Our group is currently wrapping up a busy Monday at the Hotel Fortuna in downtown Reutlingen, Germany. We've kicked off the week with two tours: Glatfelter in Gernsbach and Xerium in Reutlingen.
Our day started at 6AM with a bus ride from Stuttgart to Gernsbach. After arriving at the mill, we were given a brief presentation about Glatfelter and the products they make at the mill. The Gernsbach facility is known for producing extremely lightweight paper for tea bags and coffee filters, among other products. Their thinnest product has a basis weight of 8 GSM! The mill also has a metallizing machine, which applies a thin coat of evaporated aluminum to one side of the sheet - the type of paper that eventually becomes a beer bottle label.
The PPE was quite extensive, because it's a food grade facility.
Our second tour of the day was Xerium's fabric facility in Reutlingen. We visited their Gloggnitz facility on Friday, where press and dryer felts are produced. Today we saw their wire production. It was interesting to compare the two. Friday's felts were bulkier and more focused on dewatering through absorption, whereas today was all about drainage. We saw many wires in the various stages of production - from the loom where they are first stitched together, to their heat treatment, and finally the joining process that seamlessly joins the two ends to create one endless fabric.
Finally, Xerium brought us to dinner at the very trendy Barfußer. This was a fine opportunity to sample some fine beverages brewed in house as well as traditional German cuisine.
Many more photos and videos of the day to follow! Our tour of Schaeffler Rolls begins in 7 hours. A huge thanks to Glatfelter and Xerium for hosting us, and to Xerium for sponsoring our hotel rooms.
Over and out,
Steve Goulet
What a great educational experience! You can't read this stuff in a book! Awesome....
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