Ahead of the Curve Archive

Invention, innovation and US jobs

09 Nov 2016 Ben Thorp, Harry Seamans, and Masood Akhtar Biorenewable Deployment Consortium, Madison, WI, USA According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there were 17,619,000 Americans employed in the manufacturing section in January 1998; by January 2010, this figure had declined to 11,462,000 or a loss of 6,157,000 factory jobs in 12 years (Hemphill et al. 2015). This does not count the number of “consequential” jobs that were also lost. This loss of manufacturing jobs has reached the point of creating national concern.

Has monetary policy reached its limit?

02 Nov 2016 By David Katsnelson, Director, Macroeconomics, RISI Since the global financial crisis in 2007, central banks around the world have taken some extraordinary measures to first rescue banking systems and economies from collapse, and later to support growth. Over that time period, global central banks have cut policy rates 667 times and instituted many unconventional policies, including quantitative easing (QE) and negative interest rates.

Publishers walking back on commitment to digital

26 Oct 2016 Some publishers have begun backtracking on their commitments to digital, writes Ellen Duffer in a recent article at Forbes.com. At the Cheltenham Literature Festival (October 7-16 in Cheltenham, England), Penguin General Books managing director Joanna Prior said the company has started looking more critically at its investments in electronic publishing.

Celebrating National Forest Products Week

19 Oct 2016 “Whereas the bounty of our forest and timber lands provides our people with a source of strength and pride; and Whereas as a major renewable resource, supported by the science of modern forestry, wood offers the availability and abundance to satisfy the Nation’s ever growing needs for many products—lumber, paper, building materials, chemicals, furniture, and cloth—all dedicated to improving the lives of our people…”

Classroom Paper Use Increasing, Survey Shows

12 Oct 2016 Though the “digital classroom” may be in the news, a recent report confirms that kids, teachers and parents still love paper. Paper and Productive Learning: The Second Annual Back-to-School Report, commissioned by the Paper and Packaging Board, surveyed 4,300 students, parents and teachers in the United States and shows that not only does paper still have a role in the classroom, but its use and importance is growing.

Event Report: Specialty Papers US

06 Oct 2016 Professionals from large and small specialty papers manufacturing companies, along with industry suppliers and end users, converged in Chicago, IL, September 21-23 for Specialty Papers US 2016. The event was sponsored jointly by Smithers Pira and TAPPI.

Innovation: The Long View

28 Sep 2016 The following is an excerpt from a series of articles in the September/October issue of Paper360° focusing on Research and Development in the pulp and paper industry.

Scientific Work Shows How Corrugated Stops Bacteria

21 Sep 2016 New scientific work explains why corrugated packaging outperforms returnable plastic containers (RPCs) when it comes to micro-biological contamination. As reported by the Corrugated Packaging Alliance, the work was conducted by Professor Rosalba Lanciotti and her research team at the University of Bologna’s Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences and published in Frontiers in Microbiology. It follows a research study published in late June that showed corrugated containers keep fruit and vegetables fresh up to three days longer than RPCs.

SCA will Split into Two Listed Companies in 2017

14 Sep 2016 The new hygiene company will receive a new name and be registered in Stockholm, and the forest products company will keep the name SCA.

‘We believe in potential and performance’

08 Sep 2016 An interview with Suzano’s Walter Schalka, RISI’s 2016 Latin America CEO of the Year