Digitalization was the common denominator for ABB's participation in SPCI, including Control Systems, one of the conference themes. Control Systems is held on a rotating basis in Sweden, Finland and Canada, and the conference primarily attracts speakers and delegates from the pulp and paper producing countries around the world.
“Control Systems was previously organized as a separate conference, but pulp and paper mills no longer have that much control systems know-how these days. We, as suppliers, are the main source of know-how today. Being a theme at SPCI was perfect, as it was a gathering of the industry,” says Alf Isaksson of ABB Corporate Research.
As chair of the program committee for Control Systems, he was involved in composing a fascinating program under the heading “Factory of the future”. The focus lay on both the research that is being pursued and on the practical application of new technology. Unsurprisingly, industry leading ABB provided a third of the lectures.
“ABB can very much hold its ground in these contexts. We have the largest installed base of control systems in the pulp and paper industry worldwide, and are at the leading edge of developments,” says Isaksson.
One of the Control Systems lectures concerned ABB's new tool L&W OptiTopo, an instrument that uses an optical method to measure the topography of paper or cardboard, which is an important parameter for good print results. It is aimed at customers in the fastest growing sector in the paper industry, packaging. ABB Product Manager Håkan Österholm explained both the method behind L&W OptiTopo and presented the instrument at the SPCI exhibition.
“The customers we met were from exactly the right segment, so it was a good opportunity to demonstrate the product. It is important that ABB shows its face in these types of contexts and since SPCI, I have received several inquiries about L&W OptiTopo,” says Österholm.