Mehali Papers – 18 months with INVO® Tip

We got a chance to talk to Ashraf Nathani, the managing director of Mehali, a relatively new founded company. Their 250,000 tpa coated duplex board machine was taken into commercial production in December 2016. However, the Nathani family is one of the most respected in Indian papermaking through their background in Ruby Macons. EcoGreen, EcoGreen+ and EcoWhite are well established Mehali brands.

 The idea to install an INVO® Tip metering system was already in Mr Nathanis mind long before the board machine was started up. UMV and Mehali had regular contacts until finally the system was started up in October 2019 and it has been running continuously since then.

The coating section in the board machine contains of 4 coating stations, 3 top side coaters and one back side coater. The INVO® Tip system is installed on the top coater on the printing side.

Why did you decide to make the investment?

  • I wanted to improve the printability and also to reduce cost of coating colour

What are the quality improvements you have seen going from your previous metering technology to INVO® Tip?

  • The biggest advantage is that the coating coverage is excellent

What are the next steps with INVO® Tip?

  • We have installed a second INVO® Tip system on the back side coater. We want to improve our white back with better coverage and also look into barrier coating, trials will start soon

What are the general future plans for Mehali?

  • We will continue to grow in the coated board segment.

 

INVO® Tip facts

  • The product is a UMV patented coating metering technology.
  • The system can be installed on any blade or rod coater.
  • The INVO® Tip does not exclude the possibility to operate blade or rod, switch between technologies are easy
  • The INVO® Tip is a 14 mm steel tube with a polymeric tip. The resilient tip creates a uniform coating layer, surface smoothness is comparable to a blade.
  • Coat weight is controlled by means of two servo drive motors that adjusts the tip angle
  • No start lubrication is needed, in the start sequence the rod is loaded with the steel surface against the substrate.
  • Cooling water is circulated through the pipe resulting in longer life time
  • Almost 40 systems are installed on coaters world-wide

 

Is INVO® Tip always a sunshine story?

This Mehali project was exceptionally easy to execute for us thanks to the Mehali team’s professionalism and knowledge, says Håkan Karlsson, Managing director of UMV. Håkan

speaks openly about that the system has not always worked for everyone.

“In contrast to Mehali where the system almost immediately gave the desired quality improvements, have some few customers struggled as they did not have the patience to optimize the process to reach the benefits. Sometimes the colour filter needs upgrade, in some cases the colour formula or solids must be modified and one mill failed simply due to lack of will to keep the paper machine and coater clean”.

 “Coating is a complex process, and you learn new things every day that is why it is so interesting. One learning is that INVO® Tip works excellent for the new water dispersion barriers, which is an actual hot topic when plastics are being replaced.”

 

For more information please contact:

Tom Larsson, Executive VP Sales

tom.larsson@umv.com

+46 522 982 85