Valmet will supply a new headbox to Naini Paper’s Kashipur mill in India. The investment is targeted to strengthen Naini Paper’s capability in delivering high-quality paper to its customers and secure its market position with growing productivity.
The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the first quarter 2022. The value of the order has not been disclosed. The delivery is scheduled to take place in December 2022, and the start-up is in the first quarter of 2023.
“We expect to achieve quality improvement and production enhancement with this new headbox supplied by Valmet,” says Pawan Agarwal, managing director, Naini Papers.
“The headbox rebuild will help Naini Papers to reduce energy consumption through less breaks, to achieve materials savings through furnish optimization, and to improve profile uniformity for better paper quality. We are very happy to start working with Naini Papers and are looking forward to a successful project together,” says Varun Jain, director, India Region, Valmet.
Valmet’s delivery includes an OptiFlo Fourdriner headbox and the Valmet IQ Dilution Profiler with CD controls to Naini Paper’s PM 2 at their Kashipur mill. The innovative single-layer headbox with a dilution system will improve web profiles, formation, and productivity of the machine. It will have an operating speed of 900 meter per minute and a wire width of 3,260 millimeter.
Naini Papers, which was started in 1995, is said to be one of the few premier paper manufacturing facilities in India. Naini offers high-quality writing and printing papers with improved physical and optical properties. Naini claims to be a market leader in producing single-layer cup stock (for making paper cups) and saturating kraft (for making laminates).
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
