Voith Paper

Over the Wire

TAPPI

Weekly Spotlight
Michael A. Jackson will retire as president, CEO, and a director of Verso Paper Corp., Memphis, Tenn., USA. David J. Paterson has been elected by Verso's board of directors to serve in such roles, with both events to occur on May 14.

Scott Kleinman, Verso's chairman of the board, said that "Verso truly has been fortunate to have Mike Jackson as our CEO during the past five years. Mike has established a solid culture and strategic foundation at Verso since we became an independent entity in 2006. Under Mike's direction, Verso has improved and refined our core product portfolio, developed and marketed a series of specialty products, and formulated and begun executing a forward-looking renewable energy strategy. Verso is on sound footing thanks to Mike's steady leadership. On behalf of the entire Verso team – our employees, board of directors, and stockholders – I want to thank Mike for his distinguished service and tremendous contributions to Verso.

"Going forward, we are pleased and honored that Dave Paterson will become Verso's new CEO. Dave brings to Verso a wealth of experience garnered during his many years of service as an executive with AbitibiBowater Inc., Bowater Inc., and Georgia-Pacific Corp. Dave is an outstanding leader, a respected and knowledgeable businessman, and absolutely the right person to lead Verso in the next phase of its business life," Kleinman continued.

Paterson said that "I am pleased to be appointed CEO and am excited about the opportunities ahead for Verso. Verso has a strategic focus, exceptional people, and a nimble management approach that should bode well for the future. I am truly excited to be joining the Verso team."

Jackson noted that "it has been an honor and privilege for me to serve as Verso's CEO during the past several years. I have so much appreciation for the incredible work and indomitable spirit of our employees. I am confident that this will be a seamless CEO transition and that Dave Paterson is well prepared to continue the evolution and execution of Verso's strategies."

Jackson will continue to serve as president, CEO, and a director of Verso through the company's first quarter earnings call on May 14, after which Paterson's appointment to these positions will become effective. Paterson will serve as a Class II director of Verso with an initial term expiring at the company's 2013 annual meeting of stockholders.

Paterson, 57, served as president, CEO, and a director of AbitibiBowater (now doing business as Resolute Forest Products) from 2007 to 2011. He was chairman, president, and CEO of Bowater during 2007 and its president and CEO from 2006 to 2007. From 1987 to 2006, he worked in various executive and sales and marketing positions for Georgia-Pacific, including most recently EVP of its Building Products division from 2003 to 2006, EVP of the Pulp and Paperboard division from 2001 to 2003, president of the Paper and Bleached Board division in 2001, and SVP of the Communication Papers division from 2000 to 2001.

Verso is a producer of coated papers, including coated groundwood and coated freesheet, and specialty products.

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Dr. Marko Hakovirta has been named director of the Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource Engineering (AC-PABE) and a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Auburn University. Dr. Hakovirta comes to AC-PABE from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was associate director of research at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology and holds an adjunct professorship in the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Dr. Hakovirta spent five years as the CTO of Metso Corp. (corporate VP for technology, environment, and quality), and worked as a fellow at CERN (European Center for Particle Physics), Geneva, Switzerland, and at LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory), New Mexico, as a director's funded post-doctoral fellow. Hakovirta held a faculty position at the University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, where he currently holds an adjunct professorship. Among his many awards is the Outstanding Innovation of the Year from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Dr. Hakovirta's research interests are in novel forest-based biomaterials, nanomaterials applications, and materials synthesis using plasma techniques. He is especially interested in sustainability research related to global business, and how it affects the pulp and paper industry in particular.

Department chair Dr. Christopher Roberts said that "the Department of Chemical Engineering at Auburn University is extremely pleased to have Dr. Hakovirta providing leadership to the Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource Engineering, particularly given his wealth of experience and tremendous accomplishments in both the academic and industrial sectors. He has already forged a clear vision for AC-PABE, and the broader pulp and paper community, at this critical time for the industry."

Dr. Hakovirta succeeds Dr. Harry Cullinan, who provided strong leadership to AC-PABE over the past 20 years until his retirement last year, and Dr. Steve Duke, who served as interim director following Dr. Cullinan's retirement.

The Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource Engineering provides undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education in science and engineering relevant to the needs of the pulp, paper, and bioresource industries, conducts fundamental and applied research in line with the industry's research agenda, develops and transfers technology to the industry consistent with the industry's technology vision, and provides timely technical information to the operating sector of the industry.

