Pulp and paper manufacturing is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history.
Forces that have long shaped the industry—economic pressure, skilled labor shortages, tightening sustainability expectations, and competitive global markets—are converging with a new wave of digital capability. Together, they’re redefining what a modern mill looks like, how it operates, and what tools it needs to stay competitive.
By 2030, the digital-forward mill will operate very differently from the mill of today. Not because technology replaces people, but because technology elevates them, making work safer, smarter, and more efficient. And while some mills are already taking steps in this direction, the next few years will define who leads, who lags, and who falls behind entirely.
This article explores the key characteristics of the “mill of the future” and the technologies, especially next-generation MES platforms that will play a defining role in that transformation.
A Workforce Transformed: Tools Designed for People, Not the Other Way Around
By 2030, the most dramatic shift won’t be machinery—it will be the workforce. Mills are already facing an unprecedented generational transition. Decades of expertise are retiring, while younger workers enter with very different expectations and skill sets. This combination creates a widening gap between the way work has historically been done and the way it will need to be done going forward.
Today’s new operators expect the tools they use at work to resemble the tools they use everywhere else: intuitive, visual, mobile-friendly, and fast. They expect systems to guide them—not overwhelm them. They expect clarity, not complexity.
This shift will fundamentally influence how mills design technology strategies. The mills that thrive by 2030 will be those that adopt systems built around operators rather than systems that force operators to adapt.
This is where modern MES platforms begin to show their value. Next-generation MES solutions are emerging with intuitive interfaces, role-based hubs, and workflows built from real operator feedback. They are designed to shorten training time, reduce cognitive load, and help new workers become confident contributors quickly. In a labor market where attracting and retaining talent has become a competitive edge in itself, these technologies will have a profound impact.
Deep, Industry-Specific Manufacturing Intelligence and Not Just Horizontal Tools
Another defining characteristic of the 2030 mill will be its reliance on industry-specific digital intelligence, especially for manufacturing execution.
ERP systems will continue to be the backbone for business operations, but mills are learning that large ERP platforms—SAP, Oracle, and others—were never designed to understand the unique nuances of pulp and paper manufacturing.
They excel at order entry, warehousing, and shipping, but the production floor requires something different - a system that understands basis weight, grade transitions, winder logic, sheeting workflows, QA sequences, production delays, and machine behavior in ways a horizontal system simply cannot.
The modern mill will lean heavily on MES platforms specifically engineered for pulp and paper—a small-footprint, operations-centric layer that connects ERP systems to the realities of the production floor. These MES systems will serve as the connective tissue that ensures orders flow correctly, operators receive the right instructions, equipment integrates smoothly, and production is synchronized across departments.
By 2030, this middle layer will no longer be optional—it will be essential.
Cloud-Ready, Flexible Architecture as the Industry Standard
A decade ago, “cloud adoption” was a distant idea for most mills. Many preferred on-premises systems due to reliability concerns, environmental factors, and control.
That is rapidly changing.
The mill of 2030 will be a hybrid environment where key systems—especially MES—run seamlessly either on-premises or in the cloud depending on business needs. The ability to start on-prem and move to cloud later, without reintegration or downtime, will become a baseline expectation.
This flexibility is critical for three reasons:
1. Acquisitions and mill consolidation.
Large producers acquiring smaller mills will need to bring new facilities online quickly—often into existing SAP environments.
2. IT overhead reduction.
Cloud-ready systems reduce maintenance, eliminate the need for terminal servers, and make scaling far easier.
3. Remote access and workforce mobility.
Leadership and technical teams increasingly expect to access data and updates from anywhere.
In the future mill, technology that cannot move between on-prem and cloud environments flexibly will be seen as legacy technology.
A Real-Time Operational Rhythm: From Snapshots to Continuous Awareness
The operating rhythm of the future mill will be defined by real-time insight.
Waiting for next-day reports, batch updates, or manual logging will become relics of the past.
Operators will watch production change moment by moment. Supervisors will track bottlenecks before they escalate. Planners will adjust schedules dynamically. Leaders will monitor KPIs live instead of consolidating data from multiple systems.
This real-time awareness has already begun, but by 2030 it will be the default operating model—and mills without it will be at a competitive disadvantage.
MES will sit at the center of this evolution, bridging information from the ERP, the machines, and the people. It will create a continuous, connected picture of what is happening across the mill—making fast, informed decision-making a normal part of daily work rather than an aspiration.
Embedded Best Practices and Guided Workflows (Instead of Tribal Knowledge)
Skills shortages will continue through 2030, and the mills that thrive will be those that successfully protect their institutional knowledge.
Instead of relying on handwritten notes, shift-to-shift variations, or word-of-mouth training, MES systems will embed best practices directly into workflows.
A grade change won’t depend on who is on shift—settings will load automatically. A quality deviation won’t require detective work—alerts will surface immediately. A new operator won’t need to memorize dozens of steps—the system will guide them.
This democratization of expertise will improve consistency, reduce rework, and make the entire operation more resilient to workforce turnover.
Modern Integration That Removes Barriers, Not Creates Them
Perhaps the most underappreciated change in the 2030 mill will be the evolution of integration itself.
Historically, connecting ERP systems to mill-floor systems has been painful—especially with SAP S/4HANA transitions now accelerating.
Modern MES platforms will use lightweight web services, OData, RESTful APIs, and event-driven architectures, allowing mills to integrate quickly and reliably without costly custom development.
That means:
- Faster projects
- Lower risk
- Better long-term maintainability
- Easier onboarding of acquired mills
This will fundamentally change how mills think about digital transformation. Integration will no longer be a roadblock; it will be an enabler.
A Foundation for the Next Era of Pulp & Paper
The mill of 2030 will not be defined by any single technology, device, or system. It will be defined by the interplay between workforce, equipment, data, and processes.
MES will play a pivotal role—not as the star, but as the silent infrastructure that keeps everything synchronized. It will guide operators, connect machines, bridge ERP systems, support compliance, and provide the real-time intelligence needed for future competitiveness.
The mills that begin building these capabilities today will be the mills leading the industry by the end of the decade.
MAJIQ is a global leader in enterprise software and services dedicated to the pulp and paper industry for over 30 years. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, with offices in Sydney, Australia, and Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada. MAJIQ provides real support for our customers with dedicated account managers and included upgrades to make sure your enterprise is poised to compete every day.
*Source: The article was originally published by Paperitalo
