Artificial Intelligence in the Pulp and Paper Industry : Current State and Future Trends

Abstract: The advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have received large attention in recent years and increased awareness has led to massive societal benefits and new opportunities for industries able to capitalize on these emerging technologies. The pulp and paper industry is going through one of the most considerable transformations into Industry 4.0. Integrating AI technology in the manufacturing process of the pulp and paper industry has shown great potential, but there are uncertainties which direction companies are heading. This study is an investigation of the pulp and paper industry in collaboration with IBM that aims to fill a gap between academia and the progress companies are making. More specifically, this thesis is a multiple case study of the current state and barriers of AI technology in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, the future trends and expectations of AI and the way organizations are managing AI initiatives Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 participants from three perspectives and the data was thematically coded. Our analysis shows that the use of AI varies, and companies are primarily experimenting with a still immature technology. Several trends and areas with future potential were identified and it was shown that digital innovation management is highly regarded. We conclude that there are several barriers hindering further use of AI. However, continued progress with AI will provide large benefit long term in areas such as predictive maintenance and process optimization. Several measures taken to support initiatives with AI were identified and discussed. We encourage managers to take appropriate actions in the continued work toward AI integration and encourage further research in the area of potential reworks in R&D.