Paper has been contributing to the development of our society as an important component of our daily activities. However, during the last decades printing paper has been facing a major challenge to maintain its position as an effective communication and information medium. This is mainly due to the rapid development of new technologies such as Internet or electronic paper solutions, which are gaining increased acceptance as an adequate medium for advertising and communication.

In order to face the new challenges, printing paper needs to achieve new levels of efficiency during production, finishing and printing. This includes e.g. an effective handling of raw materials, reduction of energy requirements during production, and application of adequate finishing steps to improve the bulk and surface properties. All of these steps may have a major impact on the final quality of paper. It is thus necessary to have adequate methods for testing relevant paper and print properties.

Desktop scanners have been evolving considerably during the last decades. Scanners are relatively cheap and provide a stable reproduction of greylevels and colour. Scanners offer thus an effective way to assess paper and print quality at low cost and locally at paper mill laboratories. However, efficient use of scanners requires adequate computerized image analysis methods to extract relevant measurements of a given paper or print sample. Paper and print quality parameters such as wiremarks, optical formation, dirt specks, fibre orientation, picking, missing dots and whiskering can be assessed based on greylevel images acquired with desktop scanners. PFI has developed a series of methods for assessing the mentioned parameters. Such methods are developed in tight cooperation with our customers and have been installed in several paper mills worldwide. This secures rapid assessment of a given paper or print quality property and an effective follow-up of paper production.

Contact: Olav Solheim