Four Etteplan offices cooperated in designing the mechanical equipment for the OptiFormer LB wire section for their customer Metso paper. The 20-metre long and 8-metre high wire was installed at UPM-Kymmene’s Rauma mill. With the exception of the rollers, all parts on the wire section were renewed. The renovated machine, which produces approximately 1,000 tonnes of coated magazine paper per day, was started up in March 2004.

Etteplan offices in Kouvola, Vaajakoski, Tampere and Lappeenranta were responsible for executing the design. The Kouvola and Tampere offices provided sound expertise in wire design and the Lappeenranta and Vaajakoski offices supplied know-how in 3D design. In all, around 25 designers worked on the project. Etteplan assumed overall responsibility for the mechanical design, including manufacturing drawings, subassemblies and assembly drawings, and the plan for the use of the space on the driving side of the machine.

The design project was a successful demonstration of Etteplan’s management of decentralized projects. Similarly, the project was proof that it was possible to transfer and split design expertise between offices.