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NewPage, Miamisburg, Ohio, USA, reported this week that its 7 pt. Sterling® Ultra web cover paper served as a key component of an award-winning Super Bowl XLV collector's edition program cover produced by its customer, Hazen Paper, Holyoke, Mass. Hazen's marketing entry swept the "decorative/display category" in the Association of International Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators (AIMCAL) product competition awards.

Hazen created the custom holographic image and embossed it onto transfer film that was coated in-house. Hazen then metalized the transfer holographic material and transfer metalized the coated two-side NewPage paper stock. The final step involved sheeting and printing the 19 in. x 36 in. sheets in register with the holography. Once printed, the cover was bound to the program by Quad/Graphics, Sussex, Wis.

The judges commented that they were impressed by how the elements of the 2011 Packers/Steelers Super Bowl program worked together. "These holographic images go beyond patterns to become an integrated design," they concluded.

John H. Hazen, president of Hazen paper, said that his company "is excited to have scored a touchdown with NewPage Sterling Ultra on the Stadium Edition Super Bowl Program Cover."

David Diekelman, NewPage executive director of specialty papers Sales and Marketing, noted that "with this award, Hazen has further distinguished itself in the customized holographics and transfer metallization industry. We are delighted to have teamed with Hazen to provide a high-quality, highly engineered paper that would support such a sophisticated, technical and successful printing process."

Hazen Paper is paper convertor specializing in custom holographic originations, film, foil, and paper laminations, specialty and gravure coatings, and rotary embossing. Its products are used in health and beauty packaging, entertainment and media packaging, golf ball packaging, bookbinding, lottery scratch tickets, merchandise tags, product labels, photo mounting, and ticketing applications.

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Mika Viljanmaa, who works as Development Manager in Metso's Järvenpää unit in Finland, has been awarded the prestigious 2012 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for his work on metal belt calendering in paper and board making. He will receive the prize at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 1.

Viljanmaa, M.Sc., born in 1966, joined Valmet Corp. (now Metso) in 1996 as a development engineer at their Järvenpää unit, where he also completed his Master's thesis for the Helsinki University of Technology. Since 2003 he was in charge of calendering research and development at Metso Paper and since 2009 he has been responsible for R&D in surface treatment technology. Viljanmaa is a highly prolific innovator, with a total of 120 protected inventions. 57 of these are related to metal belt technology, and Viljanmaa is the sole inventor in 12 of them. He has guided several thesis works related to metal belt calendering and has presented conference papers on the subject.

According to the board of the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, "the 2012 Marcus Wallenberg Prize has been awarded to Mika Severi Viljanmaa for his ground-breaking development of metal belt calendering technology resulting in better paper print surfaces with less fiber materials and higher production efficiency." Furthermore, the invention also paves the way for applications in other paper machine sections with the opportunity of becoming a wider platform technology expected to substantially enhance production efficiency, competitiveness, and sustainability of paper and board making.

Metal belt technology has made a major breakthrough as a revolutionary new calendering concept for papermaking. Calendering is done to improve the paper surface and thus print quality. Compared with conventional calendering, advanced long nip metal belt calendering technology enables manufacturing of paper and board with better surface properties at a desired level of stiffness and bulk, but with 3% - 10% less fiber raw material. In addition it decreases energy consumption and yields higher production efficiency.

It is also suitable for low-cost fibers such as recycled fibers and thus enables development of new cost-competitive paper and board products. The new concept is compact, making it ideal for rebuilds to increase capacity by removing existing production bottlenecks such as yankee dryers or wet stacks.

The Marcus Wallenberg Prize is an international prize that was established in 1980. Each year the prize recognizes a single research breakthrough by one scientist or a small group of collaborating scientists. The selected breakthrough will have a significant effect on the forestry and forest products industries. In addition to rewarding the winner, the prize is also intended to encourage further research around the world. The prize sum is SEK 2 million.

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Eka Chemicals
Market Roundup
Total U.S. printing and writing (P&W) paper shipments decreased 11% in March compared with March 2011, according to the AF&PA's (Washington, D.C., USA) Printing-Writing Paper Report released this past week. Three of the four major P&W paper grades posted double-digit decreases compared with last March, and the one single-digit decrease is the largest for that grade since 2009. U.S. purchases (shipments + imports – exports) of P&W papers decreased 16% in March. Total P&W paper inventory levels increased slightly, up just 1% compared with February 2012.

