A paper machine is a fast, complex piece of equipment that spans the length of a football field. Costing more than $500 million, it's worth more than a jumbo jet. It takes a high degree of expertise to ensure that such a high-tech machine runs at peak performance. That's where engineering technologists like Don Dell make their presence felt.


Don works for DuBois Paper Technologies in Oshawa, Ontario, a chemical supplier to paper mills. The job is not purely technical. It involves interpersonal skills and the need to work closely with others, including chemical engineers, production people, and other papermakers. His role? Help the paper mill to produce a paper grade with the best possible paper chemistry.

That is no small feat. The papermaking process is complex and involves many steps: from taking trees and pulping them into a soup-like broth, to reformulating the wet mixture into thin sheets of paper, to ironing and drying the rolls of paper.

The fastest paper machines run at close to 1,800 metres per minute, a little over 100 miles per hour. And machine speeds are expected to increase 20 percent by the year 2015 to 2,200 metres per minute. Machine speed is not the only factor. For both environmental and business reasons, mills are increasing the amount of recycled content they use, seeing it as a viable source of fibre. This strategy, however, brings about other technical challenges.

Higher speeds and increasing recycled content demands increased attention to paper chemistry. For a paper technologist, the trick is finding the right balance of chemicals while not blowing the budget.

Don's college training has proved beneficial. Courses like Industrial Processes and Principles of Chemistry and Paper Testing, are a core part of the curriculum. At work, he uses computer-based technologies like distributed control systems (DCS) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to maintain the paper's tricky chemical balance. Accordingly, the job's chief aim is keeping track of data and fine-tuning the balance of chemicals suitable for a particular paper grade. "Many mills use us as process engineers and trouble shooters," he says, "to solve small problems on the paper machine and, therefore, maximize efficiency."

Entry-level graduates earn about $40,000 per year. After five years, a paper technologist with sales experience can earn $60,000. With 10 years of experience, some technologists have become mill managers, a job that pays between $70,000 and $100,000.

Don, a graduate of Sault College's three-year Pulp and Paper Technology program, believes that his technical diploma was an excellent entry to the workday world. "They prepared us well (with) a fundamental knowledge of the entire papermaking process," he says.