Kapstone's Longview Mill Achieves Million Safe Hours Worked for Second Time in Past Two Years

KapStone Kraft Paper Corp., Northbrook, Ill., USA, reports that its Longview, Wash., mill, one of the largest and most complex pulp and paper mills in the U.S., has achieved one million safe hours worked and now has its sights set on surpassing the two million safe hours worked milestone. Some 1,028 people work at the KapStone Longview mill.

This is the second time that the Longview mill has exceeded one million safe man hours in the past two years. Mill Manager Paul Duncan credits the mill's evolving safety culture with the achievement. "Here, safety is more than a priority; it is a value, a way of life. Priorities can change, values do not."

Duncan added that mill employees continually work to be safe, each day, every day. "Even with all we've accomplished, we know that we are only as safe as our next decision," he said. "This is why, as we go forward, we will continue to hold safety as a core value and a prerequisite for work.''

Formerly part of Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, the mill and other Longview assets were purchased by KapStone this past July 18, from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. of Toronto, Ont., Canada. The mill is the only U.S. producer of high-performance extensible multiwall sold into global markets, and is a key manufacturer of high quality containerboard and specialty kraft papers.

The mill has a production capacity of 1.6 million tpy of pulp and 1.3 million tpy of kraft paper and containerboard. Its five paper machines include PM 5, 11, and 12, producing kraft paper grades, and PM 7 and 10 making containerboard. PM 12 is the last new kraft paper machine installed in North America in 1990.

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