Over the Wire

These positive facts cast a different light than recent stories suggesting that the Canadian forest industry is virtually dying — especially the pulp and paper sector. Canada is the world’s second-largest forest product exporter. The nation's forest products industry has the second largest trade balance of any industry in Canada next to oil and gas.

 

A new website launched by the U.S. paper product producer contains videos, infographics, and posters designed to educate businesses and employees about fighting germs. A lot is at stake, G-P notes—the cost of lost productivity in the U.S. due to the common cold is near $25 billion. Reportedly only one-third (39%) of U.S. adults report always washing their hands after coughing or sneezing.

 

The one-hour webinar begins at noon EST. Registration is available online. Why do some coatings run so well and last so long, while others do not? The webinar will answer this question and discuss the steps that mills can take prior to, during, and after the thermal spray application to help maximize their investment.

 

The peer-reviewed program will address practical and technical techniques to design better products and help tissue mills operate more efficiently. Production leaders, process engineers, and R&D professionals should attend.

 

People with three-years of experience in tissue should attend this course. Make your plans now to be in Atlanta, Ga., USA, on April 22-24, 2015.

 

This introductory course has been announced covering basic tissue manufacturing methods and chemistry. It will be offered Nov. 17-18, 2015, in Atlanta, Ga., USA.

 

This past summer, four U.S.-owned companies—NewPage, Verso, Appleton, and FutureMark—operated U.S. mills able to make about 4.8 million tpy of the glossy paper. That was 65% of the country's coated capacity. Since then, FutureMark went out of business, Verso closed its Bucksport, Maine, mill, and NewPage sold the two mills to Catalyst. That leaves two U.S. companies (Verso and Appleton) with coated capacity of 3.4 million tons, just under half of the country's total.

 

As a consequence of the higher demand for logs from the export market, average prices for sawlogs at local sawmills have more than doubled from early 2009 to the 2Q/14. But now the weaker demand for logs in the export market has resulted in lower log export prices during the summer and fall.

 

"We are pleased to announce that Cube Hydro will assume control of the Lyonsdale and Little Falls facilities and will maintain Bill Burrows’ vision and commitment to sustaining the environment...". The Little Falls and Lyonsdale facilities have been generating clean electricity in Upstate New York since 1986. Burrows Paper operates four paper mills and six packaging converting facilities.

 

"With the addition of the Biron paper mill and the Rumford, Maine, paper mill, Catalyst now produces a full range of paper grades, from newsprint to labels." Catalyst executive leadership will continue to visit the mill during the next few weeks.

 

After the relocation, jumbo rolls from the firm's other mills in the southern province of Guangdong will be shipped to the Zhongshan plant for processing. The firm explained that its capacity in South China increased greatly in 2014, while its tissue supplies have been short in East China.

 

Work at Mörrum has already begun. The chip plant and wood room lines, supplied by Valmet (Finland), are due to go into operation this December. Overall pulp capacity at Mörrum will increase from 380,000 metric tpy to 425,000 metric tpy of pulp.

 

The resume of mill operations has brought some 180 employees back to work at the Maine, USA, facility.Expera Specialty Solutions created the company Expera Old Town LLC to purchase and run operations from the previous owners.

 

Syktyvkar Tissue Group is one of the best known companies on the Russian market for tissue products with a market share of around 10%. The tissue machine has a design speed of 2,000 m/min. and is optimized to save energy and to enhance final product quality. Valmet's delivery included a complete tissue production line featuring an Advantage DCT 100HS tissue machine.

 

Atlas Paper is a U.S. producer of tissue products, utilizing both virgin and recycled fiber. The company supplies private label and branded bath tissue, facial tissue, and towels, along with cocktail, dinner, and dispenser napkins to a diversified mix of customers in the away-from-home and value retail channels.

 

Xerium will expand and modernize its Griffin, Ga., USA, plant. It will broaden its mechanical service offering, expand its capabilities for rubber roll recovering, and expand its capabilities for industrial roll recovering. These new investments will also lower lead times. Xerium will also modernize its Neenah, Wis., USA plant. It will install a state-of the-art polyurethane roll cover production cell, and increase the size and breadth of its mechanical services department.

 

"The acquisition of PearceWellwood provides Menasha Packaging Company a foothold in Canada to better serve new and existing major consumer packaged goods customers located in the region with expertise in display design, manufacturing, and fulfillment," said Jim Kotek, president and CEO of the Neenah, Wis., USA, based Menasha Corp.

