Cross Wrap Bale Dewiring in France - Wellman International

The huge benefits in improving safety are one of the most important factors when using these machines and hopefully, also other companies see this automatic dewiring safety improvement as a necessity for the future, says Mr. Fabrice Petit who is the operations director for Wellman Internationals Verdun plant.

WELLMAN INTERNATIONAL – AN INDORAMA VENTURES PLC COMPANY

Indorama Ventures PLC. owned Wellman International Ltd. has its almost 50-year-old roots deep in the European polyester fiber industry. The company has evolved to be one of the great supporters and suppliers for the European and global nonwovens market. Today Wellman International has grown to be an over 88KT fiber capacity operator and it has become a European leader across multiple polymers and fiber types such as PA66, PLA, PP, and PET.

The company´s expertise in polymer manufacturing and recycling has a special focus in four key segment areas of hygiene & healthcare, technical fibers, automotive, and in-home & apparel. Wellman International´s vision is to be a world-class chemical company in making great products for society and its mission commits to be a responsible industry leader leveraging on the excellence of Wellman Industry´s people, processes, and technologies to create value for their stakeholders.

Wellman Industries fiber, flake, and chip products are manufactured to be truly sustainable and the company has many international certifications and accreditations. They also have a fundament for having traceability of raw materials, products, and processes. In numbers, Wellman International recycles over 4,17 billion bottles every year thus saving almost 1,4 million barrels of oil and eliminating 310 million Kgs of C02.

TWO CW DEWIRING UNITS TO START WITH

Wellman International France Recyclage in Verdun acquired two Cross Wrap Bale Dewiring DW1400 units for their recycled PET plastic sorting and flake manufacturing lines. The machines were installed side by side in August 2019 and they have been running since giving the company fully automatic advance in bale dewiring and opening.

– These CW Dewiring machines have proven to be very effective and easy to use right from the beginning of their installation. They offer outstanding performance in bale wire removal and help us to keep our process as streamlined as possible. The huge benefits in improving safety are one of the most important factors when using these machines and hopefully, also other companies see this automatic dewiring safety improvement as a necessity for the future, says Mr. Fabrice Petit who is the operations director for Wellman Internationals Verdun plant.

The company is now running the Dewiring machines in their Verdun plant, but they have shown interest in implementing the same bale dewiring solution across their whole recycled plastic production infrastructure.

– We at Cross Wrap are very happy and humbled to be able to provide this new and safety improving technology to proven and industry-leading plastic recycling operators such as Wellman International. Their kind of operator’s interest and satisfaction for our machinery performance is the best proof, that we have come up with a system that is innovative and needed, Mr. Ville-Pekka Parkkinen the responsible sales manager for Cross Wrap closes.

INCORPORATING ALL OPTIONS

Wellman International´s CW Dewiring machine models DW1400 are equipped with the latest technology possible and they have also options, which help operation supervision and recycling line measurement. Both machines have a fully automatic operation with the basic CW Dewiring patented solutions for bale wire gripping, cutting, and coiling. The options include cameras for operation control and an automatic bale weighing system that is incorporated into the Dewiring machines frame structure.

The chosen options help the operator to securely follow all actions in the Dewiring process and to measure and follow infeed materials quality and amount. The frame-mounted weighing system helps to keep the bale feeding line as compact as possible and provide on-time information on each individual dewired bale.

– The CW Dewiring machine´s exact and real-time information from the PET infeed is good for our operational performance and line fine-tuning. The automatic bale weighing also helps us to have good quality control over the incoming material and to adjust our sorting lines operation down the line. Also, the wire removing and especially the automatic CW Dewiring wire coiling makes the machine do miracles, Mr. Petit says.

IN A NUTSHELL:

• Company: Wellman International Ltd, an Indorama Ventures PLC company
• Location: Verdun, France
• Material: PET-plastic
• Output: ~ 27 000 tons per year
• Capacity: 30 Bales / Hour
• Bale Size: min. 700 x 700 x 1100 mm, max. 1300 x 1400 x 2500 mm
• CW Machine: 2 x DW1400, Bale Dewiring Machines