Howard Smith Paper Ltd, part of the Office Paper’s Division of the Howard Smith Paper Group, are specialists in consumer retail packs, with an in-house design studio and state of the art production and packing facility. At the Northampton production facility, a wide range of photographic papers for laser and inkjet printers are packed on high speed production lines, ready for their many retail customers.

These photographic papers are sensitive to changes in relative humidity, and, unless the humidity of the air is maintained within fairly close limits, the sheets have a tendency to curl, as one side either expands or contracts slightly, as it takes on, or loses moisture from the air. This curl effect has a dramatic impact on production efficiency; lines have to be run more slowly, with more operator intervention, when these humidity problems persist.

After assessing several potential suppliers, an Eco-Mist humidification system was installed in October 2006 and has been able to achieve close control of relative humidity throughout the winter and intermediate seasons, thereby eliminating the curl problems.  One of the advantages of the Eco-Mist system is the high quality humidity sensor unit; room air is drawn through the unit by a small fan, allowing accurate sensing. For the Howard Smith Paper project, a very tight tolerance limit is being achieved from four EM20 humidifier units.

Howard Smith Paper are now realising increases in efficiency following the installation of the system.