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Working Group Diary To view the next meeting for a particular Working Group, click here to see what has been posted in the forum.
Papermaking Working Group
Conference

The PITA Papermaking Conference 2006 had approx 140 attending from various countries, papermills and suppliers. Unable to attend? Bound copies of the proceedings or CD version available for £150. Request your copy here

PITA Directory Click here for the PITA International Paper Industry Directory which currently holds the details of suppliers, papermills, merchants etc.
Where appropriate there are links to the Fact Sheet Project.

WORKING GROUPS

The aims of the Working Groups are to discuss and disseminate technology associated with their particular subject area with a view to improving the efficiency both of the process and its operation and the products concerned.
Each of the six Working Groups fulfils these aims in their own way and, in a less formal manner, working Group meetings are an opportunity for like-minded people to come together for their mutual benefit. Those who are regular members of Working Groups believe they achieve something for themselves and their companies by taking part in Working Group activities. Working Groups also provide an opportunity for individuals to contribute some benefit to the membership of the Association on a wider front.

PITA has six active Working Groups covering the following areas:-

Coating
Engineering
Environmental
Finishing
Papermaking
Raw Materials
(Click on the working group name above for details of the 2005 reports and members).

 

COATING WORKING GROUP

 

Ian Davis (Chairman) - IMD Consulting Tel:01835 850788
Trevor Dean - BioRegional Mini Mills (UK) Ltd
Cheryl Eagleson - Synthomer Ltd
Tony Foulds - Omya UK Ltd
Mariela Gauto - Clariant UK Ltd
Frank Gorny - Craigowl Services Ltd
Andrew Griffiths - BTG
Chris Hindley - Ciba Speciality Chemicals plc
Eileen Jarrett - Tullis Russell Papermakers
Nigel Jopson - Pira International
Juha Koskela - University of Manchester
Paolo Lucchini - Dow Chemical Co Ltd
David McAllister - Roquette UK Ltd
Steve Mann - Overlap Consulting
Saschi Momin - Sappi Blackburn Mill
Gary Oak - IMERYS Minerals Ltd
Kieran Rafferty - RaKeM Ltd
Paul Semmens - IMERYS Minerals Ltd
Bob Smith - Arjo Wiggins Ltd
Simon Tyler - M-real Sittingbourne Ltd
Virtual Group Members
Keith Damarell - Stora Enso Speciality Papers, USA
Phil Greenall - BASF South East Asia PTE Ltd
Scott Myatt - Clariant Southern Africa
Martin Scott - BASF South East Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore
The Coating Working Group has had a year of mixed fortunes. Last year I wrote about the 2005 PITA Coating Conference, commenting on the fact that there were only 12 coating mills left in the UK. As this report is being written, that number is now down to seven, with at least one of these looking vulnerable.

So, as a Group we are heading for change to ensure we can provide what our members want. Of the seven coating mills left it is good to record that five of these seven are represented on the Group. In the past twelve months some members have been lost due to job changes, retirements and members passing. It is this final reason that prompts me to record the sudden and unexpected passing of Martin Stevens from Omya. Martin was a great supporter of our Group in many ways and his loss has been felt very acutely these past months. His contributions over many years helped our Group to be strong and successful.

The closure of the Inveresk, Carrongrove Mill resulted in the loss of another long time supporter and contributor to our Group, Dr. David Christie. David has left the Group, so we thank him for all his help over the years and wish him success in his future career.

As you can tell from the foregoing, the Coating Group is undergoing change for a number of reasons, change due to mill and supplier companies as well as change in members and member profiles.

To this end, the Group members are determined to avoid the ‘Ostrich approach’ and pretend nothing is happening, which is why in the next twelve months the intention is to run another of our highly successful training seminars. Providing there is the support needed, the event will be held in September, so keep a lookout in your Paper Technology Journal for further details.

