Sales and field reps
Customer history, quotes sent, samples and visit notes, on WhatsApp between one appointment and the next. A request for a new box dictated in the car becomes an email for the technical department and an activity in the CRM.
How can I use WhatsApp for my work at a paper mill or packaging converter?
At paper mills and converters WhatsApp is already used by customers, reps, pulp and recovered paper suppliers, hauliers and shift leaders. Ugo turns it into a work tool: you type or send a voice note, and it finds spec sheets and certificates, drafts emails to customers, updates the CRM, keeps the diary of audits and collections and reports faults to maintenance. It asks you to confirm before every action.
At a paper mill or a box plant questions come from every direction, and almost always on WhatsApp. The converter wants the sheet for the 300 g board, the food customer asks for the food contact certificate, the rep sends the dimensions of the new box, the recovered paper supplier says the load is delayed, the shift leader sends a photo of a web break on the paper machine. The answers are somewhere else: in the technical department’s folders, in the ERP, in emails, in quality’s spreadsheets.
Ugo is a contact on WhatsApp connected to the tools the company already uses: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, email, contacts, folders on Drive or OneDrive, a CRM such as Odoo or HubSpot, monday.com for maintenance and projects. Everyone uses it from their own phone, with their own accounts: sales for customers and quotes, the technical department for specs, maintenance for jobs, purchasing for suppliers. With Automations on the company’s WhatsApp Business, Ugo also replies to customers, asks for whatever is missing and alerts the right person.
Ugo doesn’t plan production and doesn’t replace the ERP, the MES or the paper machine control system, and it doesn’t sign certificates on behalf of quality. It finds, summarises, prepares and reminds. Every email, message or document goes out only after your “Confirm”.
Who uses it in the company
Who uses WhatsApp with Ugo at paper mills and converters
Every department has its own questions. Ugo answers each one with their own tools.
Technical department
Grammages, calipers, strength values, ECT and BCT, cutting tools and drawings: Ugo finds the right sheet or spec and sends it to the customer once you give the OK, or fills in the technical quote template.
Production and maintenance
The shift leader sends a voice note about a web break or the corrugator stopping and Ugo opens the item on the maintenance board. The engineer finds the slitter or folder-gluer manual on their phone.
Pulp and recovered paper purchasing
Offers from pulp and recovered paper suppliers summarised, emails about loads found, origin certificates searched for in the right folders. So you know straight away what the supplier has said.
Reel and pallet logistics
Collection slots in the diary, hauliers’ requests, routes to customers with live traffic and Street View of the goods-in entrance.
Quality and certifications
FSC and PEFC certificates, food contact declarations of compliance, lab test reports: found in a minute. Audit and calibration due dates reach you in the chat before it’s too late.
Examples of using WhatsApp at paper mills and converters
Real conversations, typed in a hurry the way people type on WhatsApp.
The spec sheet and FSC certificate, sent to the customer
The customer asks for the sheet for a board grade and the FSC certificate. Ugo finds them in the technical and quality folders, tells you the version and expiry date, and sends them once you confirm.
Skills used
Morton Boxes want the sheet for the 300 g GC2 and the FSC certificate
I found: • “GC2 300 g sheet rev03.pdf” (Technical/Sheets), updated on 8 July: caliper 420 µm, MD stiffness 18 mNm • “FSC CoC certificate.pdf” (Quality/Certifications), valid until 14 March 2028 Shall I send them to Paul Morton (purchasing@mortonboxes.co.uk)?
A request for a new box, dictated in the car
Leaving the customer, the rep sends a voice note with dimensions and quantities. Ugo drafts the email for the technical department, creates the opportunity in the CRM and sets a reminder for the quote.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:44)
Here’s what I’ll do: • Email to technical@shawpackaging.co.uk: “Glenmore Distillery: 0201 regular slotted case 400×300×250 mm, BC flute, 2-colour flexo print, 8,000 units, samples by 30 October” • Opportunity “Glenmore Distillery – shipping cases” in Odoo • Activity “Send the quote” in one week Shall I go ahead?
This week’s recovered paper and pulp deliveries
The purchasing manager asks what’s arriving. Ugo reads the deliveries diary and the latest supplier emails, and flags delays and price changes.
Skills used
What recovered paper and pulp is coming in this week?
In the diary: • Tuesday: 3 artics of mixed recovered paper from Northern Fibre Recycling • Thursday: 120 t of softwood pulp from the Port of Tilbury From emails: • Northern Fibre Recycling wrote yesterday that the third artic has moved to Friday • The pulp trader is announcing +€30/t from November Shall I write a summary to forward to the mill manager?
A problem on the paper machine, reported with a voice note
The shift leader describes the problem out loud. Ugo creates the item on the monday.com maintenance board with machine, section and priority, and assigns it to the engineer on shift.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:27)
I’ll create on monday.com, board “PM2 maintenance”: • Item: “Dryer section, cylinder 14 – drive-side bearing noise, repeated web breaks” • Priority: high, status “To do” • Assigned to Luke Walker Shall I go ahead?
