Manufacturing Automation: On a roll: Kruger Products automates manufacturing at new tissue plant
by Manufacturing Automation
The company's new tissue manufacturing facility combines digital processes, automation and teamwork to deliver strong early results
Workers are extensively trained on the TAD tissue machine at Kruger Sherbrooke. “The goal is to have a deep understanding of the technology,” says Mike Yang. Photo: Simon Duquette/Agence Nabi/Kruger Products
After a gruelling year of COVID-related curtailments and closures in pulp and paper, it was welcome news for the industry when Kruger Products announced in February that their new state-of-the-art tissue plant had been completed on time and on budget.
The Sherbrooke, Que. facility features a through-air-dry (TAD) tissue machine and three converting lines, which previously have been commissioned. At the time of this writing, the TAD machine was well along its maturity, just three months after starting up.
“We originally envisioned a multi-year maturity curve, which is very common in the industry,” says Michael Yang, senior vice-president, supply chain and operational excellence at Kruger Products. “Right off the bat, this is as close to a vertical start-up, especially on the tissue machine, than I’ve seen in my career.”
Read more on Manufacturing Automation, one of Canadian Manufacturing‘s sister publications.