Next Spring the Group will also be running another Coating Conference. Following the Ethos of ‘meeting and matching’ change the members are looking at ways to make the event attractive to a wider audience, both geographically and, by way of vertical integration, looking to attract delegates from further along the supply chain. The theme for the event is ‘The 3 P’s’of Coating: Printing, Packaging and Point of Sale. The papers being sourced will be selected with this theme in mind. At these events there is always a high percentage of overseas speakers, so the aim is to match that by targeting overseas potential delegates, so that is the challenge for the PITA conference team for 2007.

In terms of meetings during the year, members are finding it harder and harder to be able to attend. This is a major problem these days, but the Association recognises that everyone’s efforts are on a voluntary basis. We are grateful, therefore, for the ongoing support of the members and their companies. The endeavour is to make the meetings interesting and worthwhile and the meetings which have taken place have achieved this aim. For example the last meeting was held in Iggesund Paperboard, Workington where a good turnout included a number of new members, which is very encouraging. The Group continues with a‘virtual members’ section, receiving reports from members who have overseas postings. This provides interesting insights into the global coatings markets which would otherwise not be known about. The Far East activity in China continues, but India is forecast to show a rapid increase in all grades of paper and board production.

In closing then, the Coating Group are looking forward to an active twelve months ahead. Challenges and Changes in all areas of the coatings sector promise to keep the Group members very active.

If you would like to be a part of this, then all new members are welcome. In the first instance, please write to the PITA Chief Executive, John Clewley, expressing your interest and we look forward to welcoming you to the PITA Coating Working Group.

Ian Davis

 

 

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PAPERMAKING WORKING GROUP


Martin Christmas (Chairman) - Metso Paper Ltd Tel: 01925 286854
Swapan Bhattacharjee - m-real Sittingbourne Ltd
Alan Birchall - Unattached
Ian Bloomfield - Georgia Pacific GB Ltd
Mark Caldwell - RaKem Ltd
Peter Christmas - Salvtech Ltd
Stephen Fox - Voith Ppaper Ltd
Mark Hargreaves - Huyck UK Ltd
Ursula Heng - Kimberley Ckark
Sharon Hoole - Voith Fabrics Blackburn Ltd
Dick Hoyland - University of Manchester
Linden Jackson - Bridgewater Paper Co. Ltd
Christopher Kershaw - Heimbach UK Ltd
Rob Lucas - Kadant UK Ltd
Mike Mallouris - Buckman Laboratories Ltd
Peter McLaverty - Peter J McLaverty
Mathew Miller - James Cropper plc
Basharat Nazir - Pira International
David Powlson - Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Ltd
Tim Prior - Albany International Ltd
Graham Toft - Iggesund Paperboard (Workington) Ltd
Nick Wilson - Heimbach UK Ltd
REPORT

In terms of achieving certain targets this year, the Group can be happy with the progress to date. We have re-invigorated the meetings and started to include more diverse and interesting discussion topics. This has not had the dramatic effect on attendances that we had hoped for but has certainly provided the core of the Group with more rewarding meetings. The trend of reducing numbers at the meetings seems to have been reversed by these actions. Hopefully the message is filtering out to the industry that Group members can benefit greatly from learning about areas outside of their specialist roles. The Working Group meetings provide an excellent opportunity to do this for the members.

The meetings since the last report have been quite varied. The first meeting at MY Cartons provided a fascinating look at the end user needs for packaging material and there was an excellent discussion between Linda Calvert of Iggesund and Zaman Haroon of MY Cartons about how board manufacturers and converters and box makers work together.

Our next meeting took us to the Cardboard Box Factory in Accrington. This meeting spawned a number of follow up meetings and therefore many of you will know what a lean and forward thinking company this is, demonstrating what is needed to operate in an area with reducing margins and increasing competition. The Group would like to thank Peter Street for his warm hospitality and openness in the discussions.

In February we diverted well away from the norm and visited Brunel University to see a novel printing method. The University have developed a technique for printing circuit boards onto paper using a standard lithographic printer and special inks. This was a fascinating visit and our guide for the day, Peter Evans, was extremely enthusiastic about the project and its possibilities for industrial applications and I would urge anyone interested to visit their website.

