How a Packaging Mill Doubled Production Capacity

When Green Bay Packaging broke ground in August 2018 to build its new paper mill, it was the first paper mill to be built in the state of Wisconsin in more than 35 years, replacing the original mill built in 1947. And that’s not the only milestone: The mill was built by Voith, an OEM Partner in the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™ program — the first time in U.S. history that a single company has provided machinery to support a complete paper production facility.

And Voith chose Rockwell Automation as their automation partner — a key role, because Green Bay Packaging is an integrated packaging manufacturer.

“By integrated, we mean that we’ve got our own paper mills to manufacture paper, and then that gets converted into corrugated packaging and used in various applications from point-of-purchase displays to packaging a dishwasher,” says Matt Szymanski, vice president of Mill Operations for the company.

Szymanski has been with Green Bay Packaging for almost 30 years and has seen the company grow organically and through acquisitions as market demand for paper products increases.

“A lot has changed in our business,” says Szymanski. Although upgrades to control and electrical systems had been performed throughout the past 70 years, the system was aging and causing issues with reliability. In some cases, spare parts were unattainable, making maintenance a challenge.

The company also faced a new market reality: their buyers expected 110-in. paper rolls, but the existing machinery was 164-in. wide, causing a trim issue.

“I was fortunate to be in the room in 2017 when we had a brainstorming session,” says Bob Mihalski, director of Mill Sales, Trades, and Continuous Improvement. “The decision was made to build a new mill. The president and CEO was committed to building in Green Bay and transferring the existing staff to the new mill. We also knew this was our chance to deepen our commitment to innovation and sustainability.”

Reducing Risk

Paper and packaging machinery provider Voith took on the project to provide all the machinery to support a complete paper production facility. The project’s scope was so large there were days when more than 1,100 people worked together to bring the new plant online.

Voith and Green Bay Packaging chose Rockwell Automation to lead the network design, provide engineering and design consulting, and coordinate commissioning and installation of power and automation equipment.

“Rockwell Automation was very involved with the engineering and design of the new mill,” Szymanski shares. “They helped us manage integration of the various project pieces, so we knew we were covering the important bases and not missing anything as we went through the process.”

The new paper packaging mill, which began production a month ahead of schedule in March 2021, includes a 300-in.-wide paper production line for producing testliner, a recycled base liner for container board. It operates at a speed of 3,940ft./min., producing 685,000 tons per year — doubling production capacity compared to the old mill.

Enabling the Workforce

The company’s focus on retaining existing staff meant upskilling was needed.

“We had challenges in terms of training. The staff all knew how to make paper. They knew how to drive the car, right? But they were driving a 1957 Chevy, and the challenge was teaching them how to operate and maintain a 2022 Corvette,” notes Mihalski.

The Rockwell Automation Lifecycle Services team developed a training curriculum and hosted classroom and field training for the employees to get them up to speed. “Rockwell Automation was instrumental in our success,” says Mihalski.

Optimizing Operations

The new mill contains modern equipment with embedded diagnostics and more than 800 sensors that measure equipment and process performance.

“This data allows us to use predictive analytics to maximize and optimize all of our quality specifications in real time as we’re producing the paper, so we can ensure we deliver the highest-quality product for our customers,” explains Mihalski.

The data also supports predictive maintenance, and the ability to schedule work orders before equipment fails, saving the company time and money by reducing downtime.

Allen-Bradley^® motor control solutions from Rockwell Automation, including PowerFlex^® 755^TM drives and CENTERLINE^® motor control centers (MCCs) that use IntelliCENTER^® software, power the new mill (see Figures 1 and 2).

Automation is implemented using ControlLogix^® and GuardLogix^® controllers, and operators monitor system performance and issue commands using the PlantPAx^® distributed control system (DCS).