How Information Technology Can Benefit a Converting Operation, 1993 Finishing and Converting Conference Proceedings

Randolph G. Strang

Today market competition is demanding better service and lower costs from paper producers, A significant portion of this burden falls on the Converting Department. The integration of product quality data, scheduling data, and customer specifications on the converting shop floor can empower producers to make more customer-minded decisions. In the past, many converting departments were in the dark about the specific quality characteristics of the paper used to fill an order. Now the technology exists to associate production quality data from the paper making process to each roll used in converting, and to continuously verify the quality against customer and/or grade specifications. Real-time, integrated scheduling also helps the converting scheduler efficiently plan the ever increasing number of smaller orders and order changes. Capabilities like resource bottleneck planning, total mill trim optimization, and retrim give the scheduler tools to respond to customer demands. For many converters, a change in the way information is used can bring about big improvements in product costs and customer service.