The hundredth unit of the best selling automated paper testing system - the L&W Autoline 300 - has been sold to the US.  This device introduced by the Swedish company Lorentzen & Wettre a few years ago, can measure more than100 different variables of paper quality and is said to be the most advanced of its kind.  This renowned testing system will be used for quality assurance of lightweight paper for telephone directories (mostly in the 29-34 gm2 range) at Daishowa America's mill in Port Angeles, in the northwest United States. This Japanese owned mill operates two paper machines with the capacity to produce 150 000 tons of directory paper per year.

The L&W Autoline 300 was introduced in 1997, thus replacing the older L&W Autoline 200 from the same manufacturer.

Up to eleven separate modules can be installed in the unit, some measuring more than one distinct variable of paper quality. Everything from grammage to surface roughness, optical properties, formation, tensile, and tear strength can be measured.

Once a test piece has been inserted all tests are performed quickly and automatically, usually from a sample from each produced reel of paper. Furthermore, its measurement methods conform to well-established industry standards, thus maintaining the continuity of information obtained from previous generations of testing instruments. Not long ago this level and intensity of testing would not have been possible using traditional stand-alone instruments.

Users of the L&W Autoline 300 have reported benefits in optimising process operating conditions and lowering customer complaints The speed, accuracy, and frequency of measurements allow them to make short-term process improvements and long-term process changes in order to reduce variability and produce a consistent, high quality product.

Although some of the paper quality variables are nowadays monitored online, directly in the production process, some are still not.

"The L&W Autoline can also be used to verify and calibrate online sensor measuring systems", says Mike Conlon, Product Marketing Manager at Lorentzen & Wettre. This in addition to providing end-user proof of quality and valuable process information.

This implies that the L&W Autoline is not only a laboratory tool; production people also use it to monitor process variables.

Depending on number of modules and complexity an L&W Autoline 300 can cost from a quarter million up to one million Euros. This means that an 'average' sized mill will pay off this investment in 1-2 years.

Lorentzen & Wettre was founded 1895. Today it provides the world's paper industry with advanced equipment for quality control and process optimisation. Headquarters, including research and development is located in Stockholm, Sweden.

The company operates all over the world with subsidiaries in Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, UK, USA and Canada, as well as sales and support in by agents in 35 other countries.

The Swedish industrial group Cardo, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, owns Lorentzen & Wettre.



For more information, please contact:

Mike Conlon, Product Marketing Manger
Tel & Fax +44 1226 790 854,
Mobile +44 7771 99 00 54
mike.conlon@lorentzen-wettre.com

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