Optimizing Quality via the Creping Process
In a world where the barriers to entry for tissue manufacturers are far less than they used to be, it has become quite easy, relatively speaking, to produce decent tissue at high speeds. What now contributes significantly to separating good from great in the tissue market is an organization’s ability to leverage optimal value creation through the creping process. Two critical elements to optimizing your creping process are maximizing bulk-to-basis weight and removing variable subjectivity from your Yankee coating.
An opportunity to improve tissue quality and process efficiency
Adjusting the creping process to maximize bulk-to-basis weight presents tissue producers with an opportunity to improve quality and efficiency. When a clear understanding of the desired end-product goals has been established between marketing, production and the creping package supplier, creping mechanics can be optimized to provide the specifications in the most cost-effective manner.
The creping process, more than any other step in the tissuemaking chain, is what determines the final product’s characteristics. It is the most efficient manner of debonding and bulking the sheet structure. Any increased bulk obtained can be considered a “banked currency” that manufacturers can spend or leverage in a variety of ways, including:
- Reducing basis weight while maintaining bulk specification
- Reducing crepe ratio while maintaining bulk specification
- Reducing sheet count while maintaining roll size and density
- Increasing creping moisture while maintaining bulk
- Substituting lower-quality fiber while maintaining bulk
Having the right adhesive package helps you avoid problems and extend the life of your equipment
In order to maximize your base sheet structure, you must choose the correct adhesive package for the intended creping conditions. Having the right adhesive package can avoid problems such as unstable sheet handling; breaks and pick-outs; reduced moisture, which results in lower (not higher) bulk; low stretch generation at a given crepe ratio; the inability to increase surface smoothness; and low blade life.
The “gift that keeps on taking”
When asking yourself if adjusting your Yankee coating is worth the risk, consider the alternative. The Yankee coating is often a legacy application that hasn’t significantly changed in years. In some cases, newer mill employees might not even understand how it works. They may know what it does, but with high market demand and internal pressures for efficiency, maintaining the status quo is a less risky proposition than making adjustments that might negatively impact the adhesive coating. This is why many plans for process changes are often quickly shot down.
Typically this results in making more costly compromises with other parts of the process. You might experiment with chemistry applications at the wet end, changing basis weight or attempting to compensate through converting. But the fact remains, if your Yankee coating isn’t running optimally, you’re leaving money on the table. You’ve avoided the short-term disruption of a Yankee coating trial at the cost of locking in suboptimal Yankee coating conditions for the long term, which is the “gift that keeps on taking.”
The only lever that can unlock all the performance possibilities of your process
Instead of viewing Yankee coating as isolated and independent, look at it as the enabler of other machine changes. It is truly the only lever that can unlock all the performance possibilities of your process. So don’t go it alone. Enlist the help of a specialist who can examine your processes and provide the solutions your unique processes require. Modern laboratory film and materials testing capabilities now allow for much better prediction of the type of chemistry needed, and this allows a supplier to identify and recommend a coating package that can facilitate the exact performance your situation requires. Think of it as comparable to having a good partner when you’re doing homework. This approach facilitates the successful attainment of your goals.
It might be more work up front, but making this strategic shift allows you to predict the types of adaptations your Yankee coating will need before you make changes. When you do this, you’ll transform what your process can deliver: making more tons while reducing waste, innovating your base sheet to exceed customer demands, and continuously improving ahead of the market.
Talk to a professional about optimizing your tissuemaking processes. Buckman offers comprehensive audits, free of charge, to quickly identify precise solutions for your most pressing challenges. With unparalleled expertise, patented chemistries and advanced technology, Buckman has solutions to improve your dry crepe, wet crepe or advanced-technology tissue and towel operation.
Buckman Creping Products
Buckman’s solutions include Bubond® adhesives, Busperse® releases, Buckman® inorganics and TAD+® structured tissue Yankee coatings.
Visit the Buckman Creping Products webpage for more information.
Light Dry Crepe
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Learn more about Buckman’s solutions for improving your tissue-production processes by clicking on the links above or, for additional information, fill out the contact form on this page.
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