The most recent visit took us to KC Northfleet mill although we were unable to tour the facility due to confidentiality reasons. As a consequence Basha Nazir had arranged for his colleague Dr Graham Moore from Pira International to come and explain to us what was meant by the term Nanotechnology. This was an area that we had all heard of but were remarkably ignorant about the specifics and Dr. Moore helped us to understand what it is all about. We also have to thank Ursula Heng from KC for helping us with a venue.

In terms of meetings, technical content and attendances, we were satisfied that progress is being made in achieving our targets of improving these areas. On the surface also it seemed that the Papermaking Conference had been a success. The main target for the Group is to provide a strong technical content by selecting topics and papers that would appeal to the industry. A lot of thought had gone into providing the types of papers that the industry wanted based on feedback from the mills and it was generally accepted that this had been done and provided the mills with something for the majority of them. It was a big surprise therefore to find that the mills had not supported this event in the kind of numbers that we had hoped for and it is a sad fact that if we cannot rectify this situation sufficiently then the suppliers will also depart in their droves at the next event. John Clewley has covered the conference excellently in his article on p14 of the May/June issue of Paper Technology and I would recommend finding a copy and having a read if you haven’t already done so. We now need to appeal to the industry and in particular the mills, to come out and support these events before they are lost.

One other area that had been developed was the Fact Sheet section on the website. This has now been passed out of the hands of the Group, as it had grown too big to handle, particularly in parallel with the conference.

So what do we have planned this year? The target now is to review key technology areas and hopefully provide a report for the Journal on latest technology in the Stock Prep and PM area. This will give all the members an opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the processes involved and also feed back interesting developments to the Paper Technology readership. We also hope to broaden our numbers from the mills and would welcome anybody who would like to join the Group to come along and join a meeting to try it out. The time commitment required is much smaller than most people think and the benefits to the individual and the organisation he or she works for can be significant.

Whilst this may break from tradition I believe it is also worth mentioning a few members without whom the Group would not function. These are people who have put in a lot of effort over the year and made my role as Chairman much simpler than it otherwise would have been. In these testing trading conditions it is not easy to commit to voluntary organisations, no matter how rewarding they may be to the individual. I would like to thank on behalf of the Group, in no particular order, Mark Hargreaves of Huyck, Graham Toft of Iggesund Paperboard, Sharon Hoole from Voith, Bob Lucas from Kadant and the Vice Chairman Peter McLaverty. We have also seen other members now become regular attendees and so I must thank M-Real for allowing Swapan Battarcharjee to attend as his input is always excellent and Basha Nazir from Pira International who is well known in the industry and is always an active participant as is Mark Caldwell from Rakem. Hopefully this coming year will provide us all an opportunity to broaden our knowledge and pass some of this back to the industry.

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ENGINEERING WORKING GROUP

John Middleton (Chairman) Invista Ltd Tel: 01276 691030
Paul Austin - BTG
Ron Brownlow - Sandusky Walmsley
Stephen Carrington - Honeywell
Derek Coulson - Laidler Associates Consulting Service Ltd
Peter Fish - Prisma Services Ltd
Ron Graham - Iggesund Paperboard (Workington) Ltd
Michael Harrison - Harrison Lubrication Engineering Ltd
Colin Hooper - Arjo Wiggins Fine Papers Ltd
Chris Hunt - Aylesford Newsprint Ltd
Alex Mathews - Unattached
Hong Wang - UMIST
Clive Ward - Compact Engineering Ltd
Gary Webb - John Crane UK Ltd
Ian Whitelaw - ABB Ltd

REPORT

When preparing this report on behalf of the Engineering Group for the 2005/2006 Year Book I note that I used the following words. “As the smallest of the six PITA Working Groups, the Engineering Group faces the greatest challenge in maintaining a full series of meetings throughout the year. This is particularly so when a large proportion of the Group are self employed or running small businesses.” It may therefore not come as any surprise to learn that the Engineering Group only managed to hold one meeting during the past year. However what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality as that one meeting was based around a late evening visit to the Royal Mail world wide sorting facility based near London Heathrow Airport. Members may wonder what such a visit had to do with a Group associated with the paper industry? The answer was to do with control systems and safety accreditation that are both very necessary with such a highly automated process and which are equally applicable to our own industry.