Automations on your number
Customers message the company number, Ugo sorts the requests
Converters, printers and end customers message the packaging company’s WhatsApp Business. An automation replies with three buttons: Quote, Documents and certificates, Delivery status. For a certificate Ugo finds it in the quality folder and sends it once you give the OK; for a quote it collects dimensions and quantities and alerts the sales office.
The blue bubbles are the customer, the white ones are the replies sent from the company’s WhatsApp Business number.
Discover WhatsApp automationsHi, I’d like a quote for some boxes
Hello! I’m the assistant for Shaw Packaging. How can we help?
Quote
Of course. Could you tell me the box style, internal dimensions, quantity and whether you need printing?
Regular slotted case 300×200×150, single wall, 5,000 units, one-colour logo
Thank you, I’ve passed your request to the sales office. Chloe Ford will be in touch by tomorrow with a quote.
Ideas for using Ugo’s skills at paper mills and converters
Each skill is a connected tool. Here’s how to get the most out of it in this sector.
Your WhatsApp BusinessCustomer requests from the company number
Quotes, certificates, delivery status: Automations reply from the WhatsApp Business number customers already know, collect dimensions and quantities and only alert you when it’s needed.
Discover Your WhatsApp Business
Google DriveSheets, specs and certificates, always in your pocket
Spec sheets, cutter drawings, FSC and PEFC certificates, food contact declarations: Ugo searches by name or content, reads PDFs and fills in your templates, such as the technical quote.
Discover Google Drive
OneDrive, Word and ExcelComplaints and lab tests in Excel
Ugo reads the complaints log or the test results spreadsheet and adds rows once you confirm, for example a non-conformance dictated by voice with reel, customer and defect.
Discover OneDrive, Word and Excel
OdooCustomers and opportunities in the CRM
Before a visit the rep asks Ugo for the customer’s history; it reads quotations and sales orders and leaves notes, opportunities and activities in Odoo after the meeting.
Discover Odoo
monday.comMaintenance and projects on monday.com
Stoppages, planned work, felt and wire changes, new equipment: Ugo creates items, changes statuses and dates and posts updates, so the department sees everything on the board.
Discover monday.com
MapsCustomer visits and deliveries
The quickest order to visit the converters in an area or reach a customer’s warehouse with an artic of reels, with live traffic and Street View of the entrance.
Discover MapsWhat Ugo does not do
Ugo organises messages, calendars, emails and documents. Everything else stays with your systems and your people.
- It doesn’t plan production, reel sequencing or grade changes, and it doesn’t replace the ERP, the MES or the paper machine control system.
- It doesn’t issue or sign FSC, PEFC or compliance certificates: it finds them and sends them, in the version chosen by quality.
- It doesn’t enter orders in your system or price quotes: it drafts the email or note for whoever handles them, and in Odoo it creates opportunities, notes and activities.
- It doesn’t send mass campaigns on WhatsApp: automations reply to people who message you, within WhatsApp’s 24-hour window.
The skills to switch on
The most useful Ugo features in this sector, starting with the first one to turn on. Each person switches them on from the portal in a few minutes.
Questions about WhatsApp and Ugo at paper mills and converters
How do you use WhatsApp for work at a paper mill or box plant?
To reply to customers, take requests from reps, keep up with pulp and recovered paper suppliers, coordinate collections and report stoppages in production. With Ugo everyone can also ask for spec sheets, certificates, appointments and customer details in the chat, and the company’s WhatsApp Business answers the most common requests by itself.
Can Ugo send spec sheets and FSC certificates to customers?
Yes. It finds them in the folder you choose on Google Drive or OneDrive and sends them by email or from the company’s WhatsApp Business, once you confirm. Ugo sends the file it finds: keeping versions and expiry dates up to date is still the job of quality.
Does Ugo connect to our ERP or MES?
It connects to Odoo (versions 14 to 19) as a CRM, to HubSpot, Zoho CRM and Agile CRM, to monday.com and Zendesk, and to any app with an MCP server. With other systems it works through emails and documents: for example, it drafts the request for whoever enters it in the ERP.
Can I use Ugo on the mill floor, where it’s noisy and nobody types on their phone?
Yes, with voice notes of up to 90 seconds: Ugo transcribes them on its servers in Europe, keeps only the text and handles them like written messages. The shift leader describes the fault out loud and Ugo prepares the report for maintenance.
How much does it cost to use Ugo at a paper mill?
Ugo costs €50 a month or €550 a year per person, excluding VAT, with every skill included. You only switch it on for the people who use it: for example sales, the technical department and maintenance, not necessarily the whole site.
Useful references
Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.
- Confederation of Paper IndustriesThe UK trade association for paper-based industries, from paper mills to corrugated packaging, with data on production, energy and recycling.thecpi.org.uk
- BPIF – British Printing Industries FederationThe trade association for the UK print, packaging and graphic communications industry.britishprint.com
- Cepi – Confederation of European Paper IndustriesThe European association of the pulp and paper industry, with statistics and updates on EU policy.cepi.org
- FSC – Forest Stewardship CouncilThe forest management and chain of custody certification standard that many customers require.fsc.org
Specs on file, answers on WhatsApp
Connect your technical department’s folders, email and the company’s WhatsApp Business in a few minutes. Customers, reps and departments find their answers in the chat.
