12 SOLENIS


Pulp Paper & Logistics


Opportunities offered by the crisis


As consumption patterns have changed during the pandemic so tissue and towel manufacturers should respond to exploit the new dynamics, says Richard Cho*


T


he unfolding coronavirus crisis of the past several months has led to more unpredictability than


any of us could have imagined. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing guidelines and panic buying by consumers have created major irregularities and consumption patterns, not least in tissue and towel market dynamics. These challenges also present a


great opportunity to help tissue and towel producers adapt and respond to these sudden changes.


Pushing for productivity As consumers around the world actively stockpiled supplies and household staple items, tissue makers were pushed to maximise production. In some countries, bath tissue sales increased by more than 50 per cent during the early months of the pandemic. Though machine utilisation


rates spiked to nearly 100 per cent, there were still difficulties meeting demand. For Solenis, being part of a larger effort to help customers increase output through higher production efficiency was an opportunity to transform our expertise and capabilities into tangible benefits for our customers and, ultimately, for consumers who rely on their products every day. Our teams partnered with tissue makers across the globe to help optimise wet-end process and coating stability to improve productivity and paper quality. These efforts have helped multiple customers achieve record machine speeds to meet the unexpected


September/October 2020


Stay-at-home orders, social distancing guidelines and consumer panic buying have created major irregularities in tissue and towel market dynamics and consumption patterns


surge in demand. Beyond great chemistry and applications, many of our customers have also leveraged the Solenis OPTIX Applied Intelligence adaptive analytics platform to optimise their papermaking processes and meet quality targets. We have documented successes in reducing off-spec tissue production by helping customers significantly improve wet tensile target adherence and reduce variability.


Managing fibre supply challenges Tissue made from recovered fibre accounts for approximately 30


per cent of global production. Over the past few months, the recovered paper market has experienced extreme volatility. An unprecedented surge in tissue and packaging board demand, combined with reductions in office wastepaper and old corrugated cardboard availability, has tightened supply. This has forced some tissue


makers to switch from higher quality office waste to lower quality alternatives, which can result in lower strength and increased wet-end contamination. We have collaborated with a number of these tissue manufacturers, helping them


evaluate and modify their dry- strength and contaminant control solutions to overcome these challenges. An increasing number of tissue


makers are also producing tissue made from non-wood alternative fibre, such as bamboo, which is not related to the pandemic as such, but it is exacerbating some of the other challenges affecting the industry. Non-wood tissue accounts for approximately 10 per cent of global tissue production. Though more common right now in the Asia Pacific market, non-wood tissue will continue to expand across the other regions. In fact, several recently launched


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