The members of the Engineering Group have an affinity with unusual venues and were very pleased to accept an invitation to join in with the Environmental Group on their forthcoming visit to Heysham Nuclear Power station, which will unfortunately take place after all these Working Group reports have been completed. The report of that meeting will therefore have to wait until next year when hopefully it will be accompanied by reports of other successful meeting throughout the year.

 

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ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP

Barry Read (Chairman) - Fibre Technology Association Tel: 07836 796000
Anders Aström - Aylesford Newsprint Ltd
Simon Binyon - ARL Consulting Ltd
Jerry Burch - Glatfelter UK Ltd
Kate Cathie - M-real New Thames Ltd
Carly Chambers - Rigid Paper Ltd
Harry Cripps - HRC Consultants Ltd
David Gaskill - Kruger UK
Tony Johnson - Sembcorp Simon Carves Ltd
Martin Kay - Pira International
Geoff Leaver - Envirowise
Paul Marshall - Aylesford Newsprint
Mark Macaulay - Aulay Macaulay Ltd
Kurt McConnie - Nalco Ltd
Andy McNab - Georgia Pacific GB Ltd
David Morgan - Confederation of Paper Industries
Graham Oldroyd - Albion Colours
Eddie Reilly - UPM Kymmene UK Ltd
Liz Russell - EnviroSystems (UK) Ltd
Archie Simpson - Georgia Pacific GB Ltd
Debbie Stringer - Bridgewater Paper Co
Peter Walmsley - UPM Kymmene UK Ltd
Jessica Wardlaw - Sonoco Board Mill
Les Webb - Envirocell
Evert Van de Werfhorst - Paques BV
Phil Woollen - KWI (UK) Ltd

REPORT
Whilst continuing to be successful, the Environmental Working Group inevitably reflects the fortunes of the Paper Industry as a whole and the past twelve months have been troublesome for many, mills and suppliers alike.

After rounding off the previous year with, what was arguably, the best ever attendance at a Working Group meeting, the first meeting of the year was something of a disappointment as only a handful of people travelled to Birmingham in October 2005 for the meeting held to coincide with IWEX (The International Water and Effluent Treatment Exhibition). The disappointment was heightened as this was a joint meeting with the Raw Materials Working Group. This was a great pity, as not only did the non-attendees miss an excellent presentation on the latest developments in anaerobic water treatment from Pacques, but they also missed a major international exhibition on water and effluent treatment.

The numbers attending picked up again for the following meeting in February 2006, a visit to GE Energy in Widnes. Aside from the formal business of the day, the Group received a multi-person, multi-faceted presentation from GE Energy on aspects of their business which are helping companies save money on energy generation and investment; topics which have moved very much to the fore of everybody’s thinking as gas prices have risen astronomically. Inevitably the subsequent discussions revolved around the “energy theme”, more of which later.

Always keen to try something new, the Group ventured to Leicester for our next meeting in April 2006 and ended up looking at a pile of rubbish, several hundred tonnes of rubbish actually. The City of Leicester, in an attempt to avoid the use of landfill, has worked closely with Biffa to develop a system that makes the most of every grey refuse bin leaving the city. After the good citizen’s of Leicester have recycled all the usual materials (glass, paper, cans etc), the domestic refuse is taken to a site just outside the city where it is pulverised by twenty-one tonnes of steel balls. The resultant shreds are separated into plastic and fibrous material, which is sent to a cement kiln as an alternative fuel source, and “organic material”, which is sent to an anaerobic digester and converted into biogas. A very small amount of residual material is sent to landfill, but it is a fraction of the amount entering the facility. This paved the way for a presentation on RDF (Refuse Derived Fuels, a new name for Energy from Waste), a technology that could well be the saviour of UK energy intensive industries as global energy prices continue to soar.

