Andritz Visit

This month we were invited to visit ANDRITZ’s North American Corporate Offices and their Automation and Digitalization Center. Ladies and gentlemen, we stepped into the future.

We were hosted by Todd Grace, President - North America Pulp & Paper, John Phillips, Vice President -Recovery & Power Services and Sam Miller, Sales Engineer at ANDRITZ.

I was accompanied by TAPPI team members Hannah Peterson, Ashley Westbrook and Lawton Roberts. Prior to our meeting I went on their website and discovered statements such as: Growth that Matters, Bigger Steps with Smaller Footprints, and Engineering the Change.

Team TAPPI discovered a lot more of what this means.

ANDRITZ is a Global Partner for Key Industries that shape the world. They manufacture and market innovative technologies for the planet and work with partners to bring new technologies to the market. SAFETY is paramount to their process. They are a pioneer in Large-Scale tech solutions worldwide.

What does ANDRITZ do? They develop large-scale, state-of-the-art engineering and service solutions. They elevate customer operations with state-of-the art technologies. They support their customers' operations with life-cycle services, and they empower their customers to drive green transition. Some of the final products from their pulp and paper mills include Printing & Writing, Containerboard, Packaging, Tissue, Towel, Hygiene and Textiles.  Products that you use daily.

They are world market leaders with four business areas and have over $8B in order intake. ANDRITZ is in the top 1-3 in all areas. Their revenue percentages by area:

• Pulp & Paper 46%
• Metals 21%
• Hydropower 18%
• Environment & Energy 15%

ANDRITZ stays close to their customers in more than 80 countries. They have over 280 locations with 30,000 employees worldwide. Now that is covering your bases!

The ANDRITZ GROUP HISTORY can be traced back to 1852 with a foundry and machine works established by Josef Korosi. There was a steady growth between 1990-1998 with the acquisitions of Sprout-Bauer, Kone Wood, Jesma-Matador and Sundwig.   Dr. Wolfgang Leitner became President and CEO in 1994and remains today a major shareholder.  In 2000/2001 there was an Initial Public offering (IPO) and acquisition of Ahlstrom Machinery Group.  In the past decade, Andritz continued its focus on pulp & paper and automation acquisitions with the acquisition of Paperchine, Novimpianti, Diatec, Xerium, Bonetti, Laroche, Dan Web and Procemex. In 2023, Dr. Leitner retired, and Joachim Schoenbeck became President and CEO.

ANDRITZ is very involved in DECARBONATION. They enable the Green Transition offering solutions for carbon capture, production of green hydrogen, production for renewable fuels, battery production for e-mobility and textile recycling.

ANDRITZ automation business covers ¼ of all the worlds pulp & paper business. With their futuristic “Metris Control Centerk” they can monitor their assets around the globe. In addition, this center doubles as a training center for their employees as well as their customer’s employees. Their world class service network partners with several other companies advancing in the US to provide monitoring for environment and energy pollution.

The North American Pulp & Paper group employees 1,768 team members and has revenues of approximately $1 billion.

Speaking of Safety, Ashley Westbrook, tried her hand at the controls of an Operator Free Spout Deck.

They have come up with a Smart Smelt Robot, which keeps the mill employees out of harms way. It has End of Arm Cameras, Automated Hood Doors, Automated Shatter Jet Adjusters, Smart Smelt Reduction Measurement, Smart Char Bed Measurement and Smart Smelt Flow Measurement.

The robotic Smelt Spout Cleaning System:

• Improves Safety (Safety Risk Reduction by 92%)
• Reduces Fixed Cost
• Fully automated robot design designed to clean Smelt Spouts and Minihoods. Other functions in development
• Coordinates are used to automatically clean spouts on a defined sequence
• Capability to perform reduction samples
• Currently there are 12 installation sites
• Finland, Austria, Sweden, Uruguay, Brazill and the US

As you may know, the smelt spout area is one of the least desirable and sometimes a dangerous place to work.

The solution is a turn-key delivery of a fully automated heavy-duty robotics solution.

The development began in 2015, the first mill installation 2018, 1^st robot system in customer use 2019, the 2^nd robot system in customer use in 2020, a total of twelve robot systems in customer use in 2025.

The Smart Series covers operations in, Wood Processing, Fiberline, Evaporation Plant, Recovery Boiler, Power Boiler, and White Liquor.

The next installment could be in your mill!

Our own Hannah Peterson tried her hand in a Log Yard Crane simulator located at ANDRITZ. Just one more piece of a large puzzle of Futuristic Automation.

A couple of side notes on Andritz, they have been a TAPPI Sustaining since 1947. That is 78 years of supporting TAPPI students and scholarships. They also have impressive taste in restaurants. That was obvious when they treated us to lunch at Vinny’s. It was outstanding and very close to their office.

If you want more information on ANDRITZ please contact +1 770 640 2500.

If you want more information on TAPPI go to www.tappi.org

Remember, there are two types of people in this industry, TAPPI members and those who should be…………… until next time Larry.