Encore Tissue

Encore Tissue, a family-owned tissue manufacturer based in Australia, faced a capacity ceiling driven by ageing DC drive infrastructure on its tissue machine line. With consumer demand for tissue products rising, the business needed to increase line speed to remain competitive — but legacy DC drives were no longer sufficient to meet that throughput requirement. Replacing them was complicated by the existing switchroom footprint: any new equipment had to fit within the original space without a costly facility expansion. Left unaddressed, the constraint would continue to cap production output and expose the plant to growing safety compliance risk as the drives aged further out of specification.

Rockwell Automation Global Solutions engineered a full drive modernisation for the tissue machine, replacing the legacy DC system with PowerFlex 755 AC drives — one rated at 500kW and one at 250kW — paired with a GuardLogix Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) and Ethernet-based communications. The AC drive platform delivers precise speed control suited to the continuous, high-tension demands of tissue manufacturing, while GuardLogix provides integrated functional safety without requiring a separate safety relay network. The entire package was engineered to fit within the existing switchroom envelope, avoiding structural modifications. Before installation, the system underwent Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) using simulation software, allowing the full drive configuration to be validated off-site and cutover sequencing to be rehearsed before the machine went offline.

The upgrade delivered its primary objective: the tissue machine now operates at a higher line speed, increasing overall production capacity for Encore Tissue. Key outcomes from the project include:

• Higher throughput — line speed increased to meet growing demand, directly expanding production capacity
• Safety compliance — GuardLogix brought the machine's control architecture into alignment with current functional safety standards
• Minimal downtime — Factory Acceptance Testing allowed the cutover to proceed with limited interruption to production schedules
• Space-neutral installation — the new drives were commissioned within the existing switchroom, avoiding facility modification costs

The project demonstrates that throughput gains and safety uplift can be achieved simultaneously in a constrained brownfield environment.

• Legacy DC-to-AC drive conversions in tissue manufacturing can unlock both speed gains and safety compliance in a single project scope
• Factory Acceptance Testing with simulation software is a practical risk-reduction step — validating configuration before site installation significantly reduces cutover risk and unplanned downtime
• Space constraints in existing switchrooms are a solvable engineering problem, not a barrier; early design-to-footprint discipline avoids expensive facility modifications
• Integrated safety controllers (such as GuardLogix) simplify compliance with modern functional safety standards while reducing panel complexity
• Family-owned manufacturers can access the same drive modernisation outcomes as large-scale producers by scoping projects tightly around the highest-impact constraints