Be picky, not “picking”

Some manufacturers look at roll grinding as a line item. A maintenance expense. Which is unfortunate and, honestly, costly.

Roll grinding should be viewed as an investment in your machinery. And, as you would with any investment, you should expect to see some sort of return on that investment.

When serviced properly, rolls will create spec-quality product for longer periods of time. This limits the amount of expensive downtime (both planned and unexpected) and significantly reduces the amount of wasted material and product. As an example, let’s look at how poorly ground rolls can be extremely costly for paper producers. Profit losses can range from $7,000 per hour if paper is downgraded to $20,000 per hour if paper is culled. In this example, proper roll grinding and finishing can pay a huge return in a matter of hours, not days!

The same was true for a customer that came to us with a problematic premier coated board machine. The machine was struggling with fiber “picking.” which was resulting in unplanned downtime to replace the smoothing press rolls. The new smoothing press rolls that the mill received would run for only a few months before “picking” became a problem again and the rolls would need to be replaced. Each roll replacement cost the machine six hours of downtime. Additionally, many tons of paper got downgraded or culled in the process.

We worked with the mill to identify the optimal surface finish and roundness for its smoothing press. (To achieve best-in-class smoothness, it is critical that press rolls be ground with a precision surface finish and roundness — a service most manufacturers overlook or don’t consider necessary.) After the PRG-ground and finished rolls were installed, roll life increased by 2.5x and downgraded/culled paper reduced dramatically. Both of which yielded substantial savings for the mill’s bottom line.

Let us audit your smoothing press rolls for free.

Contact us today.
 

Roll Services should produce excellent ROI:

• Reducing 15 hours of machine time = $150,000 per year of savings/ROI to bottom-line profit
• Eliminating 250 tons of reduced downgraded/culled product = $75,000 per year of savings/ROI to bottom line profit!