Start-up of PM1 at Fedrigoni in Varone, Italy
SAEL started at the FEDRIGONI papermill in Varone, Italy the sectional drive of PM2. The paper group continues its technological innovation journey with its plants using SAEL’s ONE Drive platform, a drives architecture designed for paper mills.
After the successes achieved in 2015 with the MC1 sectional drive in Verona and energy savings improvements in the pulpers and vacuum pumps at the Verona and Varone plants in 2020-21, and subsequently in 2022 with the MC3 sectional control at the Verona site, Fedrigoni has entrusted SAEL with a new task.
The Fedrigoni Group is a reference global manufacturer in specialty papers for luxury packaging and other creative applications, self-adhesive labels, graphic media for visual communication, and RFID solutions. For the Varone plant, the paper mill chose SAEL for the renewal of the MC2 sectional control, which began in August 2024. The development strategy continues with the installation of SAEL’s “ONE Drive” platform, utilizing Long Life inverters with the “ONE DCS in Drive” system that allows monitoring and managing any control issues.
Technical details
- Motor Power: 2 MW, distributed over 38 inverters that constitute the MC2 drive.
- Standardization: The inverters have been standardized to reduce spare parts to just 5 sizes, facilitating maintenance and operational efficiency.
- Spares: Complete spares of PLCs and inverters to ensure immediate restart in case of failure.
- ONE Board: Use of a single board that constitutes the spare package, also standardized for MASTERCAN technology boards, which have maintained the same hardware since 2011.
- DCS Stations: Two redundant DCS stations for the supervision of the control and plant management, with advanced software tools to monitor every operation performed by operators, particularly useful in case of paper breakage.
- Operator Panels: Six operator panels (redundant to the DCS) that allow the visualization and control of each motor, facilitating all necessary maneuvers for machine operators.
The new control system immediately proved its effectiveness, fully rewarding the paper mill’s efforts. The start-up was very smooth and perfectly met the deadlines set by the paper mill. Thanks to the adoption of SAEL’s ONE Drive platform, the Fedrigoni Group continues to improve the efficiency and sustainability of its operations, reaffirming its leadership in the paper production sector.