Additional key findings include: 

  • March 2012 shipments of uncoated free sheet (UFS) papers were the only grade down less than double-digits (as a point of reference, March 2011 shipments of UFS were the highest since October 2008. UFS year-to-date shipments were down 2%) 
  • Shipments of coated free sheet (CFS) papers decreased year-over-year by a double-digit percentage for just the third time since 2009; CFS year-to-date shipments were down 4% 
  • Compared with a very strong March 2011, coated mechanical (CM) paper shipments showed the greatest year-over-year decline of the four grades
  • Uncoated mechanical (UM) paper purchases were down sharply, partly as a result of UM imports hitting their lowest level since February 1997.
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Total March U.S. boxboard production decreased by 3.6% compared with March 2011, but increased 3.9% from last month, according to AF&PA's (Washington, D.C., USA) March 2012 U.S. Paperboard Report issued this week. Key points of the report are: ·
  • Unbleached kraft folding production decreased over the same month last year, and decreased compared with last month ·
  • Total solid bleached boxboard and liner production decreased compared with February 2011, but increased compared with last month ·
  • The production of recycled folding decreased compared with February 2011, but increased compared with last month ·
  • Inventory of solid bleached kraft paperboard increased over a year ago.
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Total U.S. kraft paper shipments were 142,900 tons in March, a decrease of 5.0% compared with March 2011, as reported by AF&PA's (Washington, D.C., USA) March 2012 Kraft Paper Sector Report published this week. Total inventory was 80,500 tons this past month.

Additional key findings from the report include: ·

  • Total unbleached kraft shipments decreased compared with March 2011, but increased compared with last month ·
  • Total bleached kraft shipments increased compared with last March.
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MAVERICK Technologies
MAVERICK Technologies
Pulp & Paper
Fortress Paper, Thurso, Que., Canada, reports that parties to the purchase agreement for the previously announced acquisition of the non-operating pulp mill located at Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Que., from Domtar Inc. (Montreal, Que.) have agreed to an extension to the closing date.

Fortress says that it continues to work diligently with the other parties to satisfy all the conditions precedent to closing, and the transaction is expected to be completed in the normal course as soon as practicable.

Fortress commenced production of disolving pulp in December 2011. Fortress Global Cellulose, located in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, is a recently announced addition to Fortress Paper's Specialty Cellulose division. The company intends to convert the former Domtar mill from NBSK (northern bleached softwood kraft) pulp to dissolving pulp production after the closing.

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Adhesives producer H.B. Fuller Co., St. Paul, Minn., USA, will close six manufacturing facilities and eliminate approximately 130 positions across its North America adhesives business segment as part of its integration of the recently acquired industrial adhesives business of Forbo Group. The company said the decisions were based on a thorough review of the now-combined operations, and support H.B. Fuller's strategic growth objectives.

The company added that it is continuing integration assessment work in Europe, India Middle East and Africa (EIMEA), and Asia Pacific regions and, upon completion of the analysis in the coming months, will announce any changes to the organizational structures in those regions.

The facilities scheduled for closure by mid-2013 are Pointe-Claire, Que. (Canada) and Morris, Ill; Kansas City, Kan., Eugene, Ore., Jackson, Tenn., and Dallas, Texas, in the U.S. These facility closures will be staggered over the next 15 months and will result in approximately 90 job eliminations. The company will consolidate its North America Adhesives business segment operations within its remaining U.S. facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, and Washington.

In addition, the company will close the former Forbo corporate and research offices in Morrisville, N.C., and has restructured its field sales and technical teams. These actions will eliminate approximately 40 positions in business management, Customer Service, Finance, Information Technology, Research and Development, and Sales. Selling, general and administrative positions that have not been eliminated will move to other H.B. Fuller locations, and the North Carolina offices will be vacated by February 2013.

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Mondi Group has ordered from Andritz, Graz, Austria, a new 1,200 tds/d (tons of dry solids per day) recovery boiler for its Frantschach mill in St. Gertraud, Austria. The boiler is scheduled to startup in the second half of 2013.

Andritz Pulp & Paper will deliver the entire boiler plant with auxiliaries such as instrumentation and electrification for the boiler. The scope of supply also includes process control for the boiler island, including the safety system and integration to the existing mill's distributed network.

The modern recovery boiler design will replace two old boilers and will incorporate Andritz's Vertical Air combustion system to ensure the lowest possible emissions. Steam values for the new boiler are an operating pressure of 87.5 bars (a) and temperature of 480º C. Space has been allocated in the layout for a chloride and potassium removal system to be added some time in the future. The boiler's design also enables the addition of a flue gas cooler and/or a flue gas scrubber in the future.

