The Tembec Paperboard Group’s manufacturing process is unique in North America and
designed to provide our customers with a product that meets the highest quality standards
while being environmentally friendly. The unique combination of elements in our process
includes the pulp furnishes, stock preparation, fourdriniers, Yankee dryer and coating system.
The Tembec Paperboard Group’s exclusive combination of pulps includes softwood and
hardwood kraft and high yield pulp. Our high yield pulps are chlorine-free. Each pulp is
selected for its specific unique properties that, when combined with other pulps, produce
a product with performance specifications that meet the individual applications.
The four different stock preparation lines using six different pulps provide the mill with the
flexibility to engineer the sheet to meet specific performance requirements. Furthermore,
these separate preparation lines allow the Tembec Paperboard Group to refine and treat
each pulp separately to enhance the inherent characteristics of each pulp.
Three separate fourdriniers enable the mill to effectively optimize the fiber mix and
selectively place the desired fibers in each of the three plies to achieve the desired
performance characteristics.
The Yankee dryer, a 20-foot diameter (6.7 meters) drying cylinder, enables the mill to
produce one of the smoothest base stocks in the industry without sacrificing density,
by calendering the sheet against the Yankee dryer at a high temperature.
Three on-machine blade coaters provide the capability to develop and manufacture
products to meet a broad range of printing and converting requirements. Two coaters
are used on the top side while one is used on the back side of the sheet.
The heart of the machine is an order fulfillment system and a computer control system.
The system integrates all management and control functions. The control system
continuously monitors over 8,000 variables on the machine to ensure the highest
quality standards are met.
In February 2001, the Tembec Paperboard Group embarked on a major upgrade of
its paperboard machine. The objectives of the upgrade have been to improve product
quality, increase production and improve our customer service systems.
The first phase of the project involved the installation of a new order fulfillment system
and led to improved processing and tracking of orders.
In the second major phase, a new dilution profiling headbox and top former on the middle
ply were installed. These improvements provide better sheet formation and smoothness,
as well as uniformity across the web.
The third major phase of the project was the installation of a soft-nip calender to
increase gloss levels and produce an even greater printing surface. |
