Online vs. Offline Testing: Pros and Cons, 2004 Paper Summit, Spring Technical & International Environmental Conference, (including Papermakers; Process Control, Electrical & Information; Product & Product Quality)
It’s important to know and remember that the following paper describes some specific experiences of one
particular mill and may not necessarily apply to all situations in all mills. Rather, this is a paper designed to
evoke some critical thinking about the topic of online vs. offline testing based on experiences and real life
cases.
In order to gain a proper perspective of this particular mill’s experience with on-line and offline testing, one
must first understand that an automated paper testing system performs the offline testing. This type of
system has many advantages over traditional stand-alone test instruments and allows paper mills to perform
functions that would not be feasible if testing were done manually. One example would be a complete CD
profile calibration, or performance verification, of on-line sensors, using the automated paper testing
system.