From AI Curiosity to Practical Execution in Corrugated BY ALEKS ZLATIC
Board Converting NEWS INTERNET DIRECTORY
Corrugated Week 2026, jointly hosted by TAPPI and AICC in Fort Worth, brought together the people, equipment and ideas shaping the next generation of corrugated man- ufacturing. AI, as expected, was a central theme and great to see that there were two AI breakout sessions for this important topic affecting members. One conclusion came through clearly: our industry is moving beyond curiosity about arti- ficial intelligence and toward practical execution.
THE HAIRE GROUP www.hairegroup.com
Haire Group is the premier provider of new machinery for the corrugated industry. From the Apstar line of flexo folder gluers and rotary die cutters, the Encore line of flexo folder gluers and rotary die cutters, and the Engico flexo folder glu- er, Haire is able to pair clients with the best machinery solu- tions for the best value to meet their needs. Haire Group’s service department helps its customers maximize uptime and profitability through superior 24/7 service and support, a pre-install training center, and over a million dollars’ worth of spare parts at their offices just outside of Chicago. Haire Group has been the industry’s #1 pre-owned machinery bro- ker and plant equipment appraiser since 1976. HarperLove is the leading provider of specialty adhesives, performance additives, and wet-strength resins to corru- gated packaging manufacturers. With the largest and most experienced field service and technical support team posi- tioned throughout the U.S. and Latin America, HarperLove has a long-standing reputation for providing outstanding service and delivering demonstrable performance improve- ments. HarperLove’s renowned services include not only innovative product development and custom product for- mulation, but also machine and process assessments, ad- hesive formula adjustments, machine tuning, detailed ser- vice reporting, and more. HARPERLOVE www.HarperLove.com Kernic Systems has been a leading global provider of re- cycling equipment solutions since 1978. For over 40 years, Kernic Systems has provided balers, air conveying and dust collection systems, shredders, industrial vacuums, and re- cycling equipment to a wide range of markets. Today, Ker- nic Systems serves customers with an expanded offering of standard products and custom-engineered systems through three primary business divisions: Recycling Solu- tions, Dust Collection and Air Pollution Control, and Material Handling. Kiwiplan provides state-of-the-art software solutions to cor- rugated, folding carton, plastics and flexible packaging fa- cilities around the globe. Kiwiplan’s Total Solution delivers comprehensive, seamless real-time flow of information from sales order management to dynamic total plant scheduling and inventory control through shipping. With deep manu- facturing and distribution expertise, Kiwiplan knows the specific problems customers face and provides the spe- cialized software they need to adapt, compete, and win in today's rapidly changing world. KERNIC SYSTEMS www.kernicsystems.com KIWIPLAN www.kiwiplan.com
The two discussions approached the opportunity from different directions. Tuesday’s session, AI Extracting and Leveraging Practical Solutions, examined business applications that converters can put to work now. I had the pleasure of moderating that conversation with Jason Hooston of Two10 Technologies, Jason Alvarez of Break the Uncertainty, Chris Blizzard of Acme Corrugated, Tom Trinchi of Jamestown Container and Philip Webb of Pa- kked. Wednesday’s Practical Applications for AI on the Plant Floor moved deeper into machine intelligence, pre- dictive maintenance and the operating knowledge held by experienced plant personnel. Taken together, the sessions offered a useful roadmap: start with a real operational problem, apply AI to a manage- able body of trusted information, keep people involved in the decision, measure the result and then expand what works. Practical Value Is Already Being Created The first panel made AI tangible through applications already improving daily work. Tom described an internal agent that searches decades of IT files, historical help-desk tickets and 350 ERP knowledge-base articles through nat- ural-language questions. Instead of relying on one person to remember where an answer lives, employees can reach the organization’s accumulated knowledge in seconds. Chris shared an equally practical example from ship- ping. A manager used ChatGPT to analyze a daily report CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 Aleks Zlatic, right, moderated a discussion about AI during Corrugated Week 2026. The panelists were, from left, Philip Webb, Pakked; Jason Alvarez, Break the Uncertainty; James Trinchi, Jamestown Container; Chris Blizzard, Acme Corrugat- ed; and Jason Hooston, Two10 Technologies.
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