Still going strong

30 November 2022


CMC Texpan is back on the exhibition road again and has some new innovations to demonstrate to wood-based panels customers in its 60th anniversary year, reports Stephen Powney

Back in March CMC Texpan celebrated its 60th anniversary at its Colzate site.

The moment was a milestone for the company, part of the Siempelkamp Group, which has a long history supplying the wood-based panels industry and is particularly focused on the front-end of the production line.

Many Siempelkamp executives attended the event along with CMC staff and families to recognise the anniversary. CMC Texpan has been co-operating with Siempelkamp since the 1980s and has been fully integrated in the Siempelkamp Group since 2012.

While partnering with Siempelkamp on projects, the company also delivers machines on its own accord, with its specialism extending to multiple areas including chips and particles – extraction systems for storage silos, chip cleaners, magnetic separators, new concept cleaning towers for recycling wood, roller separators, gravimetric separators and oscillating screens; as well as dosing/metering systems, glue blending systems including its own generation of glue kitchens and, of course, forming systems.

Marco Granzotto, CMC Texpan sales manager, took time out of his busy schedule to update WBPI on developments at the company.

He expressed optimism that the worst of the Covid situation was now in the past, with China being the only area where travel can still be difficult because of Covid lockdown restrictions. However, Siempelkamp’s manufacturing and office bases in China are giving good local representation to ensure smooth business can take place.

With the disappearance of many Covid restrictions has come the re-emergence of CMC Texpan on the exhibition calendar in 2022, with attendance at shows in Brazil, India, Italy and Turkey.

“The Indian market is a new market focus at the moment and we received a lot of stand visits,” Mr Granzotto said. “It is normal for us to work in combination with Siempelkamp now at fairs because the plan is to move forward and work together as a group.”

While Xylexpo is CMC’s local fair in Milan, the company clearly sees Ligna as the exhibition “sensation” for the panels sector that gains the most global attention. The company expects to see customers from North America, Asia and Europe in Hanover next year.

PROJECTS AND INNOVATIONS

Mr Granzotto reported a number of projects – many in tandem with the wider Siempelkamp group and others as individual direct contracts.

“Recently, we signed some important projects with global groups such as Kastamonu, plus there are another three projects we are working on at the moment which we can’t reveal now.”

CMC Texpan is supplying equipment for Kronospan particleboard projects in Spain and Luxembourg. Delivery is already completed for the former project in Tortosa, while delivery at the project at Kronospan’s Sanem site in Luxembourg is likely in April/ May 2023. Both projects are large capacity installations.

Another new project will be for Kastamonu in Turkey.

Mr Granzotto explained that where Siempelkamp supplies a press, there is the CMC Texpan forming station supplied as a minimum.

CMC Texpan is also working on some projects in Asia.

On the innovation front, there has been much R&D progressing at Colzate in the past few years.

This includes the Lynx – a sorter for the removal of pollutants and contaminants from the wood waste material intake. Supply of Lynx machines is currently being negotiated with several customers and CMC Texpan expects to have a big focus on the technology at the next Ligna exhibition.

“Recycling is a big focus that we are developing and now we think the market is ready to receive this type of technology,” added Mr Granzotto.

Since processed wood waste material contains contaminants of different types, achieving an effective cleaning of recycled wood plays a primary role in the preparation of the raw material.

The machine is compact and based on SWIR spectroscopy (which is an evolution of the NIR system) and can remove contaminants such as plastics, foam, silicone, polystyrene and others as well.

It may be equipped with optional accessories to detect particles according to their colour, or with an X-ray system to improve the efficiency of the machine and to detect and remove materials with different density, such as minerals, ferrous and nonferrous metals, aluminium, copper, lead and various alloys.

The CMC Texpan technical team is following the recycling trend very closely along with Siempelkamp to focus on producing a concept not just a single machine in order to improve the efficiency of systems for wood-based panel manufacturers.

As is the nature with recycling, tailor-made systems are normally developed depending on the pollutant type and the region of the world involved in the processing.

Staying with innovation, CMC Texpan had some news at Xylexpo – it presented a new prototype special Speed Classifier system designed to recognise MDF, OSB and particleboard in the recycled wood mass stream.

“This is completely new in the market and able to be installed in a recycling plant,” said Mr Granzotto.

Capture of wood composites is by a special camera with a sophisticated software (artificial intelligence) and the ejection system is by compressed air.

An industrial machine will be exhibited at the next Ligna.

Another innovation is the Mag Shell magnetic coating system, which is applied to the interior of blenders once they are worn. This refurbishment technology means customers do not need to change the blender itself.

“We have tested this with good results and now we are strongly promoting the technology,” Mr Granzotto added.

The system is composed of a tungsten carbide coating that is in contact with the material inside the mixing chamber of the blenders and an additional magnetic coating in the external part. The two magnetic coatings, properly magnetically oriented, become a single body through a strong magnetic field.

The main advantages of this system are a fast and easy replacement of the single or all the metal sectors in case of wearing over time and a quick installation.

CMC Texpan’s long established forming technology has been improved and modified. The improved Ecoformer is being supplied to existing plants, because of its improved distribution benefits compared to the conventional windformer.

For new plant projects supplied by CMC Texpan, the Ecoformer is the forming station of choice, not just for distribution but also for energy saving benefits.

CMC Texpan exhibited at the recent Xylexpo show in Milan From left: Paolo Gattesco, CMC Texpan president with sales manager Marco Granzotto and Nadia Lizzola, sales/marketing
CMC Texpan’s Speed Classifier is designed to recognise composites in the recycled wood stream
The Lynx
The Mag Shell magnetic coating system for blenders