Lake States TAPPI and PIMA joint Fall Meeting and Trade Show October 23, 2002.

"THE FUTURE OF PAPERMAKING--CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO"

Over 230 people attended the Lake States Fall Meeting and Trade Show held at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. The program included three technical sessions (nine separate presentations), two papermakers round tables, and a trade show with 27 sponsoring companies. National TAPPI and PIMA took the opportunity to hold some of their semi-annual meetings concurrently with this local section meeting. Lunch was held within the trade fair area so people could eat and visit the displays.

Keynote speaker Robert "Bob" B. Kinstrey, director, process technology, Jacobs Engineering, discussed "The Future of Papermaking." He began by reviewing the current challenges facing our industry. He compared the situation to what the steel industry went through years age. He commented that spending by U.S. papermakers has fallen below maintenance levels, while European papermakers get better returns on their capital expenditures. Kinstrey's idea of what is needed is less labor per ton and smaller, less expensive buildings housing paper machines. The new machines must use less energy, have efficiencies over 90%, and have shorter life spans so as to be able to adapt faster to changing technologies.

The next Lake States meeting is February 20, 2003 at the Liberty Hall Conference Center, Kimberly, Wisconsin. The topic will be "Screening/Cleaning/Deinking/Recycle."

The Lake States section would like to thank all of the companies exhibiting at the trade fair and offer a special thanks to Western Polymer Corporation for providing the evening snack at the trade fair. For information about Lake States TAPPI visit our web site (www.lakestates.org).