Sold in April 2014 and installed a few months later, a new A.Celli (Lucca, Italy) pope reel for the tissue machine at Kimberly-Clark’s Romagnano Sesia, Italy, mill has met all production expectations. Commenting on the project, the K-C mill stated that it is "very pleased, adding that "A.Celli was an optimal choice. Together, we developed the project from the very beginning and perfected it step by step. We scheduled tests at A.Celli’s Lucca, Italy, plant and only after these in-depth trials was the pope reel shipped for installation at Romagnano Sesia." 

The mill was particularly pleased during assembly of the new pope reel, adding that "our satisfaction was further confirmed by the amount of machine downtime imposed by us as well as expertise with which the A.Celli team performed this delicate and complicated rebuild, in complete agreement with the stringent safety criteria adopted by the K-C Group."

Operation of the pope reel immediately gave positive results. The tissue machine performance was enhanced, showing a clear improvement in paper turn-up efficiency and winding consistency and, consequently, a better finished product.

The K-C facilities in Romagnano Sesia, located in the province of Novara, is the company’s Italian production site and one of the most important facilities in Europe for tissue production. The Romagnano mill, founded in 1973, employs about 300 people and produces tissue paper for the Scottex® and Kleenex® brands. The Italian market is considered strategic for Kimberly-Clark, who has made strong investments aimed at strengthening the company’s position. In 2001, it invested in the installation of a production plant that employed proprietary K-C technology for the production of the new Scottex® brand toilet paper, which allowed this product to significantly increment its bulk and softness.