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Twin River Paper Co., South Portland, Maine, USA, a producer of lightweight specialty publishing, packaging, and label papers with operations in Maine and New Brunswick and Québec in Canada, this week announced its 20-year milestone as a label supplier for release-line products as well as newer lines of label-face papers and wet strength labels. From the early 1990s under the auspices of Fraser Papers to the present, Twin Rivers notes that it has innovated this market space through high quality label that serve diverse pressure-sensitive roll label applications such as shipping labels, industrial labels for auto-apply, etc.

To commemorate this milestone, the company has launched the Twin Rivers Label Recognition. This recognition honors the leadership of key customers, suppliers, and employees who have helped to innovate the industry. "We are excited to recognize our business partners who have been instrumental in transforming the market into the vibrant channel we have today," says Jim Gehrman, president, Twin Rivers Paper Co.

An interview about this recognition is available online.

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Resolute Forest Products, Montreal, Que., Canada, and National Envelope, Frisco, Texas, USA, have formed a partnership that will provide customers with an expanded portfolio of solutions, including folio-size sheets using Resolute's high-yield, sustainable paper. Both companies note that the alliance is an integral part of their continued emphasis on providing customers with eco-friendly solutions.

Resolute recently launched Align™, its family of high-opacity, high-bulk, "environmentally responsible" papers that can be used as alternatives to chemical pulp coated and uncoated freesheet in most commercial printing applications. According to Resolute, when compared with traditional offset papers, Align grades deliver a smaller environmental footprint and greater cost savings to customers.

When comparing overall product life cycle, Align grades have less impact on the environment than traditional freesheet papers, including a carbon footprint that is from 35% to 85% smaller than that of the average freesheet grade, Resolute says, adding that "furthermore, thanks to its higher bulk and opacity at a lower basis weight, customers receive all the printability they expect, but at a lower cost. Based on their needs, Align customers can either pay less for paper, pay less for postage, or print and mail more at the same cost."

Richard Garneau, president and CEO of Resolute points out that "through this partnership with National Envelope, even more end-users—including those supplied by sheet-fed printers—can benefit from the environmental and economic savings that the Align paper line brings. This effort fits with Resolute's goal of helping more customers reduce their own environmental footprint."

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UPM, Finland, reports that it will complete the previously announced sale and purchase of shares in Metsä Fibre Oy (formerly Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab). According to the sale and purchase arrangement, UPM will sell its 11% share in Metsä Fibre Oy to Metsäliitto Cooperative for EUR 150 million. The sale and purchase will be completed on April 24.

UPM is made up of three Business Groups: Energy and Pulp, Paper, and Engineered Materials. UPM's 2011 sales exceed EUR 10 billion. The company has production plants in 16 countries and employs some 24,000 people worldwide.

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Cascades Tissue Group, Candiac, Que., Canada, this week announced that 17 U.S. distributors and 10 Canadian distributors have received achievement awards in honor of their strong partnerships and dedications to furthering environmentally preferable products. By offering to their commercial and industrial customers tissue paper products made from 100% recycled fiber, instead of virgin fiber, these distributors collectively avoided emissions of greenhouse gases equivalent to 12,785 cars off the road for one year, according to Cascades.

Approximately 20% of the distributor's total green house gas savings were achieved through the sales of Cascades Tissue Group's North River products, which use Green-e certified renewable energy credits to offset 100% of the electricity used in their production. Cascades Tissue Group's annual 20,000 MWh of wind energy credits are sourced from the Charles City Wind Farm located in northern Iowa and supplied by leading renewable energy developer and marketer Community Energy Inc.

Honorees of the Cascades Tissue Group's third annual achievement awards include (in the U.S.): Imperial Bag & Paper (Bayonne, N.J.), Hill & Markes (Amsterdam, N.Y.), Penn Jersey Paper (Philadelphia, Pa.), Labatt Food Service (San Antonio, Texas), Riverside Paper Supply (Newport News, Va.), Southwest Paper Co. (Wichita, Kan.), Dacotah Paper (Fargo, N.D.) Dade Paper (Miami, Fla.), Tarheel Paper (Winston-Salem, N.C.), FPC Holdings (Elkridge, Md.), Philip Rosenau Co. (Warminster, Pa.), Kelsan (Knoxville, Tenn.), Acme Paper & Supply (Savage, Md.), Knight Marketing Corp. of New York (Maspeth, N.Y.), Phillips Distribution (San Antonio, Texas), Central Paper Co. (Birmingham, Ala.), and Northern Colorado Paper (Greeley, Colo.). In Canada, honorees include Flanagan Foodservice (Kitchener, Ont.), Staples Advantage (Mississauga, Ont.), Cineplex Entertainment (Toronto, Ont.), Les Emballages Carrousel (Boucherville, Que.), Jan-Mar Sales (Etobicoke, Ont.), WFS (Windsor, Ont.), Atlantic Grocery Distributors (Bay Roberts, N.L.), Snelling Paper (Ottawa, Ont.), Equipement Sanitaire Cherbourg (Sherbrooke, Que.), Pratt's (Calgary, Alb.), and Wood Wyant (Laval, Que.)..

