Brazil is a world reference for German Voith in tissue paper
Valor Econômico
It is in the Brazilian operation of Voith Paper, one of the leading global suppliers of machines and equipment for pulp and paper, that are developed all the technologies for the production of tissue paper provided worldwide by the German company. With the operation at full steam, since tissue is the segment that has grown the most in the paper market, Voith Brasil is investing R$ 19 million (US$ 11.2 million) in the complete reform of a pilot-machine that is already installed in the unit of São Paulo that will allow increasing the speed of the production of tissue paper in up to 45%. Another R$ 14 million (US$ 8.2 million) will be invested in the development of a new pulp drainage that may lead to up to 20% of reduction in energy consumption.
"The future of the market of machines is in the development of new technologies and, today, Brazil is a world reference for the tissue", says the Vice President of Voith South America, Nestor de Castro Neto. In the country, the company has more than 25 employees in research and development, and it has become a kind of exporter of professionals to other operations of the German group around the world. "We have already sent six Brazilians to the United States and China, to monitor the market", says the Executive.
With earnings estimated at € 200 million for 2010, much of the orders of the Brazilian operation of Voith Paper were made by clients from China. The Asian country that has beaten successive records in terms of productive capacity and speed of the paper machines it puts into operation may increase the share in the businesses of the company - by 2015, it is estimated that the installed capacity of tissue in Chinese territory be incremented in 4.5 million tons a year and the average annual growth rate exceeds 9%.
According to Castro Neto, Voith Paper is getting ready to compete in the project of construction of more than 20 paper machines in China, whose orders should get to the market in the next six months. Together, those machines, which should use bleached eucalyptus pulp as raw-material, will have capacity to produce 1.2 million tons of tissue a year. The Brazilian operation of Voith is currently working to deliver 5 machines for the production of tissue paper to other Chinese clients as well.
For Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), Voith will deliver the fastest machine for the production of tissue in the world, with a speed of 2.4 thousand meters per minute. For Hengan, the largest Chinese producer of this type of paper, it will deliver two double layer machines, as well as for YinGe. "Brazil stayed 20 years without acquiring a double layer machine and the Chinese makers ordered two at once", compares the Executive, adding the old Melhoramentos, currently CMPC, is investing, at the moment, in a machine of that size in the country.