Vessel production under difficult conditions

Since BUTTING was founded, the partnership with leading companies in the pulp and paper-making industry has been an important part of our company identity. For nine years now, numerous projects have been implemented worldwide with the participation of BUTTING in Tieling, China. Recently an international project was supplied with vessels from China.

International technology group Andritz received an order to supply energy-efficient and environmentally friendly pulp technologies and key equipment for an expansion project. Andritz entrusted BUTTING China with the production and supply of pulper vats.

Due to the general restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the vessels in Tieling were manufactured under difficult conditions – a temporary shutdown of operations, regional quarantine regulations and travel restrictions delayed the start of production.
In addition, the project-specific tolerance specifications were very tight; for example, the almost 2-metre large drive flanges had to be manufactured with a required accuracy of +0.5 / -0.0 mm. This made it necessary to mechanically process the flanges in welded-in condition, i.e. together with the half vat wall measuring 6 x 3 metres. Jens Ellermann, Managing Director of BUTTING in Tieling, looks back today with pride: "Another challenge for us was that we had to produce a 300-kilogram gauge to measure the internal diameter and roundness. We have also mastered this to the complete satisfaction of our customer".

The customer also had access to an experienced project manager from BUTTING International, who acted both as a communication interface between Europe and China and as a competent point of contact for project-specific questions.
Despite the unforeseen conditions, all processes were completed on schedule, so that the first of the pulper vats were sent on their way at the beginning of May. "Loading was also a special achievement for us: the vessels had dimensions of 11.4 x 5.8 x 4.7 metres and a unit weight of 30 metric tons", says Jens Ellermann. "I am proud that we were able to prove our know-how, our reliability and our flexibility in this special time for this first order from Graz [Austria]".

 

BUTTING – Progress by Tradition


Photo Jens Ellermann
Jens Ellermann
Managing Director BUTTING China