Ahead of the Curve Archive

The Three-Leader Litmus Test

02 Aug 2017 S. ERIC CHRISTENSEN, Ed.D. What is the real definition of successful organizational change? Efforts to evaluate organizational change initiatives focus on quantitative metrics. A “hard number” states unequivocally that targets are exceeded, met, or not met relative to a specific time period. Engineers and financial professionals are especially enamored of this approach. Metrics are comfortable, convenient, and necessary… but do not even come close to effectively grading the value of any given change initiative.

Ensuring a Tight Load

26 Jul 2017 GRAEME RODDEN The following article is part of a special multi-part feature on Global Transport in the just-released July/August issue of Paper360°.

DoE Funds Biofuels Research

19 Jul 2017 The Department of Energy has announced funding for new research centers to accelerate the development of specialty plants and processes for a new generation of biofuels and bioproducts, according to press information released Monday.

Best Papers highlight new research in Coating & Graphic Arts, Process Control

12 Jul 2017 By Monica Shaw (The following is excerpted from the June, 2017 issue of TAPPI Journal, an industry-leading peer-reviewed research publication available every month to TAPPI members.)

US Manufacturing Sees Growth in Production

05 Jul 2017 The ongoing effects of recent US economic recessions are still being felt in many sectors including (and perhaps particularly) the forest products industries. While every industry faces its own challenges, what is the current state of overall manufacturing and logistics in the US? The answer may surprise you.

CEPI’s New Director General: ‘A Remarkable Industry’

28 Jun 2017 BY MARK RUSHTON The Confederation of European Paper industries (CEPI) has been working hard on behalf of the industry—particularly in lobbying on the major issues in the European parliament—for the last 25 years. CEPI will hold its 25th Anniversary event in the city of Brussels in November this year. Sylvain Lhôte joined CEPI as Director General in November last year.

Mountains of waste could lead to new U.S. manufacturing, jobs

21 Jun 2017 By Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M University Researchers at Texas A&M University are exploring ways that lignin waste from pulp and paper operations can be transformed into carbon fibers used in a range of products from tennis rackets to automobiles.

National Labs explore energy-efficient solutions for paper industry

14 Jun 2017 Researchers at two national laboratories are developing new computer simulations that could help papermakers improve energy efficiency and cut energy costs. The project is part of the Department of Energy’s HPC4Mfg initiative, a multi-lab effort to use high-performance computing to address complex challenges in US manufacturing. Project outcomes could have significant benefits; the papermaking industry ranks third among the nation’s largest energy users, behind only petroleum-refining and chemical production, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The Graying of the Paper Industry

07 Jun 2017 JOHN A. NEUN, P.E. This article appears in the May/June issue of Paper360°, the TAPPI member magazine, and is offered here for Ahead of the Curve readers who may have missed it.

TJ 2016 Best Research Paper: Mining Big Data to improve pulping and papermaking operations

31 May 2017 By Monica Shaw TAPPI and the TAPPI Journal (TJ) Editorial Board have selected the 2016 TAPPI Journal Best Research Paper Award winning paper: “Leveraging mill-wide big data sets for process and quality improvement in paperboard production,” authored by Jianzhong Fu and Peter W. Hart. The paper appeared on p. 309 of the May 2016 issue. This research was recognized by the Editorial Board for its innovation, creativity, scientific merit, and clear expression of ideas among the eight nominated papers.