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Production Management Software for Small Paper Mills and Converting Operations

Under 20 tonnes per day, your biggest advantage is speed and flexibility. Deckle Plus gives small converting operations the same optimization capability as a large mill's planning team, with a 48-hour setup that needs no IT support.

$99
Starting at /month
48 hrs
Go-live timeline
No IT
Team required

Why Small Converters Struggle to Compete on Waste

A small converting operation with one machine and one experienced planner faces a fundamental challenge: all of the production intelligence lives in one person's head. When that person is unavailable, efficiency drops measurably. When they leave, years of accumulated knowledge leaves with them. Deckle Plus moves the intelligence into a system, so it stays with the business.

  • Planning is experience-dependent; the best deckle pattern is whoever's knowledge, not a calculated optimum
  • Waste tracking is done at month-end from rough notes, making it impossible to correlate waste spikes with specific orders or shifts
  • Customer delivery challans are typed in Word or Excel after the shift, taking 20–30 minutes per dispatch
  • There is no traceability between a customer complaint about roll width and the production run that made the roll
  • Small operations cannot afford a dedicated production manager, but they still need the functions one would perform: order tracking, waste logging, run history, and challan generation
From the Field

Label Stock Converter: One Planner, One Machine, Full Control

A label face-stock converter ran a single 1400mm slitter producing coated paper rolls for packaging label customers. The operation employed eight people; the owner doubled as the production planner, and four operators ran the slitter in two shifts.

The owner was effective as a planner; 15 years in the paper industry gave him good intuition for deckle matching. But the business was growing and the owner was spending 2–3 hours per day on planning and paperwork instead of sales and customer relationships. Width-matching accuracy depended on his being present; on days he was away, operators made their own width decisions with predictably worse waste outcomes.

After deploying Deckle Plus Basic, the owner configured the slitter in 30 minutes during the onboarding call. Customer orders were entered in the order management screen. The optimizer ran in seconds and suggested patterns consistently better than the owner's manual estimates. Within two weeks, one of the senior operators was trained to run the optimization independently. The owner moved his time to sales. The slitter's waste rate went down, and productivity went up because the planning was no longer dependent on the owner being physically present.

Result

Planning time reduced from 2–3 hours per day to 20 minutes. Trim waste fell from 2.6% to 0.5%. The owner reclaimed 2 hours daily for customer development.

What Deckle Plus Provides for Small Converters

Setup in 48 Hours

Deckle Plus goes live in a 2-day onboarding process. Day 1: configure your machine and paper types. Day 2: enter your first orders, run the optimizer, execute your first managed production run. No on-site installation, no IT team, no hardware.

Single-Machine Optimization

The Basic plan is built for single-machine operations. Configure your slitter or winder with its deckle width and blade count, and the optimizer produces optimal patterns immediately, even for a new operator who has never done manual deckle calculations.

Automatic Challan Generation

On run close, Deckle Plus generates a delivery challan PDF instantly. No more typing in Word after the shift. Challans include customer name, order details, roll widths, quantity, GSM, and run reference.

Waste Trend Visibility

Weekly waste trend reports show you whether this week's waste was better or worse than last week's, and which orders drove the difference. This is the management insight small converters never had before a dedicated system.

Cloud-Based, Browser-Only

Deckle Plus runs in any modern web browser. There is nothing to install: no server, no software download, no IT support contract. A laptop or tablet and an internet connection are all you need to run the platform.

FAQ

Common Questions: Small Operations (<20 t/day)

Specific questions about how Deckle Plus handles this use case.

1Is Deckle Plus affordable for a small paper converter running under 10 tonnes per day?

Yes. The Starter plan supports a single machine and is priced for small converting operations. For a converter saving even 1% of trim waste on 10 t/day at $700/tonne, the monthly saving exceeds $2,000, well above the software cost. Most small converters recover the monthly fee within the first production week.

2Can a small converter with no IT team set up and run Deckle Plus independently?

Yes. Deckle Plus is a cloud SaaS platform; there is nothing to install, configure on a server, or maintain technically. The onboarding call (2 hours) covers machine configuration, paper type setup, and the first order entry and optimization. After the call, any literate person who uses a smartphone can operate the platform. Technical support is available via email and WhatsApp for the first 30 days at no extra charge.

3Our small operation uses a single planner who also works as production supervisor. Can one person manage Deckle Plus?

Yes. The Basic plan is specifically designed for this scenario. One user account can perform all planner and supervisor functions: entering orders, running optimization, executing runs on the floor screen, logging waste, closing runs, and generating challans. You can also add an operator-level account at no additional charge so the floor operator can update run progress independently while you focus on planning.

4What happens to our data if we stop using Deckle Plus?

All your data (machines, paper types, customers, orders, production runs, waste logs, and challans) is stored in the cloud and accessible through your account. If you choose not to renew, your account remains accessible in read-only mode for 90 days, during which you can export your complete data history. We do not delete production data immediately on cancellation.

5Does Deckle Plus work on a tablet or mobile device used on the production floor?

Yes. The floor execution screen in Deckle Plus is optimized for tablet use. Operators can log waste events, update pattern progress, and close runs from a tablet mounted near the slitter without needing a desktop computer on the floor. A 10-inch Android or iOS tablet with a 4G connection is sufficient for all floor-side functions.

Ready to see this in your operation?

Book a 20-minute call. We'll confirm Deckle Plus fits your specific workflow and show you a live optimization on your order data before you invest any further time.