High-Tech Features Make Pulp Out of the Competition

Environment protection and oil price are two of the hottest global topics these days, and not least of all in the paper business. In Taiwan, makers of paper processing machines are rethinking their designs to turn out machines that are friendlier both to Mother Nature and the bottom line by trimming waste and energy needs to new lows.

Many of the new breed of paper processing machines coming out of Taiwan can work with recyclable pulp and biodegradable non-toxic additives. They are also energy misers and reduce the need for labor input as well. Many of these enhancements have been enabled by the adoption of PLC-based (programmable logic controller-based) human-machine interface control systems and precision parts imported from industrially advanced countries.


The technology upgrades are opening doors to new markets for Taiwan machine suppliers, which have traditionally depended on emerging economies for their bread and butter business. Some producers have broken in the European market with the help of technological cooperation with equipment suppliers there. Such partnerships are also paving new roads for European makers into the vast mainland Chinese market, making it a win-win situation for both sides.

Machine quality, some Taiwanese suppliers stress, hinges on having the manufacturing experience to overcome the manifold technical difficulties typically confronted in the development process. Extensive experience is particularly critical, they add, to achieving the high levels of processing precision, production smoothness, durability and power-conservation demanded in advanced markets. With over 20 years of experience under their belts, many of the island's leading suppliers have plenty of know-how to overcome the industry's tough technical hurdles.

Currently, Taiwanese equipment suppliers crank out machines mostly for producing end-market products as financial limitations have largely barred them from the market for the larger machines used for producing virgin pulp and paper.

In spite of surging oil prices, which have increased the price of other raw materials including pulp, many Taiwanese equipment suppliers say their business has not been affected. They attribute the resilience of the industry to the relatively stable demand for staple products like paper regardless of economic fluctuations.

Paper's Second Life

Lien Shing Machinery Co., Ltd.'s LS6100A family of machines are used for making recyclable and biodegradable paper products including fresh food trays, package buffers, table ware and agricultural package boxes. The series consists of a pulper, forming system and drying unit. The pulper mixes wasted paper with water to create pulp, which is then turned into various end-market products by the forming machines.

"Recyclable and biodegradable paper products are a trend now, " stresses Kinpaleon Tsai, Lien Shing's manager. Paper-based packaging, Tsai adds, has replaced some plastic packaging as consumers demand more biodegradable alternatives.

Lien Shing began supplying equipment for making paper hamburger boxes 12 years ago. "We made the machines for buyers in the United States and Britain."

Today, the company's major markets are Europe, the United States, Japan and mainland China.

Tsai is among the industrial insiders stressing the importance of experience in turning out quality equipment. "There were once a lot of new entrants in the industry. But, many of them have left as a result of poor quality, " he notes. With over 40 years in the business, he is in a position to know.

Machine quality in the paper processing sector can be judged by such measures as noise level, power consumption, pulp spraying evenness and forming mold precision, Tsai says.

Experience has been as useful in navigating through technical bottlenecks as it has been in improving customer service, according to Tsai. "Usually we can talk our customers through a technical problem over the phone or by email, rather than ending a technician out, since the problem is familiar to us, " he notes.

The decades have also taught Lien Shing a few tricks about cutting costs, helping the company to stay afloat during lean times that have sunk less experienced rivals. It also has an advantage in that it has already invested in the costly techniques that would-be competitors must acquire at a dear price, Tsai says.

The LS-61000A offers a 30% gain in output speed compared with its predecessors, according to Tsai. The whole system can be operated by only three workers since it is equipped with PLC-based human-machine interface control system, which is made by a Japanese supplier. "A similar system made by mainland Chinese suppliers needs around 30 workers to operate and maintain, " he reports.


Cleaning Up on Napkins

Thai Shuenn Enterprise Co., Ltd. Has made its napkin making machines more efficient by combining packaging unit with folding machine and equipping them with PLC-based human-machine interface control system. The company has specialized in equipment for making tissue papers including napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, and wet paper towels since it was established in 1970.

The company's automatic napkin making machines can be operated by only one worker. "We introduced our automatic machine to meet a pressing customer demand, " says company chairman T.L. Wang. His customers have also asked his company to build an automatic high-speed hankie towel production line, high-speed toilet paper roll/kitchen towel rewinding and perforating machines, and mini-size multi-folding wet paper towel production line.

The upgraded types of machines are very competitive against western counterpart models, delivering the same level of functionality at a lower price. The company claims that it has lured OEM orders from German suppliers.

Wang says that quality of his company's machines is apparent in the machines' smooth operation and consistent thickness of the packed folded papers. The company has achieved these high levels of performance, he says, by using high-end key components imported from Germany, the United States and Italy.

Wang expects that his company's improvement efforts will begin producing returns this year after three years of development work. "We expect automatic machines to boost our revenue rapidly since they command higher prices than do single-function machines, " he says.

