practical engineering
practical engineering
SmartWell has agreed on strategic cooperation with a leading supplier of intralogistics
SmartWell Ltd has entered a strategic partnership with Chaint Corporation, a global leader specializing in AI-based intralogistics technologies. The partnership is built on a cooperation agreement, combining Chaint’s highly advanced capabilities with SmartWell’s strong experience in materials handling technology and plant construction.
The world of intralogistics is constantly evolving, with new technologies and trends emerging at a rapid pace. The purpose of the agreement is to enable the offering to European customers a broader range of advanced products, services and integrated solutions.
"Today, the European pulp and paper industry is in full transformation. With turbulence and consolidation occurring across the industry, we can offer customers the next level of cost optimization. The agreement is an opportunity to deepen cooperation with a forward-looking and ambitious partner like Chaint on issues that are essential for the green and digital transition of pulp & paper industries. We have complementary capabilities and resources, including knowhow, technologies and market presence that will enhance our competitive advantage. We believe that our accumulated competence, combined with the latest technological advancements, allow us to create comprehensive solutions that will optimize wood processing customers’ operations, increase efficiency and safety, and reduce costs", says Seppo Sonninen, Entrepreneur of SmartWell.
Chaint Corporation contributes building smart production plants where advanced mechanics and robotics are combined with intelligent automation to provide affordable and scalable solutions for the pulp and paper manufacturers and converters. Total quality is guaranteed by professional and experienced personnel, modern in-house design and factory, use of well-known components and certified quality control. The company has grown steadily over 25 years being today the world's largest supplier of roll handling, packaging and storage systems with a turnover of over €160 million. Chaint has demonstrated its expertise in over 1800 successfully completed projects worldwide.
SmartWell Ltd is a Finnish engineering company that provides forest industry with intralogistics expertise, plant & process design, and professional project management in Finland and around the world. We take customer needs seriously, propose practical solutions and turn them into reality with our partners.
We are always looking for new partnerships worldwide in countries we are not yet present. If you are a technology supplier within the forest industry, we encourage you to get in touch with us.
Asia Symbol selected Chaint to supply a large intralogistics system
At the end of October 2023, Asia Symbol successfully started up BM 13 at their mill located in Rugao industrial park, Yangtze river delta region, China. The state-of-the-art board machine delivered by Voith is 8.16 m wide with a design speed of 1,400 m/min and an annual capacity of around one million tons. It mainly produces high-quality white folding boxboard in the basis weight range of 170 to 400 gsm. It is used for 100% degradable food-grade wrappers, an effective substitute for plastic packages.
Asia Symbol has selected Chaint to supply a large internal logistics system to connect finishing processes together. The comprehensive solution provided by Chaint includes fully automated intralogistics systems for rolls and pallets. The scope of supply consists of an extensive roll handling system after winders, 3 core plugging robot cells, 3 high capacity kraft wrapping lines, 2 radial stretch wrapping lines, 4 high-rise warehouses (AS/RS) and 20 truck loading bays. Also included in the supply after 4 folio sheeters are 2 fully automated pallet wrapping lines, where the product pallets are transported, shrink wrapped, strapped and labelled. Reject rolls are handled by a traversing roll cutter.
The warehouse management system (WMS) is operated on a virtual server and communicates with various databases and systems, such as the mill wide system and control of the wrapping and materials handling equipment. In addition, the WMS implements specific storage and retrieval strategies. The virtual replica digital twin integrates data from sensors, IoT devices, and WMS to create a dynamic 3D model of the warehouse. This enables real-time optimization of inventory, picking efficiency, equipment maintenance, process refinement, and space utilization. The entire plant’s operation can be monitored and, if necessary, troubleshooting can be supported through an advanced Remote Service system from Chaint HQ (picture below).
Despite a tight timeframe, complex tasks and challenging conditions due to the global pandemic, the project was successfully implemented. The construction of the Rugao Industrial Park project kicked off in March 2021 and progressed quickly based on the close communication and collaboration between Asia Symbol, the suppliers and other stakeholders. In the planning phase the customer and Chaint focused especially on the features of the plant that improve product quality, increase overall efficiency & safety and reduce costs.
RGE is committed to making the industrial park a green, energy-saving and eco-friendly smart manufacturing base that is first-class in China and even the world. The industrial park will include mills with an annual capacity of 2 million tons of food-grade ivory board, 1 million tons of fine paper, and 0.2 million tons of Lyocell, as well as co-generation, high added value industrial extension and logistics facilities. In the future, the RGE’s Rugao Industrial Park will further incorporate downstream projects such as the production of medical wet wipes, high-grade masks, food-grade color printing packaging, to expand its presence in and adding value to the supply chain.
About Asia Symbol
Asia Symbol is a world leading producer of pulp and paper under the RGE Group. Its main products are BHKP, NBKP, DP, liquid packaging board, high grade ivory board and uncoated wood-free printing and office paper. The products are sold at home and abroad.
