▪ Production line 2 at the Kehl site: specialist for thermal paper ▪ Machine revolutionised the thermal paper market
▪ Continuous optimisation ensures outstanding performance figures
Koehler Paper, part of the Koehler Group, was able to celebrate a special kind of company jubilee at the end of this year. Production line 2, consisting of paper machine 2 and coating machine 2, was commissioned at the Kehl site at the end of 2001 and has thus been contributing to the success story of the family-owned company with headquarters in Oberkirch for 20 years.
Only thermal paper is produced on paper machine 2. With a length of 123 metres, the machine exceeds the length of a football field. It is the world's fastest thermal paper machine on the market and stands out in particular for its high quality consistency. Every day, the machine produces paper for more than 1 million cash register rolls, which can be found all over the world.
Paper machine 2 revolutionised the market for thermal paper
Paper machine 2 is the reason for Koehler Paper's success in the thermal paper market. It made it possible to produce lightweight thermal papers of less than 50 g/m2. "Koehler was able to offer lightweight thermal papers for the point of sale of 48 g/m2 and less - that changed the market. And the machine is still predestined for the production of lightweight thermal papers today," says Willy Früh, head of the thermal paper division at Koehler Paper. "When it comes to the production of thermal paper, you could say we've been playing in the Champions League for 20 years."
"The fact that the machine keeps setting speed records and is now one of the fastest offline coaters of its time is due in particular to the team on the production line. The production line was also the model for further investments at Koehler," adds Joachim Uhl, plant manager of the Koehler Paper site in Kehl.
Continuous optimisation makes paper machine a showpiece
Already during the planning phase, the employees who were to work on production line 2 in the future were trained. This made it possible to start up the machine smoothly and quickly produce paper ready for sale. However, optimisation was always necessary for long-term success.
Georg Streif, production coordinator at the Kehl site, was in charge of the project implementation on the production side. Together with Joachim Fuchs, today head of production line 2, he looks back: "Since commissioning, we have carried out around 3,000 optimisations on paper machine 2, which ultimately make the machine what it is today. Here, many good ideas kept coming from the employees, because 'after optimisation is before optimisation'."
Thanks to the ongoing optimisation process, paper machine 2 is an extremely consistent and reliable machine. With a very high availability, it is the leader in the industry. The best results are achieved at speeds of over 1,600 m/min.
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