Optimizing Mill Effectiveness Through Statistical Process Control (SPC), 21TAPPICon Virtual

Statistical process control (SPC) is a powerful technique for improving customer satisfaction and mill productivity, while reducing product and process variability and waste.  At its foundation, SPC identifies and controls meaningful variables, ensuring processes operate at their fullest potential for the long term. 

In the 1980’s the U.S. paper industry attempted to adopt SPC, but most efforts quickly failed.  The industry was ill-prepared to sustain it, because there weren’t enough leaders who fully understood SPC and were committed to this approach of continuous improvement for the long term. Corporate leadership and unwavering commitment to leading the charge for the benefit of the customer is the most important element in establishing SPC in an organization.  Early efforts lacked that dedication and focus.

SPC identifies special causes, which are variations that happen occasionally and on which an investigator, can take action.  Papermakers most often discover the underlying root causes in problems they encounter and eliminate the variation they cause. However, other problems elude skilled operators.  Mill teams working together and trained in advanced analytical techniques and using SPC, become skilled in eliminating more challenging sources of variation.  They prove effective in getting to root cause and eliminating these special causes.  The challenge of process optimization becomes more simplified. The outcome is an increasingly consistent, high-quality product, which elevates customer satisfaction and loyalty.     

The objective of this paper is to re-introduce SPC to a new generation of pulp and paper industry leaders, by highlighting SPC’s transformational benefits. Examples and tests will illustrate how this problem-solving method maximizes productivity by eliminating wasteful process variation.  It also provides guidance in introducing SPC to an organization: setting realistic expectations, building the pioneering team, establishing systematic expansion, and maintaining momentum through visionary leadership.  

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