Simplicity is the key to superior efficiency

Asia Symbol is a leading producer of pulp and paper. Its two plants in the Shandong (Rizhao) and Guangdong (Xinhui) Provinces in China have a combined annual production of 1.7 million tons of pulp, 1 million tons of fine paper, and 1.7 million tons of paper board.

Asia Symbol (Guangdong) Paper Co., Ltd., in Xinhui, was established in 2002 with one cut-size converting line for the production and sales of high-quality copy paper. Asia Symbol (Guangdong) became the largest producer of fine paper in the Pearl River Delta region, with the startup of its first paper machine PM#11 in July 2012 and their second machine PM#12 in January 2017. 

Addressing the need for efficient intermediate roll storage

In 2012, the company started up a new fine paper machine at its Xinhui mill. The annual production capacity of the 8.65 m wide production line was 450,000 tons per year. At the same time, a new converting plant with shipping facilities for both rolls and pallets was constructed.

From the start, it was clear that effective, centralized Intermediate Roll Storage (IRS) was needed to ensure free and well-controlled material flow between Xinhui’s state-of-the-art paper production line, the converting plant, and direct hot load shipping. The production line could easily become bottlenecked without an effective IRS solution.

A simple and safe solution

The solution selected for the Xinhui plant was Pesmel’s TransRoll™ high-bay storage system. This included a fully automated Intermediate Roll Storage (IRS) fitted between paper production and converting, providing an unmanned, flexible sorting buffer between the main production processes.

One of the biggest advantages of the TransRoll™ concept is that it simplifies the mill layout. The straight conveyor lines lead directly from the winder decks to the IRS intake sorting, as well as to the sheeters and roll shipping. The TransRoll™ sorter vehicle’s cradle handles the rolls horizontally all the way from the entry pick-up to delivery. In storage, the rolls lie on their sides on V-shaped storage channel beams.

“The TransRoll™ system has made control of production easy, resulting in increased overall process efficiency and high productivity.”

With this high-bay storage system, fire safety is superior to alternative concepts. The water sprinkler system is built into the rack, which enables uniquely precise fire extinguishing with standard sprinkler nozzles. This cannot be done in storage systems where sprinkler nozzles have to be installed high on the ceiling structures 15 meters or more above the floor.

Less is more

The TransRoll™ concept met the Xinhui mill’s needs with the simplest mill layout, using significantly less equipment than alternative solutions. As they had hoped, it can handle rolls with various roll dimensions and packing options. The rolls can be unwrapped, partially wrapped, or fully wrapped, as they are handled in the horizontal position at all times.

At Asia Symbol’s Xinhui mill, the TransRoll™ system has made control of production easy, resulting in increased overall process efficiency and high productivity.

Pesmel TransRoll™ delivers true value:

• IRS between production, converting, and shipping
• Simple layout with minimal amount of equipment
• Superior fire safety