The final meeting of the year is scheduled to take place too late to be reported on. In July 2006, the Group (joined by the Engineering Working Group) will look at another technology capable of providing industry with Energy. The Nuclear Reactors at Heysham are each capable of powering several towns and we have been lucky enough to secure a tour of this highly restricted facility. As mentioned earlier, energy has been a major topic of discussion during the year and seems likely to continue to be in the spotlight for the foreseeable future. Gas (hence all energy) prices have already contributed to the closure of several mills and whilst we are experiencing a brief respite over the summer months, the winter will most likely see prices on the rise again. Our industry must act to offset some of the effect of these prices, by either maximising energy efficiency or seeking out alternate energy sources. The Group is planning an “Energy Event” for late September and anyone with an interest in the future of the UK Paper Industry should be making a note in their diary to be there. Perhaps the most disappointing occurrence of the year was the failure to secure mill and chemical supplier support for the much talked about “Fate of Chemicals Project” as a joint CPI / PITA project. The project (in my opinion) would have fulfilled an important need for the UK Paper Industry (in the wake of the emerging REACH legislation) and would have provided industry responses to questions that will not simply go away and it has already cost one mill tens of thousands of pounds to provide answers to the Environment Agency in this area. At a time when most mills are stretched to their limits (and beyond); such collaborative projects must be the way to tackle issues impacting all mills.

Looking to the future, we look towards difficult times. The number of mills is falling, energy prices will continue to rise, new environmental legislation is looming and global competition is increasing, inevitably, the UK membership of PITA will fall and Working Group attendances will follow a similar trend. That said, the UK Paper Industry has a reputation for being resourceful and for survival and we, as the Working Groups, must reflect those qualities. Better venues, better added value contact to the meetings and generally badgering people into attendance (and then keeping them there) are all needed if the Groups are going to continue to make a valid contribution to the survival of the UK Paper Industry.

In the coming year, we hope to visit a Paper Mill, see tomatoes grown using waste heat from an industrial process and see Paper Mill sludge composted on an industrial scale. I will be there; the question is “How many of the people reading this report will be there?”

FINISHING WORKING GROUP

Peter Nadin (Chairman) - Rolpex Limited
Hugh Alexander - UPM Kymmene (UK) Ltd
Thomas Boehm - Marquip Ward United
Steve Crook - James Cropper plc
Ron Graham - Iggesund Paperboard (Workington) Ltd
Alan Hollowood - Deva Paper and Board
Keith Hughes - Smurfit Kappa SSK Ltd
Peter Isherwood - John Slack Ltd
David Jobson - Jarshire Ltd
John Lack - John Lack Equipment
Tim McCoy - Emtech
Jim Meek - Tullis Russell Papermakers
Stuart Miles - Aylesford Newsprint Ltd
Mathew Miller - James Cropper plc
Ian Mowbray - Tullis Russell
Andy Nelson - James Cropper plc
Mike O'Neill - Linden Paper & Board Ltd
Tim Watts - Tim Watts Associates
Peter Weger - XJL Ltd
Melanie Whyte - UPM Kymmene (UK) Ltd
Alan Young - M-real UK Paper Ltd

REPORT
The Finishing Group continued during the latter half of 2005, in a pattern as previously enjoyed, with a meeting hosted by M-real at the New Thames Sittingbourne site. The numbers attending were down to only 9 members, but the meeting produced as usual some lively debate and exchanges of information. Our thanks are extended to Alan Young and the M-real staff for hosting the meeting, and providing an excellent buffet lunch.

December 2005 saw the Group assemble at the Iggesund Workington Mill, although again the numbers were down to single figures with an attendance the same as at M-real.

Thanks were extended to Ron Graham and the Iggesund Staff for hosting the meeting and for kindly providing a delightful lunch.

The situation and standing of the Finishing Group has changed during the start of 2006, with no meetings being arranged for the first two dates of the New Year. The February 2006 meeting was cancelled as no venue had been selected or arranged. Likewise the May 2006 meeting had to be cancelled, although a new venue had been selected in the Midlands, the meeting was announced to late and the attendance levels were going to be poor, so this meeting was cancelled. As Chairman of the Group my European travelling activities of late have become more frequent, and my attendance here in the UK has been affected by this amount of travel. On the positive side, our activities are bearing fruit albeit from outside of the UK.

