Trendspotting

July-Aug 2017

Whether for a rebuild or conversion project, or for scheduled maintenance, every mill outage requires a tremendous amount of resources, including skilled labor. In regions with a high concentration of manufacturing facilities, high demand for resources can leave mill managers, contractors, and labor unions scrambling to meet demand. For mills in the paper-centric Wisconsin-Minnesota-Michigan Upper Peninsula (WI-MN-UP) area, a new ...

REBUILDS & CONVERSIONS Very different rebuild projects at two Midwestern mills both found success through Virtual Process Integration. DAN BAYER AND TONYA DITTMAN Collaboration. It’s a word often overused today. However, when executed well, true collaboration can transform how business is done. At Miron Construction, collaboration has transformed the way rebuilds are being delivered for several clients in the forest ...

The new shoe press section boosts productivity, improves quality, and reduces energy consumption. MARK WILLIAMSON The growth of containerboard demand in recent years has spurred new production capacity and some grade conversions of former publication paper machines. However, there is a third and very viable option for containerboard producers to modernize key parts of existing production assets—thereby boosting productivity, gaining ...

July-Aug 2017

trendspotting| AWARDS Making a Difference 2017 TAPPI/PIMA Awards JAN BOTTIGLIERI      There may be no feeling more satisfying than knowing our efforts have improved the professional lives of our peers and colleagues. Once again, Paper360° is pleased to showcase members of our industry who have done exactly that. The individuals featured here include the winners of the TAPPI/PIMA national-level ...

trendspotting|MANAGEMENT Suppliers Reach Out to Mill Leaders To find out how an organization ticks, talk to its leaders. Better yet, get its leaders to talk to you. This philosophy was put into practice at the recent Spring Meeting of the Association of Suppliers to the Paper Industry (ASPI) held in Sarasota, FL. Management-level speakers from pulp, paper, and packaging companies ...

trendspotting| MANAGEMENT The Graying of the Paper Industry An industry veteran looks at the statistics about our industry’ s aging workforce—as well as some strategies for managing this critical issue. JOHN A. NEUN, P.E. The first time I ever darkened the door of a paper mill was in 1979. I was a research engineer working for a large clothing company ...

trendspotting | MANAGEMENT An Ode to Small  A bold management decision in 2013 has revitalized Turners Falls Paper.  GRAEME RODDEN   Find a niche, be the best at what you do, serve your customers like no others, be quick to respond to evolving markets. How does a small papermaker survive, and thrive, in this era of declining demand—especially when one’ ...