There is a natural tendency in all manufacturing to—over time— produce better quality products. Better manufacturing techniques, higher quality components and competitive pressures contribute to this general upscale creep in quality. This is also evident within the printing and writing paper industry and is best exemplified by supercalendered (SC-A) quality (e.g. brightness, opacity and printability) creeping up on lightweight coated papers (LWC) and LWC competing with coated freesheet. There is no reason to believe that this general trend in paper-grade migration will not continue into the future.  

Specialty Minerals believes the quest for better quality papers will continue to be a major driver for the printing industry. In turn, paper mills will be seeking raw materials with better functionality, enhanced attributes and tighter specifications. With the aid of our state of the art laboratory facilities, we continually investigate new forms of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) with unique characteristics and favorable economics. We actively seek new products that help paper mills to better compete.

Learn more:

• How Specialty Minerals Addresses Papermaker's Concerns
• The Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) Advantage for Uncoated Woodfree (Freesheet) Papers
• The Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) Advantage for Uncoated Paperboard: Bleached Paperboard Filling
• Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) for Brightness
  
• Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) for Printability