PAPER & CARD | APPLICATION REPORT
R A set of two Demag process cranes, each equipped with two vacuum lifting units, currently in use at Laakirchen Papier AG in Austria.
like paper company Stora Enso in Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland, have closed paper mills due to falling demand for paper products, choosing instead to focus on the growing cardboard packaging market. Other producers that specialize in the medical- grade pulp used in N95 respirators, like Harmac Pacific in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, have seen sales boom and are now struggling to keep up with a spike in demand. Paper and cardstock industry trends appear to be both product- dependent and region-specific, which brings opportunities for companies that can pivot and challenges for those that cannot. Chuck Snook, product sales manager for
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the Americas for Konecranes in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, says the pulp and paper products industry continues to see strong growth as the pandemic pushes demand for consumer staples and shipping boxes higher. “There are several new production lines being installed (in paper mills),” Snook says. “Toilet paper and packaging continue
24 | July 2021 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
he pulp and paper industry has been in an unusual state since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some companies,
to grow. Line rates are going up, and the issue has now become finding better ways to both feed the machines and take the finished products off them.” Demand for toilet paper increased by 845% last year in the United States alone, according to Business Insider, prompting companies like Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam- based Xuan Mai Paper to install new production equipment for high-quality toilet paper, facial tissues, and paper towels. The paper towel market experienced 264% sales growth during the initial months of the pandemic, according to Research and Markets, mostly due to consumer concerns around reusable cleaning cloths potentially harbouring viral particles. Meanwhile, market research firm Technavio expects the global corrugated box market to grow by 4% per year through to 2024 as a result of growth in e-commerce. San Jose, California, USA software firm Adobe estimated in its 2020 Digital Economy Index that the pandemic has prompted e-commerce to leap forward by four to six years, leading to an increase in demand for cardboard boxes. In addition to productivity upgrades at paper mills, Snook says new technologies
are being implemented in the hoists and cranes used in the paper sector, particularly technologies that enhance safety or improve communications. There is a growing demand for wireless solutions that can provide real-time operational and safety information to hoist operators and fleet managers. “We’re equipping remote monitoring
on all new hoists and cranes, whether it’s a smaller rope hoist or a large ETO crane,” Snook notes. “(Remote monitoring units) provide critical alerts and real-time operating statistics, and it’s all cloud- based so we can right-size maintenance programs. If there are critical alerts that happen, the app will text the user.” Smart remote monitoring technology is enabling Konecranes customers to pinpoint causes of overloading issues, identify which shift overloaded the hoist, and, in the case of multi-hoist applications, determine which hoist overloaded. Snook says this kind of real-time data gives companies the ability to enhance operator training, improve productivity, and minimize risk. All of this technology is completely wireless, he says, with the hoist and the diagnostic
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