Advanced Fabric’s inaugural AJU Pulp was held in Charleston, SC October 23-26th.  This AJU covered fundamentals of the operational aspects of Pulp forming and pressing, the impact of machine clothing on performance, how to maintain clothing, and how to optimize machine performance.  Although our pulp operations expert Dan Etter has done this for over 20 mills, this was our first multi-mill, multiday event.

The class was attended by 19 students from 12 mills with job titles ranging from Lead Production Operator to Production Manager.

Dan Etter covering forming fundamentals.

Dan Dempsey turns “spinach pulp” into a lesson on pressing….

The week started strong as 12 customers travelled over the weekend to tour the Clinton Press plant on Monday prior to the Training sessions.  We received positive comments on the cleanliness of the plant and the knowledge of the team:

“Clean plant w/great housekeeping/lean principles and friendly workers who seem to care about the product they make”

Beginning Tuesday, our experts kicked off intensive presentations focusing on fabrics and press felt fundamentals, forming roundtables and pressing roundtables.  The balance of building relationships while helping train our customers is what we hoped to achieve.  Those attending found the AJU a value added experience with regard to both building relationships in the industry and learning more about pulp making.  All 19 participants gave it a 5 out 5 on “Would Recommend to Others.”

Check out some of the feedback for yourself:

• “Overall, it was a great experience and I learned a lot. Especially with my limited machine knowledge.
• “Hope to be able to return again & see others again that I've met here”
• “I really appreciate the whole experience & the comradery of all the participants. The suppers & food at lunch were fabulous.  We felt very welcome. Thank you.”
• “Good logistics. You did not wave the flag on AJ a lot and it is in your honor! It makes it feel like the real training it is and not a salesman pitch! I will recommend to my colleagues”
• "Had a great time and learned a lot"

2017 Pulp AJU Class