Delta Plant Productivity Improvement

Location

Delta, British Columbia

Customer

Buckeye Canada Inc.

Background

Buckeye is an industry leader in the manufacture of airlaid, non-woven materials used in personal hygiene products, baby wipes, air filters and towelets. Unlike traditional paper-making processes, the specialty cellulose made at the Buckeye plant is formed using air instead of water. This ensures that the finished products are both soft and absorbent and that the manufacturing process produces very little wastewater.

Project Scope

Universal Dynamics worked with Buckeye's operations and technical organizations to implement changes in production and control systems and to develop modifications that would allow the plant to manufacture new products, increase overall process reliability, and reduce downtime and waste.

Working with the production experts from the plant, Universal Dynamics helped define the improvement opportunities, the scope, cost, and schedule for implementation. We designed modifications to the production machinery, product delivery systems, air and dust systems, and quality improvement systems. Due to the specialized nature of the production machinery, many of these involve development and detail design of machinery parts, drives, positioners and air systems.

Electrical, control, and instrumentation projects include state-of-the-art information and maintenance systems, machine drive systems, power systems, PLC, and DCS systems.

Highlights

Universal Dynamics worked closely with the production plant to implement the improvements with minimal impact to production. We assisted the plant from idea conception to project completion, all with the aim of increasing productivity, product quality, and exceeding Buckeye's customers' expectations.

Since our involvement with the plant upgrade, plant productivity has increased significantly with attractive return for the capital spent on the upgrades.