DS Smith, an Italian market leader in containerboard production, has reduced maintenance costs and increased its paper quality and machine productivity thanks to the OnQ Profilmatic control system and
OnQ ModuleJet headbox actuators from Voith.

The company's mill in Lucca, Italy, was experiencing inconsistent paper profiles and wrinkles due to the former actuator control of the existing control system of its PM 2. Voith recommended the OnQ Profilmatic cross profile control software, which is part of its modular and flexible Voith ComCore platform to optimize the shape of the profiles.

“Our existing system was obsolete. The actuator delivery time was a problem and we were spending too much on maintenance," said Stefano Andreotti, Technical and Technology Manager at DS Smith.

"Our production engineers are now very happy with Voith's OnQ Profilmatic. The system automates a process that before was entirely manual. Wrinkles have been reduced, and we are pleased with the deviation of the profiles,” said Andreotti.

The OnQ Profilmatic has the ability to determine the portion of random noise in the measurements. Continuous, dynamic profile mapping allows exact local mapping of the actuator control zones to the measurements and leads to better paper quality.

A major part of the Voith ComCore platform is the OnView information system, which makes all the details of the papermaking process available for analysis. This is the key to continued performance improvements for the machine. With this powerful toolset Voith accompanies DS Smith to achieve further efficiencies on the PM 2.

Voith Paper is a division of the Voith Group and the leading partner to and pioneer in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water, and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith today has more than 39,000 employees, sales of €5.3 billion and locations in more than 50 countries, making it one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe.