PIMA's North American Papermaker articles from July 2001

PIMA's North American Papermaker archives from July 2001

Power mad.
July 1, 2001... Alan Rooks Editorial Director Let me get this straight. For the past 30 years, various government agencies and environmental groups have practically ended logging on federal land, virtually banned offshore oil drilling, made it nearly...

Weyerhaeuser claims victory for Willamette seats.
July 1, 2001... As the vote counting continues at publication deadline, Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., is claiming that it has evidently received sufficient proxy votes from Willamette Industries shareholders to win the majority of those cast for its...

G-P reducing wallboard capacity, selling N.J. mill.
July 1, 2001... Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, will curtail 45% of its gypsum wallboard capacity in the U.S. and Canada due to poor market conditions. The company is also putting its recycled gypsum linerboard plant in Delair, N.J., up for sale. The company...

Bowater to build Nuway plant in Tennessee.
July 1, 2001... Bowater Inc., Greenville, S.C., is investing $43 million to build a 150,000 sq. ft. coating plant in Covington, Tenn., just north of Memphis. The new plant, scheduled for start-up next January, will use the Nuway process for converting...

Pope & Talbot completes Mackenzie buy.
July 1, 2001... Pope & Talbot has completed the acquisition of the 230,000 mtpy Mackenzie NBSK market pulp mill from Norske Skog Canada for C$123 million (US$78 million) in cash and 1.75 million shares of P&T common stock. The company also named C. Douglas...

CPBIS launches inaugural research program.
July 1, 2001... Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies, Atlanta, has launched its first research program. The CPBIS, which was officially dedicated in May, is initially funding seven major research projects: * Workplace Transformation and Human...

Tembec in surprise offer for C-V's Louisiana mill.
July 1, 2001... In a surprise move, Tembec apparently outbid a group of banks to buy bankrupt Crown Paper's St. Francisville, La., pulp and paper mill for $185 million, comprised of $140 million in cash, including $24 million in working capital, and $45...

Domtar paying $1.65 billion for G-P mills.
July 1, 2001... Domtar Inc. plans to buy four Georgia-Pacific white paper mills and 1.35 million tons of paper capacity--an agreement it says will amount to paying $1.65 billion. The Montreal company called the acquisition for $1,074/ton, which includes $200...

Parchment, Mich., OKs lease of idle in ill to American Tissue.
July 1, 2001... City officials for the town of Parchment, Mich., have a deal with American Tissue Inc. to restart the mill idled by bankrupt Crown Vantage last fall. The city will lease the mill to American Tissue of Hauppauge, N.Y., for a $1 a year, until...

PCA buys Sunbelt.
July 1, 2001... Packaging Corp. of America, Lake Forest, Ill., bought private box maker Sunbelt Packaging Services for an undisclosed amount. Sunbelt's corrugated plant in Tucson, Ariz., and a distribution/service center in Nogales, Mexico, become part of...

IP gains Dow Packaging pact.
July 1, 2001... International Paper, Stamford, Conn., signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with Dow Chemical to supply corrugated bulk boxes to all of Dow's North American sites (more than 20 facilities.) IP has bulk container plants in...

Smurfit-Stone Container.
July 1, 2001... Smurfit-Stone Container completed the acquisition of Corporacion Durango's multiwall bag packaging plant in Eastman, Ga., for an undisclosed amount. The business becomes part of SSCC's specialty packaging division.

Cedar River Paper Co.
July 1, 2001... Cedar River Paper Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a joint-venture subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Co. and BE&K Engineering, earned ISO 9002 certification for its rigorous approach to quality in manufacturing processes and customer service. The...

Weyerhaeusers.
July 1, 2001... Weyerhaeuser's recycling plant in Richmond, Va., has won the Year 2000 Safety Award presented by the American Forest & Paper Association, Washington, D.C. Of more than 60 award submissions, the Weyerhaeuser plant was the largest...

Eastern Pulp & Paper Corp.
July 1, 2001... Eastern Pulp & Paper Corp. is pioneering the use of new wastewater treatment technology at its Lincoln, Maine, mill to further improve the quality of its treated wastewater, conserve energy and reduce operating costs. The launch of...

Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking.
July 1, 2001... As of April, more than one million individuals will have learned about papermaking through the Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking's national touring exhibitions program. The millionth visitor, 11-year-old Evan Simmons, was...

BASF.
July 1, 2001... Dr. Jurgen F. Strube, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft, was recently honored with the American Council on Germany's John J. McCloy Award for "outstanding economic and cultural contributions to...

Abitibi, Norske buy Hansol's share of Pan Asia Paper.
July 1, 2001... Following a decision by Hansol Paper of South Korea to divest its one-third interest in Pan Asia Paper Co., Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., Montreal, and partner Norske Skog of Norway, agreed to jointly purchase Hansol's share for $350 million,...

U.S. Tree Farm system celebrates 60 years.
July 1, 2001... Today, more than 70,000 certified U.S. private forests cover 90, million acres; but 60 years ago, when Weyerhaeuser Co. sponsored tours of its first replanted forest area, visitors were looking at something revolutionary, Last month, the...

Kruger slates C$78 million for Bromptonville.
July 1, 2001... Kruger Inc., Montreal, plans to spend C$78 million to improve the quality of paper and reduce production costs at its Bromptonville mill in Quebec. The second phase of a C$125 million modernization, which began last November, will be...

Abitibi closing Iroquois Falls PM.
July 1, 2001... Abitibi-Consolidated is permanently shutting PM No. 1 at its Iroquois Falls, Ont., mill, saying that a restructuring program that would have kept the machine running was rejected by one of the four local unions involved. "We understand...

Pacifica shareholders OK Norske Canada merger.
July 1, 2001... Pacifica Papers shareholders and optionholders approved a C$960 million buyout plan with Norske Skog Canada Ltd. by a 73.6% margin in voting that took place in Vancouver, B.C. The price includes C$600 million in assumed debt. The vote...

Inland/Chesapeake acquisition sparks new name.
July 1, 2001... Indianapolis-based Inland Paperboard and Packaging, Inc., has announced a new name and logo for the corrugated packaging operations it acquired in May from Chesapeake Corp., Richmond, Va. InPeake Packaging Inc. is the new division name...

Quebecor sells its remaining A-C stake.
July 1, 2001... Media and printing giant Quebecor sold its remaining 11% stake in Abitibi-Consolidated through TD Securities for C$604 million ($397 million). Quebecor, which gives up its seats on A-C's board after being its largest shareholder, will use the...

Riaupulp starts up pulp line expansion.
July 1, 2001... APRIL Group has completed the final phase of a second fiberline at its Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper mill in Indonesia, raising capacity from 1.3 million tonnes to 2.0 million. The $520 million line, adding to a 750,000 mtpy hardwood line...

Emami Paper Mills expands.
July 1, 2001... Encouraged up by impressive performance in the last fiscal year and buoyant paper markets, Emami paper mills, the only fine newsprint manufacturer in eastern India, has plans to grow. The company plans to push installed capacity from the...

Oji Paper restructures its corrugated container business.
July 1, 2001... Against the background of Japan's lingering economic recession and in a move aimed at coping with the severe management environment affecting the corrugated container business, Oji Paper plans to restructure the Oji Paper Group's business...

April down again.
July 1, 2001... For the quarter ended March 31, 2001, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (April) reported a net loss of US$25.5 million, compared to a profit of USD 1.7 million during the first quarter of 2000. The company reported that...

New linerboard machine to Nine Dragons.
July 1, 2001... Dong Guan Nine Dragons Paper Industries Co. Ltd. of Dong Guan, Guangdong, China, has ordered a new linerboard machine. With a capacity of 1,100 mtpd of brown kraft linerboard, it is reported to be the largest linerboard machine in China....

Thermo Black Clawson makes moves in China.
July 1, 2001... Hebei Jiteng Paper Corporation, Luan Na, Heibei, China, has ordered a 350 mtpd AOCC system from Thermo Black Clawson (TBC). Scheduled for start-up in September of 2001, the new system will process AOCC and LOCC. The addition of the system...

Haindl split up between UPM-Kymmene and Norske Skog.
July 1, 2001... In a significant re-shaping of the European publication paper sector, continental Europe's largest producer of publication papers--the 2.7-million mtpy German papermaker, Haindi--is being sold to Finland's UPM-Kymmene, which is then selling...

AssiDoman completes corrugating sale to Kappa.
July 1, 2001... The proposed sale of AssiDoman's Corrugated & Containerboard business units to Kappa Holdings has been completed, about a week after the proposed deal was approved by the European Commission Merger Task Force. The formal takeover is effective...

NEW OWNERS.
July 1, 2001... In one direction, Haindl will obviously be getting new owners, but in the other direction, some of Haindl's top people will be getting their hands on UPM-Kymmene shareholdings too. The newly-issued UPM-Kymmene shares will go to Haindl...

Myllykoski gets all of MD Papier.
July 1, 2001... Finnish papermakers, M-real (formerly Metsa-Serla) and Myllykoski, agreed that their 50:50-owned MD Papier venture (involving the Plattling and Dachau mills in Germany) should become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Myllykoski, with Myllykoski...

M-M buys German mill.
July 1, 2001... Austria's Mayr-Melnhof (M-M), already Europe's largest producer of waste-based cartonboard with a capacity of 1.25 million mtpy, is buying Gruber+Weber Karton's 150,000-mtpy waste-based cartonboard mill in Gernsbach-Obertsrot in southern...

Peterson Scanproof and Geithus merge.
July 1, 2001... Norske Skog and M. Peterson have agreed to form a new speciality papermaker by merging Peterson Scanproof and Union Geithus. The aim is have the new greaseproof and high-density papermaker up and running by September 1,2001. Norske Skog...

St. Regis invests in East Lanes assets.
July 1, 2001... The UK'S largest corrugating materials producer, St. Regis, has bought the assets from the bankrupt East Lancashire Paper Mill and is looking at using some of the equipment at St. Regis mills. The company said that "St. Regis agreed with...

Aracruz-VCP bid wins Cenibra.
July 1, 2001... Aracruz Celulose and Votorantim Celulose e Papel won an auction bid to buy CVRD's 51.48% share in Cenibra (Celulose NipoBrasileira SA) for $670.5 million. The auction in the Rio de Janeiro offices of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce followed CVRD's...

ABB.
July 1, 2001... ABB has developed a new generation of drive technology, the Drive [IT] Direct Drive, enabling entirely new mechanical configurations, including drive systems without gearboxes or pulse encoders, to improve overall machine efficiency. The...

ABS.
July 1, 2001... ABS has introduced System PMI[TM] (Pump Mill Integration), a new concept combining quicker pump installation, shorter project lead times, with improved reliability and operating conditions. The latest innovation, as simple as it is...

Eka Chemicals.
July 1, 2001... Eka Chemicals, the pulp and paper chemicals business of Akzo Nobel, is building a new processing plant for production of silicate products in the Village of Howard in Green Bay, Wis. The $13 million plant will support growing demand for Eka...

Hercules.
July 1, 2001... Hercules completed the sale of its peroxy chemicals business to GEO Specialty Chemicals for an undisclosed amount. Hercules also sold its 50% interest in toner resins business Her cules-Sanyo. The peroxy chemicals business was part of...

Honeywell Industrial Control.
July 1, 2001... Honeywell Industrial Control's Hi-Spec Solutions business will incorporate Microsoft's new Office XP product in a future release of its Uniformance[R] information management system and other advanced solution applications running on the...

J M Huber Corp.
July 1, 2001... J M Huber Corp. bought M-real's minority ownership in Noviant Ltd. for about $35 million (EUR 41 million), completing the divestment of the chemicals business started by Metsa-Serla in 1996. Noviant, formerly Metsa Specialty Chemicals, is the...

Invensys Process Systems.
July 1, 2001... Invensys Process Systems, part of Invensys PLC, has acquired Pacific Simulation, a Moscow, Idaho, leader in optimization software and solutions for TMP pulping and other industry applications. Michael Carman, president of Invensys Process...

Specialty Minerals.
July 1, 2001... Specialty Minerals will invest $27 million to build a precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) merchant facility in Germany. The plant in Walsum, near Dusseldorf, will produce sophisticated PCC coating products for use in high-quality publication...

Metso Paper.
July 1, 2001... Metso Paper will launch a new automatic doctor blade change system, developed together with Pinaltek Oy, to be marketed with the trade name BladeFeed. The system allows the automatic change of center roll double doctor blades without shutting...

Thermo Black Clawson.
July 1, 2001... Thermo Black Clawson is upgrading the stock prep system for Madison Paper Co.'s Alsip, Ill., mill as it converts from recycled newsprint to LWC in the fourth quarter. The equipment includes Cyclotech cleaners, TBC's newest cleaner line with...

Voith Paper.
July 1, 2001... Voith Paper is delivering a new Crescent Former tissue machine with TissueFlex[TM] technology to Copamex Industria S.A., one of Mexico's largest manufacturers of creping paper. The new 110 mtpd machine will produce toilet paper and facial...

Forestweb, wood group in alliance.
July 1, 2001... APA-The Engineered Wood Association and Forestweb, Inc. have a strategic Internet alliance and co-branded website called APAweb. The www.apaweb.net site for online North American engineered wood products industry news, information and...

Packtion closes.
July 1, 2001... Chicago-based online packaging solutions provider Packtion[TM] shut its operations in June and let go its 60 employees. Co-founder and co-president Christopher Day told The Chicago Tribune that the company's main investors--Silgan...

Playing by new rules.
July 1, 2001... Newly elected PIMA President Barre Mitchell (below, left) of Bowater Inc. and National Affiliate Chairman Guy Martinek of J.J. Plank/Spencer Johnston examine how North American paper companies and suppliers are dealing with new marketplace...

Solvay Paperboard mushrooms into major recycled mill.
July 1, 2001... What began as a mini-mill-for recycled linerboard will soon become a major linerboard and corrugating medium facility, producing more than 1,800 tpd by summer of 2002. In addition to handling rapid growth quite effectively, Solvay's team...

Forest certification: A "green" light for harvesting?
July 1, 2001... A tree is a tree is a tree--right? Not necessarily. Logging practices have evolved from simple tree harvesting to a scientifically managed process developed with the best interests of the environment in mind. No longer is it good enough to...

Global links in the kaolin supply chain.
July 1, 2001... Getting kaolin from the mine to the paper mill is a complex task. A soundly managed supply chain supported by strong infrastructure, cost control and quality monitoring can ensure that mills get exactly what they order. Kaolin-based...

Paper chemistry: Managing supplier transition.
July 1, 2001... Recent trends have driven paper mills to alter their purchasing processes and transition to new suppliers. This process can either produce measurable benefits or multiple problems. A smooth transition should be based on a disciplined change...

PEOPLE.
July 1, 2001... PAPER COMPANIES Boise Cascade Corp., Boise, Idaho, has named Nick Stokes vice president, operations, and John A. Berilla has been named vice president, human resources. Brenda Krutchen and Gina Oemig have been appointed customer...

A glimpse into PIMA history...the summer of 1971.
July 1, 2001... Carole King Felt the Earth Move, Apollo 15 landed on the moon and Chicago began to emerge as one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. PIMA Headquarters City of Big Shoulders-Chicago--hosted the June 1971 Annual Conference: "The Name of...

New pulp mill for Indonesia.
July 1, 2001... A consortium of companies from Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, the United States and China will build a pulp mill in South Kalimantan within the next three months, provincial governor Sjachriel Darhan announced. He said...