The digital dividend.

One of the great things about paper--and something that should help guarantee its future as an industrial and commercial material--is its ability to constantly change forms. We're accustomed to thinking of paper as an old material, but it can literally be manipulated into an endless assortment of shapes, sizes, and forms. Over the years, paper has been used to make dresses, houses, and even railcar wheels.

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This is a property that will come in handy as the paper industry prepares to take on the new, rapidly evolving digital world. The digital revolution has been characterized as a threat to paper and it is. Computers have a nearly infinite ability to store and transmit information and have already begun to replace paper in many applications. Yet, as we have seen, the digital revolution has also created new opportunities for paper. Early on, computers gave a major boost to such paper-based applications as bulky computer manuals. Now, as those manuals have moved online, other applications are emerging.

For example, Standard Register has introduced a fascinating paper and computer hybrid for use by pharmaceutical salespeople. The "Digital Information Solution" (not exactly the most exciting name ever!) is described as a suite of intelligent, integrated solutions including a digital pen and paper technology. The digital pen and paper captures information on the drug sample receipt as it is written, converts the handwriting to digital data, and can automatically send the information into customer relations management (CRM), inventory management and other systems. This new technology also can authenticate the physician's signature and create a fully indexed image of the document, which can be retained in a digital repository, and then retrieved and used.

Likewise, paper companies are continually reformulating their products to meet the needs of new digital printing technologies. For example, International Paper won the 2004 Graphic Arts Technical Foundation InterTech Award for one of its new papers--Hammermill[R] Color Copy Gloss. According to IP, the new grade gives commercial printers a reliable platform for digital printing and photocopying on glossy stock that performs liked a premium uncoated paper in electrophotographic equipment. The paper design eliminates problems with runnability, image quality and blistering seen in other gloss sheets, according to the company.

Likewise, Appleton of Appleton, Wisconsin has developed several innovative products that merge paper with high technology. For example, the company has a long-term license agreement with Scitex Vision Ltd. that allows Appleton to use Scitex Vision's proprietary coating technology to produce a "digital linerboard" product for the packaging industry. Appleton applies Scitex Vision's coating to linerboard substrates to create a printing surface that enhances the quality of inkjet printing when used with new inkjet presses.

These are the kinds of new products that the paper industry must continually develop to replace its aging line of traditional products. Paper and paperboard will always--or at least for a long time--have the advantage of being more "real" than anything in the digital world. Anyone who has lost a computer file can understand the value of something you can literally hold in your hands.

At the same time as it adapts to the new digital reality, the paper industry must also protect its traditional base by aggressively marketing the value that paper adds to many aspects of our lives. Sappi, for example, should be commended for its well-targeted "Life with Print" advertising and marketing campaign. The ads highlight the powerful attributes of paper by focusing on applications such as magazines, advertisements, inserts, and direct mail. The campaign asks, "How can something that does not move be so moving? How can something that makes no sound say so much? That's the power of print. Paper and ink creating life. Or recreating it. But with no rules." That's a message that should be sent more than once.

The major markets for paper will be continually under attack by powerful economic forces--we cannot assume that any of our markets will "always" be there. By creatively researching these new forces and adapting to the multitude of new technologies they create, however, paper companies can and should be able to continually breath new life into this ancient material we call paper.

Note: Keep in mind that you can't create new grades--or even old grades--with equipment that doesn't run well. Look into attending the 18th Annual Pulp & Paper Reliability and Maintenance Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, October 18-22, 2004. For more information, go to: www.paperindustrymaintenance.com.

ALAN ROOKS 

Editorial Director

Contact Alan at [phone], or by e-mail at: [e-mail]