the strength of the vacuum applied by the vacuums 20 22 and the initial consistency of the pulp used to form the web w due to the removal of water from the web w a wet line 24 is defined by a noticeable change in the shininess or sheen of the web w as shown in fig1 the wet line 24 is typically jagged having variations both in the cross and machine directions and moves to and fro in the machine direction ideally the wet line 24 should be a stationary straight line which extends in the cross direction perpendicular to the machine direction as shown by the dash dot dash line 26 the system 10 comprises observing means for monitoring one or more characteristics of the web and transmitting a signal of the monitored characteristics of the web observing means 28 may vary widely and includes by way of illustration digital and analog cameras infrared detectors reflective detectors and the like in the preferred embodiments of the invention observing means 28 monitors by observation and collects and transmits an image of a portion of the web w preferably monitoring means 28 is a digital camera preferably the observing means 28 is a digital camera alternatively an analog video recorder may be utilized with a separate digital converter the observing means 28 is positioned with a portion of the web w being within the field of view thereof preferably the observing means 28 views a rectangular portion of the web w which extends across the full width of the web w in the cross direction and a portion of.