Backing this rosy expectation, he says, is a backlog of orders from mainland China that will keep his factory humming at full capacity through the end of this year. "Our sales have been building in the mainland market since the second half last year, leading to a growing concentration on that market, " Wang says.

Although sales to the mainland are rising, Wang concedes that competition is getting tough there. Local mainland rivals, as well as competitors based in India and Turkey, are chipping away the company's allure to buyers in the lower market, while suppliers from industrially advanced countries are attacking the company in the higher-end automatic machine segment. "Some Western suppliers have introduced scaled down versions of their full-featured models to compete with us in the mainland, " Wang says. Nevertheless, he is confident that his company has the advantage. "Western suppliers have expensive service charges and their head offices are far away from the mainland. Also, we do not have language gaps with mainland Chinese people, " he explains. Wang says that his company has another edge in its two decades of experience in the mainland market--enough time to make Thai Shuenn a leading supplier of tissue paper making machines in the mainland.


A Stitch in Very Good Time

A manufacturer of corrugating and converting turnkey equipment, Ming Wei Paperware Machinery Co., Ltd. Has made much headway in raising the output efficiency of its products, including printing machines, corrugated-sheet making machines and corrugated-case making machines.

It has rolled out a corrugated-sheet machine noted with an output speed of 150 meters of 1.6-meter to two-meter wide sheets per minute; and its printing machines can handle water-dissolved, non-toxic painting. The company has also introduced a folder-stitching system that it co-developed with French stitching-equipment supplier Sodeme.

The stitching system, dubbed the T-STAR1630, is able to print on 150 sheets per minute and stitch 1, 400 times per minute. "It is the first machine of its kind in Asia that simultaneously incorporates printing and stitching functions, " says Su Jung-chien, Ming Wei's design manager. His unit has 16 designers including 10 specialists at the company's mainland Chinese branch. He says that Taiwan-made stitching machines can punch 800 to 900 times per minute at best. The system is ideal for putting out boxes with sheets up to 1.6 meters wide and three meters long.

The folder-stitching system has a computerized control system, allowing for efficient operation and limiting printing position error to a margin of plus or minus one millimeter in ceiling and ground lines and a margin of plus and minus 0.5 millimeter in right and left lines. The control systems are made by Mitsubishi and Omron of Japan as well as TE of France.

According to Su, Ming Wei's partnership with the French company is mutually beneficial considering Sodeme's eagerness to expand sales in the mainland Chinese market and his company's ambition to gain a bigger foothold in Europe.

Europe is Ming Wei's next goal after it has reportedly become the No. 1 supplier of corrugating and converting equipment in the Middle East. The company entered the Middle East market around nine years ago. "We have succeeded in that market because our products are high quality and we can easily service and promote our products from our branch office in Dubai, " Su says. Su says that his company can even out-compete Western suppliers in the Middle East due to his company's lower pricing. "Western suppliers including, Japanese suppliers usually price their products at several million U.S. dollars apiece. Our pricing is in the range of tens of thousands of U.S. dollars up to a million U.S. dollars, " he notes.

Globally, the company, Su counts, has around 75 rivals, with 40 in the West, five at home and 30 in mainland China. His company's corrugated-sheet making machines have gone to 45 countries and its printing machines have been sold in 55 countries. The company, according to Su, has opened branches or teamed up with local dealers in major markets to offer better service. "After-sales service is the heart of our strategy since we ship all of our products overseas and most of them carry our brand name, " Su notes.

Ming Wei has close ties with about 200 contract suppliers in Taiwan, helping his company keep costs down and focus on product developments and final assembly. In the mainland, the company has two factories, with one of them supplying middle-range and low-end turnkey systems and the other focusing on peripheral equipment.

The ISO9001 certified Ming Wei has followed a strategy of entering into alliances with suppliers in major markets in order to prevent price-cutting competition. So far, it has formed a strategic alliance dubbed the Max Group with 15 domestic and foreign manufacturers, including SCM of the U.S., Deritend of the United Kingdom and Micro of India.

Su points out that producing corrugated-paper boxes with recycled kraft papers has required some changes in its equipment. "Recycled paper has a lower fabric flexibility compared to paper made of virgin pulp, " he notes. Accordingly, machines must have a higher level of precision than units using virgin pulp.

The CPS-2 vacuum transfer doctor blade printer slotter is another of the company's cutting edge products, rolled out last year. The patent-pending machine uses vacuum force to fix corrugated sheets on the conveying system, allowing perfect printing results. Traditional machines, Su notes, uses pinches to fix the sheets, usually leaving the spaces under the pinches unprinted. The doctor blade, he adds, applies inks evenly on printing laminate screens.

All of the company's machines are the result of diligent development efforts, including a program it co-conducted in 2001 with the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. Since its establishment in 1986, the company has spent at least 10% of its revenue on research and development projects. These efforts have won it CE mark from TUV of Germany and Taiwan government's "Symbol of Excellence" award.