagnano Olona has made a major investment, entrusting its supply and start-up to SAEL, its historic partner. This involves the extension of the new water-cooled sectional control; of which the PM1 machine DCS now includes steam-hoods; reconstruction of the drying rooms; implementation of automatic hydraulic lubrication – main contractor Aerothermic of Lucca ; vacuum management; retrofitting of the shoe press; pulper waste treatment plant complete with deferrization; upgrade on the QCS of thickness and ash control; automatic Out Line laboratory; renovation of the consistency control and fire prevention system of the entire plant and finally the reconstruction of the control and automation of the T3 cutter.

Cartiera Fornaci: pioneer of circular economy and innovation

Founded in 1960 by Pieraldo Cattaneo, it represents a historic company pioneering the circular economy. Benedetta Cattaneo, third generation together with her brothers and cousins, leads the company whose history is intertwined with a deep commitment to sustainability and great efficiency in the production of recycled cardboard.

The paper mill has in fact placed respect for the environment among its priorities. The purification plants and the recirculation of waste water, together with the storage and disposal processes of production waste, reduce the social and environmental impact on the surrounding area. In a competitive context, the company has distinguished itself for the implementation of efficient processing techniques, optimizing the use of the continuous machine.

Cartiera Fornaci offers a wide range of weights for its cardboard, ranging from 380 to 1,000 grams per square meter and available in gray, white-gray and white-white, with the addition of Havana.

The acquisition of Cartiera di Momo will allow the company to approach the world of printing, in addition to that of packaging, expanding the opportunities for growth and diversification.

The project

All MCCs related to the control of pumps/hoods/steam actuators, the management/implementation of the modification on the DCS related to the continuous, are supplied by SAEL. The modification, including the total restructuring of the steam system and hoods, also included all the upgrades related to the sectional control where the dryers were rebuilt with Silent Drive transmission.

The energy savings previously achieved with the 2019 “Water Cooling” command have eliminated all doubts in making investment decisions. Now, every pump that was working at full capacity – where modulation was done by the valve – is now managed by a SAEL drive.

An example for all is given by the vacuum pumps: they went to maximum and the operators were forced to open false air to manage the vacuums necessary for the different speeds and weights, resulting in an enormous waste of energy.

Now, just one click: you enter the recipe and everything needed for that type of production and each motor, valve and doser, with its set ramp, is positioned in the working set-point. By optimizing the management of the system in this way, you obtain a product that is always the same in its characteristics and quality.

With SAEL solutions , plant management becomes increasingly simple and ergonomic, offering powerful diagnostic tools to all operators. Through video messages and trends of all system quantities, plant maintenance personnel are supported, who make use of documentation and open source project software.

For those who have struggled to find manuals or diagrams lost in drawers or in some dark corners of the paper mill, happy moments have arrived: with a movement of the mouse or a touch on the touch screen corresponding to the engine or valve that is suspected of giving problems, all the information necessary to resolve the anomalies appears.

Screenshot of the DCS command and control system that today manages the entire paper mill.

The work carried out at the paper mill and started in January 2024 was comprehensive of all wiring to and from the electrical panels and all cable ducts and became an extension of the SAEL command started in 2019.

The Management – ​​headed by Dr. Benedetta Cattaneo and led by a team of qualified people in the plant – has led the almost total transformation of the paper mill over the last two years with several modifications to the Fagnano Olona plant to also deal with the upgrades needed for PM1 in the future.

The interventions carried out in the paper mill in recent years in chronological order have concerned in 2019 the installation of the new sectional control with “Water Cooling” technology and implementation of the DCS with Scalink active redundancy in the control. In 2022 the upgrade of the QCS system; in the first months of 2023 the reconstruction of automation and drive of the T3 cutter.

At the end of 2023 – with start-up on 5 January 2024 – the last major investment took place: extension of the new water cooling sectional control, DCS of the PM1 machine which now includes steam-hoods-vacuum management, reconstruction of the drying rooms, with new rope tail passage up to the third battery (with plans to complete the other batteries with blowing passage); retrofitting of the shoe press, implementation of automatic hydraulic lubrication of the entire drying room; pulper waste treatment system including shredding, deferrization and pressing; upgrade on the QCS of thickness and ash control; creation of a new space for the laboratory with the insertion of a machine that includes the necessary instrumentation to carry out the checks requested by the customer (with the sending of an automatic report to the quality management managers); renovation of the consistency control system to guarantee a final weight within tolerances and finally the new steam fire prevention system for the entire drying room.

The last tranche of the modernization processes has allowed the safety of the systems in their critical parts and to continue with the necessary expansions in the paper mill to ensure their continuous development. All the automation has been realized through several S7 1500 Fail-Safe PLCs (all the same to minimize spare parts) located in the different electrical panels that manage all the necessary technological functions, implementation of new remote I/O Fail-Safe modules for updating and forecasting of new Safety areas.

The SAEL architecture has been articulated in the creation of a modular system (SAEL standard structure) that includes various upgrades that are intended to be made over time. The result is an extremely flexible and highly ductile system that allows for any type of transformation at a later time. The system also includes three Redundant “DCS in Drive SAEL” stations for the supervision-management and control of systems-drives, which today represents the flagship of the investments made by the company in recent years.

Flexibility, punctuality, competence and speed

The technical part of the paper mill, immediately involved in all the various phases of development and implementation of the project, was able to perfectly coordinate the various players involved in the project. Each activity - from mechanical to electrical assembly and the set of all the anticipated works - was carried out allowing a minimum overrun on the planned gant.

The shutdown, postponed due to production problems from October to December 2023, fell in the “hottest” and most difficult period of the year. In light of the difficult availability of components and the failure of suppliers to meet delivery deadlines, the shutdown and restart are to be considered almost a record.

Series of images relating to the new implementations: control and command room, Drive panels cooled by H2O, steam, hoods, laboratory – Platform ONE Drive SAEL.

Adriano Marcato , appointed as the site manager and therefore involved in all the executive operations, commented as follows: “Thanks to SAEL for the excellent result achieved; the great work done and the punctuality in supply deliveries, linked to the high quality of the technicians involved who were able to deal with the continuous and repeated changes in the program linked to the unavailability and delays in delivery of tools, mechanics and availability for tests, immediately allowed me to understand that we would reach the goal within the established times, recovering the delays in procurement. The strong availability of the technicians and their high competence also allowed us to make all those changes to the system to optimize and simplify the operations that our operators must carry out. The command and the DCS, perfectly in line and even beyond our expectations, immediately demonstrated the strong flexibility typical of a product created and specifically produced for paper mills”.

March-April 2024 Carte&Cartiere Issue