Below are sections and hyperlinks on my Expertise,
Examples of Consulting Projects,
Creativity, Philosophy, Music, and Mythology can
be found under Other articles .
OVERVIEW OF MY CAREER
Throughout my career I have been interested
in several different but interrelated areas: process development, pilot plant
work, scale-up, theoretical understanding of the relevant relationships, as
well as product development and new product invention. The website describes
the most important of these activities, albeit not always in chronological
order. Aside from these I have been interested in Philosophy, Science, Mythology,
and Music. As indicated above, my articles on those topics can be found elsewhere.
EXPERTISE
- Characterization of tissue properties, like handfeel,
water absorptive capacity, and bulk.
- Characterization of papermaking processes and unit
operations, like TAD, forming, creping, pressing, and their effect on product
properties.
- Furnish optimization: determination of highest
quality product at a given cost, and determination of lowest cost at a given
quality.
- Determination of the effect of product properties
on consumer preference.
- Product improvement and new product development.
- Patent search and assessment.
EXAMPLES OF CONSULTING PROJECTS
- Developed program for client to evaluate various
pattern forming and pressing fabrics in their laboratory; supervised work,
and analyzed results.
- Gave 2-day overview of papermaking practices.
- Performed furnish optimization calculations using
fiber morphological data and recommended optimum furnish composition for
napkin and towel products..
- Prepared an overview and forecast of a major tissue
manufacturer’s technology position.
- Performed patent search and assessment of major
softener (debonder) and TAD patents.
- Analyzed client’s extensive pilot plant data
to quantify benefit of shoe press over conventional wet press technology.
- Carried out pilot plant studies of pattern pressing
fabrics at Georgia Institute of Technology for the client company.
- Prepared proposal for client outlining of possible
methods to upgrade conventional wet press technology partway toward TAD.
- Performed competitive analysis of various toilet
tissues, made by different technologies, and did reverse engineering to
evaluate technology capability via the technology index method. This unique
method measures the ability of a company’s technology to deliver product
quality from a given furnish.
- Wrote primer for client on tissue making fundamentals
and the use of fibers in tissue
PRESENTATIONS
- Gave talk and held seminar at the University of
Minnesota on strength-density relationships.
- Gave talk and held seminar at Georgia Institute
of Technology on the effect of wet end additives (debonders, strength additives)
and refining on product properties.
- Gave talk and held seminar at the University of
Minnesota on furnish optimization.
- Gave talk and conducted workshop on furnish optimization
at TissueWorld 2002 meeting in Miami, FL.
EDUCATION
1954-56 Polytechnic University of Budapest.
1957-1959 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Bachelor Chem. Eng.
1960 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MS Chem. Eng.
EMPLOYMENT
1960-1964, Process Engineer, Procter and Gamble
Co.
1964-1970, Converting Technical Superintendent,
Hudson Pulp and Paper Co.
1970-1997, Senior Research Manager, Scott Paper
Co.
1997-present, Consultant
BRIEF WORK HISTORY
After
having received an MS degree from MIT in 1960, I obtained employment at Procter and Gamble Co., as a Project Engineer, working on pulp
drainage. I developed a novel theory
of pulp drainage which formed the basis
of new headbox design.
In
1964 I moved to Hudson Pulp and Paper Co as Converting Technical Superintendent, in charge of R&D and production support for both tissue
and Kraft products (gum tape, multiwall bags, and
grocery bags).
In
1970 I became Senior Research Manager at Scott Paper Co. As R&D Venture
manager, I headed the R&D effort to develop, demonstrate feasibility, and commercialize Cottonelle
bathroom tissue, then a revolutionary new product that had 2:1 preference
edge over Procter&Gamble’s Charmin. I
was also responsible for all toilet and facial tissue product design, development,
and commercialization activities that included development of the first embossed
toilet tissue, Soft and Pretty, as well as antibacterial and lotionized toilet
tissue. I was also the liaison between R&D and Marketing representing
tissue R&D in focus groups, blind product tests, and in store product
evaluations to support new product development. At various times I was also
the manager of all pilot paper machines and technology transfer functions.
Along with
my managerial activities, I also carried on independent theoretical work on
fundamental tissue properties, the effect of furnish compositions on product
properties, and others, as detailed below. My furnish optimization program
yielded a cost savings of $800,000 for one of Scott Paper Company’s
machines in Chester,
PA.
Since
1997 I have been consulting for various paper and pulp companies, like Irving
Paper, Potlatch Paper, and Weldwood of Canada. I have lectured at universities and have
been the featured speaker at several technical conferences, including the
2002 session of TissueWorld2002. I have also written numerous technical articles,
which are described below.
RECENT WORK
I have developed a tool to determine and
characterize the property-development [Handfeeel, Bulk (specific volume),
and water absorptive capacity] of a tissue machine, pilot plant or competitors'
product using a dimensionless paper machine quality potential number (PMQP).
The best way to explain the concept of PMQP
is by an analogy. In gases we have the concept of "ideal gas". Regular,
everyday gases do not quite behave that way but can be related to it.
