The Need For CD Mapping Standards To Enhance Sustainability, Agility And Profitability

摘要

The importance of CD (cross direction) mapping is increasing in the Paper Industry due to the trend towards narrower actuator widths, especially dilution actuators that may require non-linear maps to accurately control the profile. Unfortunately, mapping is often treated as an art with practitioners "playing ' with the map until they like it, basing their results on a dearth of data and failing to adequately document the map or analyze its effectiveness. The industry has no standards for documenting and communicating maps, conducting and analyzing bump results, graphically displaying mapping results and creating indices for measuring the effectiveness of the map. These weaknesses impair sustainability and agility resulting in higher costs to maintain the CD controls, poorer performance and lower profitability. This paper points out the weakness in industry practices, suggests solutions to standardize mapping practices and proposes indices for measuring mapping effectiveness that will enhance profitability. The author recommends that TAPPI Process Control publish standards for mapping and related performance indices.