Reducing Variability in the Thick Stock System, PaperCon '09 Conference

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Increasing production and quality have always been key factors in the profitability of making paper. There have been advances in technology and equipment that have been funded based on improving both of these goals. However, as we get more technically advanced there are a few basics that can derail the most thought out process improvement plan. Those basics deal with making sure the fiber going into the headbox is stable. As simple as that sounds, we have found through our consulting business that more than 50% of the time the problem with quality and production can be tied to stability issues in the dry fiber flow. In this paper, we will review the first principles relating dry fiber to dry weight and then point out common sources of variability related to thick stock consistency and thick stock flow.