QUANTUM STEADY LINE

48 INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY

T he Federal Republic of Nigeria, commonly referred to as Nigeria, is a federal constitutional Republic in West Africa, bordering Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east and Niger in the north. It

comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja is located. As of 2015, Nigeria is the world's 20th largest economy. It overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy in 2014.

Nigeria is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank. It has been identified as a regional power on the African continent, a medium power in international affairs and has also been identified as an emerging

QUANTUM PACKAGING INVEST IN NEW CORRUGATOR AND SYSTEMS

NIGERIAN COMPANY OPTS FOR COMPLETE LINE FROM BHS CORRUGATED AND MARKET LEADING CONVERTING MACHINES, ALL TIED TOGETHER WITH A PLANT SCHEDULING SYSTEM.

A REPORT BY DANIEL BRUNTON

L to R: Bhageria Ashish and Mundra Girish.

QUANTUM STEADY LINE

INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY 49

global power. Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, (which are widely seen as the globe's next ‘BRIC-like’ economies). It is also listed among the ‘Next Eleven’ economies set to become among the biggest in the world. Nigeria is a founding member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, OPEC and the United Nations amongst other international organizations.

As with many developed countries, Nigeria’s corrugated industry is closely focussed on production of packaging for the food and drinks industries, with about 60 per cent of annual production destined for food and FMCG use. It is believed that the country produces between 30,000 and 40,000 tons per month, 90 per cent of which is produced in and around the capital, Lagos.

Big playerBased on a 15 acre site in Igbesa (Ogun State), Quantum Packaging Nigeria Ltd operates a 17,000 sqm board plant. Employing 150 people, this new business is already producing about 1,500 tons of corrugated packaging per month. It has not yet completed its first year of production from its new site. Quantum’s holding company was founded in 1991, starting in general trading before moving into steel and plastics and most recently, corrugated packaging. Group turnover is $180 million.

International suppliers“Nigeria and Africa is full with Taiwanese and Chinese machines, so to set ourselves apart, we

looked to European machinery and software suppliers,” explains Ashish Bhageria, Director. “We want to be different from all the other packaging producers and we felt that the right choice of machinery was crucial for our growth.”

“In Nigeria, board is sold by weight,” explains Girish Mundra, Director of QPNL. “We want to shape our market position by finding competitive advantages, such as improved BCT and ECT. Using the best European, American, Brazilian and Chinese virgin and recycled liners on a

high-end corrugator will ensure our customers benefit in the long term. We chose the BHS Corrugated Steady Line corrugator because we knew that we could achieve superior board performance, even with lower grammage papers.”

For converting the board off the corrugator into packaging, the company has installed a diverse range of machines, including a six colour Emba 170 flexo folder gluer and a five colour Dong Fang 1228. Most recently, a six colour Emba 175QS Ultima flexo folder gluer has been added. Automatic

“WE WANT TO BE DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER PACKAGING PRODUCERS AND WE FELT THAT THE RIGHT CHOICE OF MACHINERY WAS CRUCIAL FOR OUR GROWTH.”

ASHISH BAGHERIA

QUANTUM STEADY LINE

50 INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY

roller conveyors transfer the pallets of board from the corrugator to converting and towards the finished goods area, where they are manually stacked using pallet trucks. With around 80 per cent of all production being for RSC style boxes, it is interesting to note that around half of production is printed in four colour flexo and the remainder between one and three colours.

But it was not just installing a new corrugator and converting machines that allowed Quantum Packaging to go live. The company realised it needed to invest in

a plant scheduling system and opted for a solution from Kiwiplan. Handled from Kiwiplan’s UK office, the system provider has installed the following:n CSC for single knife corrugator

(Using VUE);n Corrugator dry-end link (again,

using VUE);n Rollstock management;n Pallet Labelling solution;n PCS;n Machine data collection.