In paper the closest we have to ideal gas
is the handsheet made by the TAPPI method. I use it as an absolute reference
point and call it a number 1.0. All paper machine processes, wet
press, TAD, in-between methods, and different executions can be ranked against
this absolute reference. The values, all less than 1.0, quantify the ability
of the process to convert the potential of the furnish
into quality. This way all technologies, processes, sub-processes, and
paper machines can be arranged on a numerical scale whose upper
end is 1.0. The higher the number the higher the "quality potential"
of the technology or the paper machine in question. The number directly translates
to the above-mentioned properties: Handfeeel, Bulk (specific volume), and
water absorptive capacity. A technology or a paper machine with a higher PMQP
number will produce higher quality than one with a lower PMQP. In fact, I
have techniques that allows calculations of the exact amount.
The tool is being used to
1. Benchmark
of a single paper machine periodically. A
single dimensionless paper machine quality potential number (PN) is used for this purpose. This is very important
for reference purposes.
2. Use
daily for quality control instead of other tests. This method
is by far the most accurate way to assure that
quality is within established limits.
3.
Compare paper machines in the circuits making the same grade as
well as producing different
grades.
4. Evaluate
competitors' quality potential by using a similar but different technique.
5. Scale-up
of pilot plants. It is known that
pilot plant quality generally is better than that achievable in production: we
can establish an accurate "scale-up factor". This will not only help develop new processes
but helps assess their potential against existing products.
I offer this tool in two
forms:
A Technical
Manual that describes the above steps in the required detail for $4,000. Or a presentation
that explains the system and also include the manual for a price to be discussed
later.
Please
contact me if you are interested or if you would like more information.
TECHNICAL
PAPERS
The
sections below contain the complete text, abstract, or summary of those papers
written by me that best represent my experience and philosophy about tissue-and-towel-weight
webs. They all have several important and seldom-recognized threads in common.
First, they posit
that paper density is the best indicator of the most important tissue properties:
bulk, water absorptive capacity, and some components of softness (bulk softness
and cushioniness). Second, they assume that these properties, as well as the
performance of Paper Machines, can best be displayed on a strength-density
diagram, which is for paper what the pressure-volume diagram is for gases.
Third, they indicate that the above
properties are additive: the weight average rule applies. However, these are
not only assumptions; the articles also use examples to prove these points.
Please contact me for the complete texts.
Please be aware
that, unless otherwise stated in the text, the term “Bulk” stands
for tissue thickness, and “Bulk/BW” for unit Bulk, referred
to by some companies as “Bulk”, or “Specific Volume”.
- Paper
Machine Characterization includes a detailed treatment of the unit operations
of paper making, forming, pressing, through drying,
creping, and stratification. It contains most of my distilled philosophy.
A snapshot of the ideas in the report may be obtained by looking at the
graph: Unit
Operations .
- Furnish
Optimization and Other Topics
contains, in addition to a
treatment of furnish optimization, such concepts as an "absolute handfeel
scale" and Universal Paper Machine as well. Between them, the two articles
almost complete my philosophically oriented writings on tissue paper. A
considerably simpler version, one I suggest to the impatient, is
Furnish Optimization, Simpler Version To become more familiar with the method and have
a hands-on experience with it, please click on the following link which
contains a downloadable interactive program: Furnish Optimization Interactive Program.
- The article on Stratification
describes my method of dealing with the
topic, as well as gives results for 2-layer stratification (to reduce file
size, it does not contain the data tables). It also demonstrates my technique
for normalizing (bringing to common denominator) most tissue properties.
It aims a bit too high and has too much information.
- The article Strength-Density
Relationships in Handsheets is
based on the same the same principles. It discusses the rationale for selecting
optimum combination of dry strength resins, debonders, refining and wet
pressing. While the work is about handsheets, the conclusions have been
extended into creped sheets as well.
- The article Consumer
vs. Diagnostic Properties describes how to define and when to use
these two important categories which are often confused. The consumer experiences
one type, for understanding the underlying technologies we must use the
other.
A related article to the
above, more slanted toward graphical treatment, uses my favorite Technology
Curves Approach. It describes the best way to determine the property-development
capability of paper machines and technologies. A more precise approach that
also includes necessary corrections for Basis Weight to calculate Breaking
Length and Bulk/BW is described in Technology
Curves with BW correction.
Softness is one of the most
important properties of Tissue and Towel products. My article Tissue
Softness discusses the most important concepts and relationships on this
topic, and also indicates some of the best ways to increase it. A second,
related article Softness
via Components discusses the components
of tissue softness and the best way to measure softness using components.
My most recent article deals with the best way to obtain Handfeel
Standards.
I have also written an article
on Paper Machine Quality Potential (PMQP), which was issued in the first issue
of MEtissue magazine both in English and in Arabic.
I would also like to draw your attention
to an excellent link on embossing: Embossing Technologies was
founded in 1996 by Carl Ingalls, an embossing specialist. The company provides the technical know-how
for embossing, with emphasis on bath tissue, paper towels, napkins, and facial
tissue. Expertise includes manufacturing
issues and product development.
E-mail: paulhoffman@paulhoffman.com
