A Flow Scanner finds a new home in Poland
Isa-Linnea Rosén, Mantex project manager
For our latest Flow Scanner installation we go to Poland with the Mantex delivery and installation team. The following is an interview with Mantex project manager Isa-Linnea Rosén, who talked to Therese Berganäs, Mantex’ general assistant.
Hello Isa-Linnea! Your team travels a lot around Europe visiting customers. Anything special occur on this trip?
Not really, but we were pleasantly surprised when our rental car was upgraded to a high-end BMW due to some mix-up at the rental agency. Never underestimate the effect of well-engineered black vehicles with powerful engines, especially on the boys!
What happened when you arrived at the mill?
Well, security is always tight at the larger mills and there is usually a whole procedure that you have to go through before you’re allowed on the premises. After a few comic misunderstandings, due to our abysmal polish language skills, we received a really good security and site briefing before being taken to the Flow Scanner installation site.
Were there any routines that stood out a bit more than usual?
An interesting fact was that, if one of the emergency alarms (yes, there are several) was triggered, the people who were outdoors should immediately jump into their cars and drive away. Fortunately, no such alarm was activated during our stay, but I have no doubt we would have made a spectacular exit in our fast BMW!
How did the installation of the Flow Scanner go?
I think it went really well. We managed to install the Flow Scanner successfully and we are on schedule with our overall delivery plan.
Can you explain a little bit about the installation? Were there any specific problems you had to solve?
The Flow Scanner is a big instrument that sits right over the conveyor belt transporting wood chips to the digester. The first thing we do is to assemble a tunnel around the belt. This is the only time we have to stop the belt, but it does not take long and means that we can install the rest of the machine safely and without stopping production.
Some of the components are quite heavy and it was very hot. It’s no exaggeration to say that we all received a really nice work-out! We worked long hours as well –from 8 in the morning to 7 at night. The first day of the installation there was a bit of a problem with the alignment of the tunnel frame assembly but this was easily fixed. Apart from this single glitch, the rest of the installation went according to schedule. The mill staff were also terrific and we all felt really pleased when it was done and we could all have a well-deserved beer together.
Installing the Flow Scanner tunnel assembly.
So is it all done now?
Nope, this was only the hardware installation phase to make sure that the Flow Scanner is installed and transmitting data. The next step is to calibrate the instrument and to make sure that the customer is comfortable in operating it. If all goes well, the customer should have their new Flow Scanner fully operational in about a month. But we’ll be back a few times before that, hopefully in a luxury Mercedes.
Thank you Isa-Linnea and good luck with that!