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A Proudly Canadian Corporation  Serving the pulp, paper, and board industry for three generations     

A Brief History

Pulmac Inc was incorporated in 2003 and, in 2012, became a founding shareholder in Pulmac Systems International Inc of Williston, Vermont. Pulmac Inc was responsible for all manufacturing and service until it formally broke with Pulmac Systems in May, 2015. Changing its name to QS Fibre Inc in 2016, the Montreal-based company  offers the  AutoScan for on or off-line determination of fibre, shive, and fines size distributions as well as competitive products and services for :

  • Pulmac MasterScreen, Z-Span Tester, Automated Sheet Former, Beater, and Dewatering Device.
  • Provisioning of testing services, in-mill service support, and mill studies

QS Fibre is owned and  operated by Brent Cowan, son of Wavell Cowan and grandson of inventor, industrialist and Pulmac patriarch, Eli Cowan.

W. Brent Cowan, CD MSc

President

QS Fibre : Committed to integrity

Atholville NB Pulp MillAtholville NB Pulp Mill

QS Fibre Saves Mondi Steti Tens of Thousands of Dollars

Posted 18/9/2017

Zero-Span fibre quality indicators, especially the FS and  L numbers which are key indices of average fibre strength and length, are vital to the Mondi pulp operations at their Steti, mill in the Czech Republic.  The Steti mill first acquired its Zero-Span capability in 2002 and its experience since has led it to place an increasing value on the FS and L data it collects - so much so that in 2012 it invested in a second Zero-Span tester to provide back-up which QS Fibre built, shipped, and supervised installation. 

But between August 2016 and September 2017 the mill's zero-span back-up capability was lost to them. After fifteen years of reliable operation, its original zero-span tester was generating what were clearly inaccurate readings. Two technicians dispatched by Pulmac Systems both failed to identify and correct the problem. Instead, Pulmac Systems offered to restore Mondi`s back-up with an expensive complete overhaul.

Then the game changed when QS Fibre was released from its non-compete obligation to Pulmac Systems and was able to again provide and support zero-span technology. QS Fibre re-introduced itself to Mondi management and they quickly recognized an opportunity to explore a third way. The underlying problem was easily identified remotely by QS Fibre and the solution was to replace a single component. Mondi Steti ordered the part and installed it themselves with the help of some simple instructions provided by QS Fibre. The underlying problem was now corrected. But now Mondi Steti wanted an assurance that the tester was in proper calibration and, if possible, to have it calibrated to reproduce the numbers generated by their newer zero-span tester. For that, QS Fibre had to dispatch a technician on-site. The calibration objective was achieved with both hardwood and softwood reference pulps.  According to mill management, the total cost to Mondi Steti to have this important back-up capability restored by QS Fibre was a fraction of the cost of the overhaul offered by Pulmac Systems. 

And that is just one way that QS Fibre strives to help its customers make pulp, paper, and board, ...BETTER!