Ahead of the Curve

Industry 4.0: New Lexicon, No Limits

20 Oct 2021 This article originally ran in the Sept./Oct. 2021 issue of Paper360°, and is being shared here for Ahead of the Curve readers who may have missed it.

LIVE from TAPPICon Live!

06 Oct 2021 Keynoter Elizabeth McCormick fires up attendees; extra precautions, including wristbands indicating social distancing preferences, helped attendees feel at ease; Jan Bottiglieri interviews a podcast guest live at the event.

Which Manufacturers Made Our Industry’s Top 20 List?

22 Sep 2021 Note: The complete “Paper360° Top 75 Manufacturers” list, with expanded statistical data, will be published in the Sep/Oct 2021 issue of Paper360° magazine, available in print and online. This excerpt is shared here as an exclusive ‘sneak peek’ for Ahead of the Curve readers.

Holiday Gift Book Guide for Papermakers

20 Dec 2017 Each year through the entire month of December, we are inundated with “Holiday Gift Guides” touting perfect presents for almost everyone on your shopping list. Yet there is one special group of people I rarely see addressed specifically: papermakers, and those who support them. A one-year membership in the Jelly of the Month club might be fine for all the Clark Griswolds in your life, but what about the millwrights, service reps, superintendents, team leaders, project managers—everyone from the mill floor to the C-suite offices who dedicate their careers to producing the pulp, paper, and packaging that improve our lives?

What Papermakers Are Thankful For

22 Nov 2017 Accounts of the “First Thanksgiving” vary; but we know that President Abraham Lincoln made it official in 1863 with a proclamation that read, in part: “The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies… I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving.”

Web tool helps mills plan outages

15 Nov 2017 Editor’s Note: This article appears in the forthcoming Nov/Dec edition of Paper360°, and is offered as a “sneak peek” for AoTC readers.

Museum Restoring Rare Model Fourdrinier

01 Nov 2017 Many AOTC readers remember their first glimpse of a running paper machine—and the awe of seeing how much technology and engineering expertise goes into a simple sheet of paper. For some, viewing that first operating machine is the moment that cements a lifelong commitment to a career in the pulp and paper industry.

A Week to Celebrate Forests and Print

18 Oct 2017 It’s commonly accepted science that leaves turn color in the autumn when changes in air temperature and sunlight hours trigger a chemical process during which the leaves cease their food-making, causing the green chlorophyll in the leaves to break down and reveal the carotenes and xanthophyll pigments lying beneath.

Print and Paper Packs a Punch in a Digital World

04 Oct 2017 BY PHIL RIEBEL Results of an international survey by Two Sides provides unique insight into how print and paper is viewed, preferred, and trusted by consumers around the globe. In June 2017, a survey of over 10,700 consumers was commissioned by Two Sides and carried out by leading research company Toluna. Nationally representative surveys were undertaken in ten countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Four technologies poised to disrupt the specialty paper market

27 Sep 2017 In its latest research, Smithers Pira has identified four novel technologies that are set to increase capacity and enable new product opportunities for manufacturers of specialty papers across the next five years. The new report—The Future of Speciality Papers to 2022—provides a comprehensive overview of this important sector of the paper industry. It incorporates both higher volume applications, like flexible packaging and label stocks, and more niche segments like electrical insulation, filtration, and security papers.