Ann: Papyrus E-News Issue 6 , page-9

“You're having a right lend my pedigree chum! Are you saying that PPY is advocating harvesting stems that are 900kg of water per 100kg dry matter, rotary peeling it (like plywood) squeezing it all back together again, drying it, then cutting it into pieces to stick back together again to make panels? You are having us on, no-one could be that dumb! Not even this mob.”

No, no, no, Keeting you are overcomplicating things!!! They don’t squeeze it back together again before drying it….. All the rest is about right I think.

For those readers who are not satisfied that Keeting’s tongue is firmly in his cheek(!) the gory truth is this is just what PPY are proposing. Remember that PPY main proprietary patented technology is the “BVU” the Beta Veneering Unit- a.k.a. “Method and Apparatus for Removing Sheets of Fibres from Banana Plants.” PPY do not have another method of producing fibre chips except veneering and drying it first.

It is quite instructive to look back at the grand plans for the Egyptian factory on the AGM presentation- see http://www.papyrusaustralia.com.au/uploads/documents/releases/111123%20Papyrus%20AGM%202011.pdf
One Veneering Unit (not the Beta Walkamin one but a shiny new one (a Gamma VU??)) was supposed to churn through 1,800,000 billets per year (2 billets per banana trunk) to produce 25,000 TONNES of chipped fibre (and 25,000 sqm of floor board product and 80,000 sheets of decorative panel). Based on a 330 day x 8 hour operation that works out at a measly 681 billets per hour. Considering the Beta unit seems to have been able to operate a pace of, oh, 3 or 4 billets per hour, the new factory is going to be a wonder of the world!! Imagine all those Egyptian running around having to lay out and dry those veneer sheets at one every 19 seconds (or do we run them in a drying machine- its gonna be pretty big to deal with veneer with a surface area bigger than a suburban house block each and every hour).

……and then we stick it all in a chipper, and ship it off to someone else to make chipboard. Great plan!!

By the way what happened to the Papyrus Europe Team of marketing gurus alluded to in the Presentation??

“Papyrus Australia has identified an operational team for Papyrus Europe with a strong background in international business development and general management. As Papyrus Europe will be driving business expansion beyond the first factory, establishing a brand for Papyrus Technology products is key. The team has both strategic and operational skills ensuring the alignment of Papyrus Australia’s long term interest with that of Papyrus Europe’s shareholders.”- an ‘industry expert and 2 Business Development Directors.

Haven’t heard a peep about their activities. Are they as much a phantom as the ‘Australian Advanced Manufacturing Centre’ which was never a ‘Centre’ but just a company name…..