19.06.2009 - Investments in three-figure millions
Total production at our paper mill passed the 4 million tonne mark on 18 June 2009. The Weener paper mill has been part of the Klingele Group since 1961, when annual output was 8,400 t. The 111 men and women currently working there now produce 250,000 tonnes of base paper per year. “Of course, this has only become possible through continuous investment in the latest technology and lean production methods,” says Dr. Jan Klingele. ”In the past five years alone, we have invested around 100 million euros in the Weener site.”
Combating the crisis with innovations
To be precise, the money has been invested primarily in an innovative energy concept, process optimisation and a new procedure to improve the quality of the paper we produce. “This is our way of combating the current financial and economic crisis, which has not passed us by entirely,” says Thilo-Hubertus Kuhl, Managing Director of the Weener paper mill. In view of rising energy prices – and energy costs make up a large proportion of the cost of paper production – the decision was taken to build a combined heat and power plant called Weener Energie, in the immediate vicinity of the paper mill. In the meantime, Weener Energie supplies our paper mill with 100 % of its heat requirements and around one-third of its electric power.
At the same time, a world first was installed in the papermaking machine in the shape of a BoostDryer. This is a new type of drying cylinder with a twofold purpose, namely to improve both the efficiency and the quality of paper production. “These investments are intended to remind us that, even in troubled times, we should never lose sight of our objective, which is to work better and more efficiently,” says Klingele.