Manual testers typically take measurements at only three positions across the machine. However, most of the severe quality problems are found in the cross direction, which is difficult and resource-intensive to test manually.
Without the ability to capture all irregularities, it can lead to blind spots and inevitably customer complaints.
With detailed CD information, mills can verify online sensors and adjust the cross-machine profile of parameters such as moisture, basis weight, thickness and gloss. Without this holistic view, its challenging to control these parameters and quality suffers.