type
concept
created
Tue Apr 07 2026 02:00:00 GMT+0200 (Central European Summer Time)
updated
Tue Apr 07 2026 02:00:00 GMT+0200 (Central European Summer Time)
sources
raw/notes/varsovia-meeting
tags
paper-industry side-trims jumbo-rolls byproduct distribution mills

Side-Trims and Jumbo Rolls

abstract
In the paper industry, jumbo rolls are the primary product and side-trims are byproducts; mills deliberately ship them to different geographic markets to avoid cannibalizing their own sales -- a behavior that drives the need for dual visibility settings on B2BPaper.

What They Are

Jumbo Rolls

Jumbo rolls are the primary output of a paper mill. These are large-diameter rolls of paper at full machine width, produced to spec for contracted buyers. They represent the mill's core revenue stream and are typically sold into specific regional markets through established distribution channels.

Side-Trims

Side-trims are the narrow strips cut from the edges of jumbo rolls during the slitting process to bring the paper to the customer's specified width. They are byproducts -- not defective, just not the target width. Side-trims are cut into smaller reels and represent sellable surplus.

The Market Separation Problem

The key insight from the Varsovia meeting: a mill that sells jumbo rolls in South America deliberately ships its side-trims to the Philippines. This is intentional market separation -- the mill does not want its byproduct competing with (or undercutting) its primary product in the same geographic market.

This behavior is universal in the industry. Mills care more about geographic visibility control than about price. If a side-trim lot ends up in the same market as the mill's jumbo rolls, it creates channel conflict: the mill's own surplus undercuts the price of its own contracted sales.

Implications for B2BPaper

Dual Visibility Settings

The platform needs two separate visibility controls per mill:

  1. Production lot visibility -- which countries/regions can see primary production surplus
  2. Side-trim visibility -- which countries/regions can see side-trim inventory (often completely different markets)

These are not just different default settings; they may be configured per item. See wiki/concepts/dual-visibility-settings for the full design.

Trader Opacity Risk

A real example from the meeting: a Chinese trader buys from a mill, tells the mill the paper is going to Morocco, but actually ships to Venezuela. The mill unknowingly competes with its own clients in another market. B2BPaper's visibility controls must be enforced at the platform level, not left to trader honesty.

Container Filling with Mixed Widths

Side-trims come in various widths. When a container is not full, the mill may fill it with nearby widths (e.g., buyer needs 165mm, mill adds 155mm + 175mm side-trims to complete the container). Whether a buyer can accept a particular width depends on their machine specifications. This connects to the container fill optimization system built in Phase 6.

How the MVP Handles This

Phase 4 (Geographic Visibility) implemented the visibility rule system:

The dual visibility concept (separate settings for production lots vs. side-trims) was identified in the meeting but may require refinement beyond the MVP's single rule model.

Sources

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