Installed at the Puma Unit in Ortigueira, the Paper Machine 28 (PM28) is the most modern paperboard machine in the Americas and is here in Campos Gerais. The equipment began operating in July this year with control and automation technologies that make production more efficient. To give you an idea, it can produce more than 1km of paper per minute. And all with excellence! The card paper produced is more resistant and has better print quality.  

PM28 is also sustainable. Because it uses advanced technologies, it uses less energy and chemicals to produce the paper. A water reuse system also helps to optimize the use of this resource. Oh, and did you know that even before it was made, the first reel of paper produced by PM28 already had a certification attesting to the company's commitment to sustainable development, right from planting the trees? 

The start of operations of PM28 represents a milestone for the second phase of the Puma II Project, which brought two new paper machines to Klabin's Ortigueira unit. The first phase was completed in August 2021, with the start-up of Paper Machine 27 (PM27), which produces Eukaliner®, the world's first kraftliner made 100% from eucalyptus fibers.  

The equipment is important because it diversifies the products offered by the company and ensures that the growing demand for packaging made from renewable and recyclable materials is met.  

ABOUT PM28

>> What it produces: kraftliner and white paperboard (White Top Liner), used in packaging for canned and bottled beer, cereal, chocolate and pizza packaging, for example. 

>> Capacity: 460,000 tons of paper per year. 

>> Dimensions: 310 meters long and approximately 10 meters high (the equivalent of a three-storey building). The jumbo rolls produced are up to 8.3 meters wide.
 

Valuing locals

With an investment of R$12.9 billion, Puma II is considered the largest private investment in the state of Paraná and in Klabin's 124-year history. It has made it possible to contribute to local development and create job opportunities.  

From the outset, the company invested in training the residents of Campos Gerais (see Box: How Klabin prepared for this moment). More recently, with a view to future vacancies at PM28, courses were opened for forklift operators and shipping assistants. Four thousand six hundred people applied and, of the 150 selected, more than half were women.  

TRAINING TIMELINE  

2019 

>> Technical qualification in Pulp and Paper; 

>> Post-Technical Course in Pulp and Paper; 

>> Welding training for Imbaú residents; 

>> Masonry Bricklayer Courses and ironworker courses for residents of Imbaú; 

>> Masonry mason, carpenter, residential electrician and industrial electrician courses for residents of Ortigueira.

2021 

>> Technical courses in Mechanics and Pulp and Paper.  

2022 

>> Forklift operator and shipping assistant courses.

 How is paper produced at PM28?  

>> SHEET FORMATION. A mixture made up of water, chemical additives and just 0.5% cellulose fibers (a structure extracted from pine or eucalyptus wood) enters the machine through three different boxes to form the paper's base, middle and cover. The water is removed from the mixture by a vacuum process. At the end, in the couch roll, the mixture has 23% fibers.  

>> PRESSES. Here, the mixture is pressed in three presses (as if it were passing through a cylinder used to open pastry dough) so that some of the water contained in it is directed to the five system filters. At the end of the process, the sheet is already 45% fiber. 

>> PRE-DRYING. The sheet of paper is supported on a screen and passes through 59 cylinders heated with steam from the boiler. When it comes into contact with the hot surface, the water evaporates. At the end, the paper has 92% fiber.

>> SIZER PRESS. Here, the paper is applied starch, which gives the material strength, or ink, to give it a surface covering.   

>> POST-DRYING. The paper undergoes a further drying process after the starch or ink has been applied.

>> CALANDRA. A machine made up of two cylinders adjusts the thickness of the paper and makes it smoother. 

>> COATER 1 AND 2. These machines add ink to the paper. It then goes through more rollers to dry.  
>> WINDER. The paper is wound onto the so-called jumbo roll, which is four meters in diameter and can weigh up to 90 tons. 

>> REWINDER. The jumbo roll is unwound and cut to the size requested by the customer.
 

Currently, 145 professionals work at PM28, 99% of them from the municipalities of Telêmaco Borba, Ortigueira, Imbaú and Tibagi. One of these talents is Maria Eduarda Souza Campos, a rewinder operator at PM28 and resident of Ortigueira. After graduating in Industrial Automation from the Federal Institute of Paraná, she applied for a position at PM27 and passed. It was her first professional experience, at the age of 19.  

With Klabin's sponsorship, he studied Pulp and Paper, and after seven months at PM27, he joined the younger machine. "We started everything from scratch. We came to visit the works and imagined how everything would look. We took part in the commissioning (tests), put the first piece of paper through the machine and saw the first reels come out. It was very interesting and challenging," she says.

Maria is responsible for creating the paper rolls, quality inspection and coordinating the shift team. At the age of 20, the young woman has plans for the future: she wants to develop. "I really like it here and I hope to grow even more within the company," she says.