Asia Symbol is committed to sustainable development and the exploration of long-term renewable resources for paper production to facilitate regional economic development and the welfare of the local community. The company's principle is to operate in a manner that creates value for the community, the country, the climate, the customer and the company.
About Chaint
Chaint contributes building smart production plants where advanced mechanics and robotics are combined with intelligent automation to provide affordable and scalable solutions for the pulp and paper manufacturers and converters. Total quality is guaranteed by professional and experienced personnel, modern in-house design and factory, use of well-known components and certified quality control. The company has grown steadily over 25 years being today the world's largest supplier of roll handling, packaging and storage systems for the paper industry.
APP Rudong first phase operational
The first phase of the APP Gold Hongye Paper manufacturing complex – a massive household paper production base located in Rudong county, near the city of Nantong in China, was completed and started operations on Jan 18, 2023.
The complex, with a total investment of $6.66 billion and a planned annual output of 3.96 million tons of high-grade household paper, is being funded by giant paper product manufacturer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group. It will be built in three phases.
The first phase consists of 24 production lines, which can produce 780,000 metric tons of household paper and tissue towel, including 240,000 tons of jumbo rolls, and 540,000 tons of converted household paper per year. The project was an important step towards digital, intelligent, and lowcarbon tissue manufacturing. Finnish Valmet delivered and started up a total of 20 modern tissue machines.
Chaint has delivered the comprehensive solution for the mega plants intralogistics challenges. The scope of supply includes an extensive transport system for finished products after packing machines, 33 robotic palletizing cells, 5 pallet wrapping lines, 126 product pallet transport RGVs, internal pallet circulating system, 4 high rise AS/RS, truck loading bays and automated vehicle loading docks.
The automatic shipping storage handles the entire output of the finished products with total storage capacity of 45,500 tons, infeed capacity of 508 pallets/hour and outfeed capacity of 1288 pallets/hour. The 4 high-density warehouses cover a total area of more than 96,000 square meters, utilize 64 stacker cranes and can accommodate over 241 000 pallets of tissue products. The warehouses are filled, and the products are shipped on a 24/7 basis.
Also included in the scope of supply are 7 automated bale handling and dewiring lines before the tissue machines, as well as 10 handling carts for jumbo rolls.
The warehouse management system (WMS) is operated on a virtual server and communicates with various databases and systems, such as the mill wide system and control of the packing and materials handling equipment. In addition, the WMS implements specific storage and retrieval strategies. The virtual replica digital twin integrates data from sensors, IoT devices, and WMS to create a dynamic 3D model of the warehouse. This enables real-time optimization of inventory, picking efficiency, equipment maintenance, process refinement, and space utilization. The entire plant’s operation can be monitored and, if necessary, troubleshooting can be supported through an advanced Remote Service system from Chaint HQ.
Chaint consolidates its leading position as intralogistics supplier for the global paper industry and sets another milestone in the long-standing business relationship between the two companies. The exceptional performance is the result of many years of trust and close cooperation between APP and Chaint teams. The active exchange of knowhow, in-depth pre-planning and professional engineering led to smooth and efficient project implementation.
The complex is seen as a key project for smart manufacturing strategy of the Sinar Mas Group. The company says its production process, equipment and control systems represent the most advanced level in the industry. By using intelligent equipment, the power consumption per ton of paper has dropped from 800 kWh to less than 600 kWh, while the production efficiency has increased by 25 percent. The highest standards were adopted also in the construction of auxiliary systems, such as the cogeneration and the wastewater treatment, to assure clean production.
About APP
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is one of the world’s largest paper companies under Sinar Mas Group. APPChina is the group of companies that have focused their operations on the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas since 1992. APP-China has made significant investments in establishing several state-ofthe-art large pulp and paper enterprises successively, including Gold East, Ningbo Zhonghua, Ningbo Asia, Gold Huasheng, Gold Hongye, Hainan Jinhai, and Guangxi Jingui, as well as large-scale modern fast-growing forest.
New roll handling concept
While the global paper industry is under pressure on increasing costs and decreasing demand, the suppliers should more than ever innovate, differentiate and offer right sized and priced products & services to survive.
Paper mills and converting plants also face greater demands in the areas of safety and product quality, meaning that accident-prone, labour intensive operations shall be automated to the maximum extent without massive equipment and civil costs.
Does it sound familiar? We can offer a remedy - an intelligent way of handling paper or tissue rolls (or equivalent materials) that can be also adapted to the existing handling systems and building facilities. The Finnish manufacturer MoveRoll Oy with a proven track record of references has mandated SmartWell Oy as their partner to market, sell and apply the advanced compressed air powered products that would solve your roll logistics problems at a very reasonable budget:
Pls, have a look at moveroll.com and video clips in this link. Don’t hesitate to contact SmartWell first when smart and cost effective roll handling solutions are required.
It is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but those that are most adaptable to change.
-Charles Darwin-