 

In conjunction with the separation of the Specialty Chemicals business, MWV is undertaking a comprehensive organization redesign to accelerate its market-focused packaging strategy and achieve market-leading margins. The actions will ensure the company has the capabilities to execute on its profitable growth strategy with an appropriately sized support structure and business model that will provide attractive total returns to shareholders.

 

This report highlights RockTenn’s (Norcross, Ga., USA) company breakdown. Corrugated packaging / paperboard are doing quite well when it comes to domestic production meeting demand more so than in recent years past, while at the same time potential for exports are increasing. RockTenn is choosing to focus on emerging markets like Latin America while other North American corrugated companies are focusing more on the Asian markets.

 

PankaBrite will complement the existing range of folding boxboards and will be available in a range of cutter reel widths from 460 to 710 microns. It comes with PEFC accreditation. FSC is also available on request, ex-mill. The range is a fully coated 100% virgin fiber folding boxboard suitable for food packaging, food service and display, and laminates.

 

The package, Tetra Rex® Bio-based, is manufactured solely from a combination of plastics derived from plants and paperboard. It marks a world first, and signals an important milestone in Tetra Pak's long-stated commitment to drive ever-stronger environmental performance across all parts of its portfolio and operations.

 

A sustainability strategy has been prepared as part of Södra's 2020 Group Strategy to ensure that sustainability work will be systemized and communicated in a concise and clear manner.

 

There is a clear but difficult balance between clear cutting forests for raw, fast energy, and processing them to be burned "green" (from true cellulosic waste), or to be a potential problem for environmentalists and the forest industry. "It seems that more of the fears are coming true than the benefits we had envisioned from that facility," said Kari Easthouse, manager of the Cape Breton Private Land Partnership.

 

Critics of the industry contend that using food crops to produce fuel leads to higher food prices around the world, although that contention is still a matter of debate. A solution to this food versus fuel dispute is the production of ethanol from cellulose. Cellulosic ethanol is made from cellulose found in plant residue or wood products instead of sucrose or starch found in sugarcane or grains

 

"Bill brings 10-plus years of audit experience and three years in a key role within our financial team to his new position," said Bob Chapman, chairman and CEO. "He’s demonstrated in both those roles his competence and commitment to helping build a strong and vibrant global organization that creates value for all stakeholders."

 

Astley had been SVP, corporate strategy of Glatfelter. Prior to joining Glatfelter, he served in various consulting roles for more than 15 years in the pulp, paper, and packaging industries. He held positions with Accenture in its strategic services practice and with Coca-Cola, supporting long-term strategy development in its North American business unit.

 

Petri Helsky will start in his new position and as a member of Metsä Group’s Executive Management Team July 1 at the latest. Helsky has extensive experience from international management positions within the chemical industry.

 

Move forward with TAPPI this upcoming summer, take advantage of some great networking opportunities, and learn/be presented with the most information available about this cutting edge industry.

 

2015 is here, the iconic year featured in the Back to the Future film trilogy. One particular type of forestry / pulp related science bringing us toward more "future" technologies is nanocellulose from wood / plant sources and their potential applications in nanotechnology. Now is the time to honor those who are working on this cutting edge of pulp science technology. Nominations are due by March 31. Don't procrastinate!

 

TAPPI member’s career delivers on a dream.

 

Scholarship application requirements vary by division and a general information form must also be completed. The deadline to submit applications for academic year 2015-2016 Technical Division scholarships is Feb. 15, 2015.

 

This book focuses on keys to a good maintenance program with a concession to today’s busy mill engineers.

 

Jäger cylinder services announces the launch of its American Yankee Services business. Jäger's North American headquarters are based in Vancouver, Wash, USA and Jaeger Inc. will offer a full range of yankee services, including grinding, thermal spraying, internal condensate systems, doctoring systems, and engineered solutions.

 

This book, available to TAPPI members for a $66 discount off list price, details the chemical engineering fundamentals of the kraft recovery process, including mass and energy balances, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, phase separations, heat and mass transport phenomena, and reaction kinetics.

 

Show TAPPI members what the industry means to you and your student chapter. Be sure to enter before the February 10 deadline.

 

Six suppliers will present a 10 minute discussion on something new to the market or some problem they have solved at this January 29 event in Glens Falls, N.Y., USA. Registration is free to mill employees.

 

We are seeking artifacts, photos, books, and equipment that represents a stage in our industry’s history.

 

Only this online subscription within the industry can give you immediate answers to your problems. You’ll save $186 alone by purchasing a subscription to Standards, TIPS and Useful Methods Online along with a TAPPI membership. This offer also applies each year you renew your membership.

 

TAPPI is proud to partner with the Finnish Paper Engineers' Assoc. to promote this discount on a very informative subject matter in the industry.