pulp and paper firm sappi has opened a new paper lab at its alfeld mill in germany, expanding its competence centre for speciality papers.replacing the earlier used test line in the climate lab, the new lab follows about &euro61m investment in the reconstruction of the pm 2 paper machine that was launched in 2014.the company will use the new lab to test the important quality parameters of paper production from all five paper machines in alfeld.following each check on a jumbo roll or drum, the related production batch will be allocated a certificate indicating the highest quality in speciality paper and carton board. it will test more than 30,000 jumbo rolls or drums a year.sappi quality control manager kristof mertens said "this paper lab will enable us to take our consistently high quality paper product to an entirely new level."we will also be using the paper lab to conduct field quality testing with the latest in technological capabilities."there is no other mill in the world that has implemented this level of quality control in the manufacturing of speciality paper and boards."the new paper lab will evaluate drums across a number of criteria, including fibre orientation, formation, air permeability according to bendtsen, burst pressure, shine according to tappi 75° topscreen side, lengthwisecrosswise tearing, lengthwisecrosswise breaking load, thickness, weight and smoothness according to bekk.sappi provides dissolving wood pulp, paper pulp and paperbased solutions to its direct and indirect customer base in over 100 countries. the company annually produces about 5.7 million tons of paper, 2.4 million tons of paper pulp and 1.3 million tons of dissolving wood pulp. 
