BREAKING THE CYCLE

As the pulp and paper industry continues its transformation, you’re rightly focused on making the pulping process more effective and cost efficient, so you’re better equipped to meet customers’ expectations
for increased volumes and product quality.

Likewise, you recognize the need to rapidly shift priorities and processes in response
to unexpected market events.

And the “unexpected” is certainly becoming more commonplace.

BUT WHY?

WHAT FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO THIS RAPID RISE IN UNCERTAINTY?

A RAGING
PANDEMIC

A RAGING
PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the industry’s transformation, introducing new behaviors and supply disruptions that have the potential to permanently rewrite what you view as “normal.”

SHIFTING
DEMANDS

SHIFTING
DEMANDS

You’re now forced to balance seemingly opposing considerations—like demand for graphic paper declining while packaging explodes—and deliver on growing customer expectations for cleaner pulp.

RISING PRESSURE
TO MOVE FAST

RISING PRESSURE
TO MOVE FAST

You have limited time to adjust to the changes impacting your organization—all while you maintain a recession-like focus on the bottom line.

Couple the uncertainty introduced by COVID-19 with fast-changing market and customer demands, and it’s common for mills like yours to explore a variety of best practices and new ideas across your operation in hopes of making brown stock washing (BSW) more cost efficient.

So, where do you end up? Like many mills, your focus narrows to defoamer, as it appears to be the easiest cost to control. But this limited approach is not without its drawbacks.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON DEFOAMER?

WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON DEFOAMER?

  • You’ll try to find savings by asking for unit cost reductions and negotiating cost per ton rates, but if your chosen defoamer doesn’t move the needle you’ll have to start the process over next year—and the year after that.
  • As you get stuck in this vicious cycle, hidden downstream impacts like higher energy costs, increased bleaching chemical usage and lagging production impact you significantly more than the front-end defoamer savings.
  • You’ll waste time and money—without positioning yourself to handle unforeseen market shifts.

Rather than looking at the problem as suppressing foam at the lowest cost, you need to think about how you can drive the highest return from your pulp washing. By uncovering what really drives washing performance, you can solve problems at the source. And by redefining successful washing, you can make long-term improvements across your entire process.

But before you can break the foam cycle—and focus on washing—you first need to address a couple critical challenges.

CHOOSE WHICH ONE MATTERS MOST TO YOUR ORGANIZATION TO LEARN WHAT IT TAKES TO ADDRESS IT.