29/07/2026
When was the last time your mill independently (!) measured how the press felts were performing?
Not a supplier report. Your own data, from your own team. Chances are, it has been a long time. If ever.
I know, this is how the industry has worked. Suppliers deliver the felt, suppliers evaluate the felt. But there's an inherent tension in that arrangement that doesn't serve the mill.
Felt suppliers are knowledgeable and valuable partners. Most of them genuinely want to improve. But they also must make a living, sell you felts. And when the mill is satisfied, the supplier can sell.
If you want to keep everything as it is, you're going to get what you got. The papermaker sets the ambition level for the supplier.
If you want to keep everything as it is, your supplier will give you service reports that emphasize what's stable. However, if you raise the bar and challenge your suppliers to improve, things will start moving forward.
But how to get and keep this positive, improvement-minded spirit, without risking today's machine performance?
That is where the Feltest Method comes in. In short:
1. The mill collects daily felt data and makes press felt baselines.
2. Based on the baselines, the mill sets measurable development targets for its suppliers.
3. The suppliers gradually change their felts to meet your targets. Small steps, low risk, but steadily moving forward.
It all starts with the mill measuring 2 or 3 felt-datapoints per day, for which Feltest can supply you the instruments. Because independent measurement isn't a nice-to-have. It's what professional felt management looks like.
It's what brings your mill forward.