Making a difference“You need to give your customer something different,” says Girish

Mundra, Director. “We have no doubt that the new corrugator and the high-end converting lines has given us a clear advantage

compared to our competitors. We have chosen a range of equipment that suits us and partnered with companies that can fully service us – being in Africa, we had to choose companies that had a significant presence in our market to ensure the highest level of service and maintenance.”

But what of plans for the future? “We are looking at the possibility of adding one more corrugator in Nigeria for 2017 and we have already ordered a second Emba for our factory, which should arrive during 2016,” concludes Mr Bhageria. “We could possibly look at getting into Senegal too, but our primary goal for Nigeria is to become one of the top three in the market. We want to be similar in ranking as we already are for plastics and for steel. We also want to grow our folding carton business and are looking to have six Heidelberg presses running at Monocarton. We have big plans and the addition of the BHS Corrugated Steady Line at Quantum will certainly set us on the right path.” n

“WE HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THE NEW CORRUGATOR AND THE HIGH-END CONVERTING LINES HAS GIVEN US A CLEAR ADVANTAGE.”

GIRISH MUNDRA

52 INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY

“The idea for the Steady Line was born in early 2009 when our

team responsible for Asia accepted the fact that — for handling

and volume reasons — the majority of corrugators in the region

are single knife machines in 2.2m or smaller,” explains Guenter

Huber, Director of BHS Corrugated Asia Pacific. “Serving the need

for a mid range output of five to seven million sqm per month,

the existing 2.5m Quality Line was simply too big for this type

of board plant. The Steady concept, with its focus on operational

savings, yet high quality board production, hit an

undiscovered market need and the first line was

finished within only a few months using our global

engineering platform. Special emphasis was made

with regard to stacker design and control concepts.

As of today, we have over 30 Steady Lines running

in the Asia Pacific region and the concept has

proven to be successful in all major countries in the

territory.”

Mr Huber continues, “Quantum approached

us and asked if the line was available for Africa

too. We were impressed with their vision to bring

world class corrugating packaging quality to

their market. The project turned out to be a great

success, especially thanks to their experienced

staff. We carried out market research about Africa

in general and found out that this machine configuration offers a

good fit for many African countries. The average corrugating plant

in East or West Africa currently produces a monthly output of

1,200 tons (approximately two million sqm) and runs one or more

1.8m corrugators, often only on one shift. At present, a handful of

BHS Corrugated lines are already running in Central Africa and we

have great expectations for the future growth of this area.”

But what is it that makes the Steady Line so suitable for the

African markets? Mr Huber explains, “Being in a volume driven

business, it is essential for long term focussed investors to secure

growth potential. The Steady line not only leaves enough room

for this, but also offers significant benefits resulting in reduced

operating costs. The design is robust and over the last few years,

our engineering team succeeded in increased operator and

maintenance friendliness. The soft touch at the single facer glue

application, for example, eliminates a possible operating error

and a typical maintenance headache. No setting, no calibration,

but less waste and better board — that is what we call superiority

by simplicity. Due to the more constant production speed, the

line can be operated continuously at the rated top speed, giving

additional savings in steam, power and starch.”

He continues, “Thanks to the Swing Change in the dry-end,

even short orders below 50m can be produced at maximum

production speed with constant board quality. Frequent speed

changes — typically for ordinary corrugators — are largely

avoided with the Steady Line. Spare parts and service availability,

one more critical item for Central Africa, are ensured via the global

after sales network, in this case out of our facilities located in

Dubai, offering direct flight connections all over Africa.”

Mr Huber concludes, “With the Steady Line (2.2m at 180m

per min) and the recently introduced, smaller version called ECO

Line (1.8m at 150 m/min), we are sure to have the right products

for Central Africa when it comes to high quality board production.

We will focus in the near future on further improving our sales and

service network for this area in order to be closer and more often

in contact with customers in these growing markets.” n

THE CASE FOR A BHS CORRUGATED STEADY LINE?

QUANTUM STEADY LINE