As we approach the forthcoming rebuild of the board machine at Reno de Medici’s Santa Giustina mill, we had the opportunity to interview Francesco Canal the mills managing director.
Good morning Francesco. Can you tell us something about the mill of Santa Giustina?
Of course! The mill of Santa Giustina is a part of the group Reno de Medici and is situated in the region of Veneto, near Belluno. The mill is producing GD – Vincicoat(112); GT – Vincibright(113); Vinciwhite(117) and Vinci Avana(962) in the grammage range of 230 to 550 g/m2. All these grades are produced on one single machine with a width of 4.60m (3 Fourdrinier units and 6 Formers) which means the board build up with 9 layers and two coatings on top.
The mill has two rewinders and 5 sheeters which are trimming the board into reels or sheets according to the customer needs.
The mill is certified ISO 9001, ISO 14001, EN 15593 (Hygiene), EPD (Environment), OHSAS, REACH and FSC.
I guess such a mill has also to adapt the technology and machinery on a regular basis.
Of course! The customer’s expectations regarding runability, printability are always increasing, just look at the range of packaging in the shops – today more colours are printed, together with foils, UV varnish effects, embossing etc. etc.
Therefore, we will remove the suction formers and install a new fourdrinier (flatbed sheet forming unit) which means that all grades will be built up with a state of the art 4 layers system. Additionally we will install a belt calender before the coating section, this is a new generation of calender (PrimeCal Y, made by Andritz) and we will be the first installing such technology.
Wow – this sounds a bigger rebuild. When will it take place?
We will stop the machine August 5th and restart by the end of August!
What will be the benefit for the customer?
First of all the production will be more stable which leads to a better more regular profile. The board will have a better stiffness ratio MD/CD. There will also be a better sheet formation and finally with the belt calender a higher smoothness and higher gloss. So we can ensure a better printability and runability on all converting machines and packing lines.
These rebuild will create an added value to the existing products, already known in the market as stable and consistent.
Sounds that the next weeks will be excited and labour intensive
I thank you for this short interview and I wish to you and to your whole team successful rebuild of the machine. We’re looking forward to the end of August and we are already curious to see the “new” board made in Santa Giustina
The interview was prepared by Philippe Wenk, Careo European TCS Manager
