Questions to Ask When Choosing a Creping Blade Supplier

Creping blade suppliers should be able to provide tissue makers with essential products and services. When seeking a creping blade supplier, consider the following questions:

1. Does the supplier have an extensive field presence in all regions important for your business? When a tissue machine requires maintenance and troubleshooting or needs immediate attention, the convenience of a knowledgeable supplier nearby is valuable.
2. Are there certified technicians on staff?  The Yankee is the most important part of the tissue machine. The doctors are also critical components. Improperly maintained doctors can lead to chatter marks and Yankee damage. Mechanical service of Yankee doctors by a certified technician provides reassurance the job is getting done correctly.
3. Is onsite blade wear, angle analysis, and process monitoring available? Using an accurate measurement device for regular reporting is key to ensuring that doctors are installed properly. Blade wear and angle analysis should be included in this report. Also, real-time process monitoring can better diagnose vibration issues.
4. Are application experts available to troubleshoot issues not directly related to doctors? When a machine goes down and your Yankee doctor technician doesn’t have a team of experts to review the issue from all angles, it could lead to more downtime.
5. Can the supplier be a partner in the entire process?  Your supplier must take full ownership of the creping process from the doctoring equipment to the blades. A blade supplier only provides blades when an order is placed. A partner will aid in installation, monitor progress, and troubleshoot when necessary.

Kadant’s Yankee Safe™ program consists of products and services developed to ensure that the tissue machine is creping properly and to protect the Yankee throughout its life cycle. One product line included in the Yankee Safe program is CeraEdge™ creping blades. CeraEdge creping blades have a unique ceramic tip resulting in a higher quality and more efficient production process.

The Conformatic™ AL blade holder is another integral part of the Yankee Safe Program. Significant upgrades to the holder’s adjustability was achieved with a proprietary adjustment mechanism allowing for precise control of the holder profile without the need for edge fingers.

The Yankee Safe program includes blade wear and angle analysis with the Blade View™ measurement device provided by a Kadant representative. Real-time process monitoring is also available using the Smart Watch™ monitoring system.