The South American Arauco Group, a long-time Siempelkamp customer, continues the cooperation with its German partner: The company placed an order for a complete plant for the production of MDF as well as a short-cycle press line. Intensive cooperation, a modern concept, and proven Siempelkamp quality convinced and secured this important order in Mexico.
Arauco decided in favor of a complete plant which covers the entire competence of the Siempelkamp Group from the delivery of the raw material to the finished laminated board. The plant will be built in Zitácuaro in the state of Michoacán, where Arauco already produces particleboard.
The scope of supply starts with the truck unloading, the silo discharge systems, mechanical and pneumatic conveyors. Siempelkamp subsidiaries CMC and Pallmann contribute the screening and size reduction technology. BÜTTNER will supply the dryer as well as the energy plant and was particularly convincing with its technical possibilities in the area of energy savings. Another convincing feature was the design of the air-cooled firing grate: It allows for a complete combustion of biomass and thus opens up a higher plant availability compared to the competitive concepts.
The order volume also includes the sifter system, gluing with EcoResinator, a forming and press line with ContiRoll in the 8' x 33.8 m format and complete press extraction system. The delivery spectrum is rounded off by the complete finishing line with cooling and stacking, two storage types, a sanding line with cut-to-size saw, and a packaging line. Siempelkamp's solutions for "Production Intelligence" are also integrated in the plant concept for Arauco. The digital control system Prod-IQ contributes to the optimization of the production processes. The engineering is provided by the Belgian Sicoplan subsidiary. The second system, a short-cycle press, will be integrated into the finishing concept.
"We use world-class technologies and processes throughout the value chain," is one of Arauco's key statements. Without question, the awarding of a contract for such an ambitious project has to be measured against this standard. The preliminary phase was characterized by intensive and cooperative coordination between Arauco and Siempelkamp; the first elaborations were followed by carefully developed fine-tuning of the specifications up to the precise timeline. An on-site meeting at the Zitácuaro location served to perfectly integrate the new plants into the existing infrastructure. Installation is scheduled for 2024/2025.
"We are happy to be able to provide the complete Siempelkamp competence in this region of Mexico. The quality of existing Siempelkamp plants within the Arauco Group is decisive for the customer's decision to commission us with this project – and we are pleased to have once again set a quality benchmark ," says Daniel Hasemann, Sales Director Siempelkamp South America.