celebrating ABB’s Quality Control SystemS, built on generations of expertise.
If there has been one constant in the evolution of the pulp and paper industry over the past 75 years, it has been the impact of ABB’s Quality Control System (QCS).
It continues to support paper mills around the world as they adapt to meet ever-changing demands, helping them to improve product quality, data visibility and process control.
Its legacy of innovation, built by generations of engineers, designers, researchers, analysts and operators has added significant value to paper mills globally today, and laid the foundation for a future with greater autonomy, efficiency and sustainability.
Its next evolution is primed to continue that transformational industry impact.
The future of QCS, 75 years in the making
As we follow how the industry is developing, we believe the future of QCS will be centered around creating mill-wide autonomous ecosystems, end-to-end global optimization, software-led performance improvements, and sustainability integration. Over the next decade, QCS is expected to evolve from a measurement and control solution into a fully integrated intelligence platform enabling advancements in key processes:
Automation and smart operators
Automation and smart operators
Quality Control Systems enable operators to move beyond manual control and focus on supervising intelligent, adaptive systems. QCS acts as a digital expert alongside the operator, providing real-time insights, guidance, and contextual data to support better, faster decisions.
Shift from hardware to software
While hardware innovation remains essential, the future of QCS is increasingly defined by software driven intelligence. Advanced algorithms and analytics turn measurement data into actionable insight, allowing mills to run closer to their true process optimum. The result is greater stability, improved repeatability and more predictable quality across changing conditions.
AI-driven processes
The future of QCS lies in moving beyond fixed recipes toward adaptive, AI driven optimization. By combining advanced analytics with real time data, QCS dynamically responds to changing process conditions, optimizing raw materials and energy use while predicting performance and enabling more stable, autonomous operations.
Process optimization
The next evolution of QCS moves beyond machine level control to enable whole mill optimization. By combining data across multiple machines and processes, future QCS solutions can identify global optimization opportunities and automatically adjust process parameters to achieve the best balance of quality, cost, and efficiency.
Sustainability and carbon tracking
QCS plays a key role in sustainability by reducing waste, energy use and process variability. When integrated with enterprise level energy and carbon management solutions, QCS data can contribute to product level carbon tracking and help manufacturers optimize production based on environmental performance targets.
4 generations, 1 QCS evolution
The evolution of QCS can be told across four generations of ABB expertise, each building on the technological leaps and successes of the ones that came before it.
The pioneers of real-time measurement
QCS began by solving a fundamental problem in papermaking: quality could only be assessed after production through laboratory testing. Early systems introduced continuous online measurement, allowing properties such as basis weight to be monitored directly on the machine while the paper was being produced. This gave operators immediate visibility and allowed problems to be corrected during production rather than after the paper had been made.
The control engineers of quality monitoring
The next stage expanded QCS beyond a single measurement into comprehensive quality monitoring. New sensors were added to measure multiple paper properties—such as moisture, thickness, ash, and optical characteristics. The data collected by these sensors that moved across the sheet enabled mills to monitor quality across the full width of the machine and better understand variability in the process.
The optimizers of process control
QCS evolved from measurement into active process control, with real‑time quality data fed into control algorithms that automatically adjusted machine settings. This closed‑loop control reduced variability, stabilized production, and enabled a higher level of optimization across the manufacturing process.
The future shapers of intelligent automation
Tomorrow’s QCS will build on decades of measurement, control and process expertise to evolve into a software‑led digital optimization platform. Powered by advanced analytics, process models, and AI, QCS will connect data across machines and processes to help mills continuously balance quality, cost, energy use, and sustainability, while supporting a steady transition toward more autonomous operations.
Celebrating the people, continuing the legacy
None of the triumphs of the past (or the future) could have been made possible without a dedicated team of professionals whose ingenuity, expertise and tireless efforts over decades have contributed to QCS’ success.
On this 75th anniversary, we celebrate and thank both our present and past team members, and the customers we serve for their continued trust, collaboration and partnerships to take the pulp, paper and fiber industry forward.