Our industry continues to be effected by plant closures, personnel retiring and redundancies; all these elements have had an effect on the remaining key personnel within our industry. Time management and individuals workload often effects what previously others had covered on the day, allowing members to attend Finishing Group meetings. However, to be upbeat about a negative situation that affects us all, we have to look to the future and be positive that the Group Meetings do benefit us all in some way.

Speaking for myself, I do not believe I have attended a single meeting without picking up some interesting topic or a new method of tackling a problem.

During 2005 your Chairman contacted numerous key individuals and companies in an effort to swell the numbers of the Finishing Group. Most of these companies were not active within PITA, but all who were approached were keen to attend future meetings if the venue location was within reach, and time was available.

The Chairman is still keen to promote this situation and maintain a balance of talents within the Group of leading industry personnel, from both hands on finishing people to suppliers.

We shall organise two to three meetings during what remains of this year, the dates for September and December being already organised.

To close, on behalf of the Group, I extend a personal thanks once again to all who have contributed this last year to our Group’s activities. A warm thanks to all who hosted the meetings, and for their hospitality during the visits. And finally, bon chance to all those who have retired or moved on into other businesses during this last year.

RAW MATERIALS WORKING GROUP
Mark Smith (Chairman) - Omya (UK) Ltd
David Dredge - Caraustar ICPG Ltd
Mark Farrar - St Regis Paper Company Ltd
Raj Gill - Buckman Laboratories SA
Tony Hall - James Cropper plc
David McCarthy - Albion Colours
Andrew Mottram - Clariant UK Ltd
Colin Murchison - Caledonian Shanks Centre for Waste Management
Graham Pring - IMERYS Minerals Ltd
Barry Read - Fibre Technology Association
Paul Richards - Aylesford Newsprint Ltd
Stephen Roberts - Northern Tissue Group
Ian Sharples - Eka Chemicals Ltd
John Stockwell - CIBA Specialty Chemicals
Graham Toft - Iggesund Paperboard (Workington) Ltd
Roger Wright - Treecel Ltd
Geoff Youd - Consultant
REPORT
This year has been a time for change for the Group which has been very active in some areas and not so active in others. David Dredge has retired as Chairman after ten years of sterling service. David has now gone on to provide further support for PITA by becoming Chairman of the Association. Mark Smith replaced him as Chairman of the Working Group in March 2006.

We have held two meetings since the last report. In February we met at GE Energy and Water in Widnes in conjunction with the Environmental Working Group. The meeting had a reasonable attendance of 13 who enjoyed several presentations about the activity of GE in the water treatment area. The second meeting was held in May at Omya UK new Headquarters in Derby. 7 people attended this meeting and along with the routine activities a lively discussion was held on the future direction of the Group. It was decided the major product of the Group would be to supply Fact Sheets in our area of expertise for the PITA website. The aim would be to add several new Fact Sheets every year. This process would be fleshed out in the next meeting. We would continue to meet four times a year, twice by ourselves and twice with other Working Groups. To add more value to meetings we will conduct our routine business in the morning, hold a general discussion or networking opportunity over lunch and have a presentation, structured discussion or site tour in the afternoon.

The Group activities have given mixed results over the year. To add to the Test Method Guide produced previously, a set of 22 comprehensive Fact Sheets on virgin fibre types and properties have been added to the PITA website. Many thanks for the efforts of Geoff Youd and Roger Wright in progressing this work. We are now looking to provide similar information on recycled fibres. A start has been made on Fact Sheets about “Other Raw Materials” with 16 being added to the web site. Progress made in this area will now be reviewed. Over the last few years we have supported the CPI with regard to the Fate of Chemicals project. However, the CPI have now decided to scale down the project and complete it without outside help.

The Working Group is looking forward to a busy and productive year and is always looking for new volunteers to help us. If you have an interest in participating in this Group please let me know.