"The support from these distributor partners is indispensable," said Suzanne Blanchet, Cascades Tissue Group's president and CEO. "By honoring them with a certificate, we want to recognize their contribution in lowering our environmental footprint, and in informing our buyers and end users on the importance of sustainable development."

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SKF USA Inc.
Containerboard/Packaging
Papelera del Sur S.A., part of Cartones America Group, Peru, successfully started up its rebuilt PM 5 on March 28 at Chincha, Peru, after a drying section upgrade carried out by Toscotec, Italy. PM 5 produces white top test liner, brown test liner, corrugating medium, and fluting starting from recycled paper.

Cartones America is a privately-owned, Andean Region manufacturer of containerboard, corrugated boxes, clay-coated paperboard, spiral tube board, and specialty board packaging products. The company was born in Cali, Colombia, in the 1950s, but today also has operations in Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

The project objective was to increase production and optimize efficiency of the paper machine. This has been achieved by adding new dryers at the end of the existing drying section, eliminating the rope tail threading system from the last two batteries and installing a new air blow threading system, the company reports.

Toscotec's scope of supply consisted of a complete new double-tier drying battery with 6 TT SD (Toscotec's steel dryer cylinders) 2,000 mm dia, 10 bar coded. The installation of TT SD 2,000 mm dia allows the mill to get a large drying surface with a smaller number of dryers and related accessories (such as wire rolls, doctors, in-drive points, etc.) compared with the installation of standard 1,500 mm dia dryers. This results in a lower investment cost but also in energy saving.

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Peterson Packaging, Sarpsborg, Norway, reports that it will take control of the Ranheim testliner and board mill near Trondheim, Norway. The decision comes in the wake of the bankruptcy filing by Peterson's paper division, which owns the mill, on April 11. The Ranheim mill has a production capacity of 115,000 metric tpy and some 115 employees. It will now become an integral part of Peterson Packaging.

Peterson Packaging is a leading supplier of corrugated and solid board packaging in Scandinavia. It has 10 production facilities across Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

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Hemco Industries Inc.
Hemco Industries Inc.
New Products
Cascades, Kingsey Falls, Que., Canada, is launching a food waste bag made of 100% recycled fibers. The paper bags, manufactured in Canada, consist of a double layer to prevent leakage. With this bag, Cascades completes its collection of ecological household products, including yard waste bags that came out last September. Cascades notes that its bags are not only compostable, they are also EcoLogo-certified.

Cascades explains that the food waste bag was created to promote composting and encourage people to adopt this sustainable practice, keeping in mind Quebec's waste materials management policy to recycle 60% of organic matter by the year 2015.

Yard waste bags can be filled with yard trimmings and dead leaves, even if they're wet. These paper bags are an alternative to non-biodegradable plastic bags, and have a 30 lb. capacity for wet leaves and the ability to withstand 150 lb. of dry weight.

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Published Pricing
Communication papers producer Mitsubishi HiTec Paper Europe has announced a price increase for Giroform carbonless paper. The 7% increase applies to deliveries beginning June 1.

The European Mitsubishi Paper group belongs to Mitsubishi Paper Mills, Tokyo, one of the leading Japanese manufacturers of coated papers, communication papers, photo-sensitive materials and wood-free paper.

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Nalco, an Ecolab company, St. Paul, Minn., USA, has increased prices for all of its water and process services industry segments. Pricing for most Nalco Water and Process Services division programs will increase globally between 5% and 15%, varying by country and product. The price increase is effective immediately or as existing contracts allow.

Nalco notes that the price adjustments are driven by the significant increase in key raw materials costs, combined with other global inflationary factors such as rising energy and transportation costs. Nalco sales engineers are contacting customers directly to discuss the impact of these increases.

"We continue to take actions to minimize the impact of increasing raw material costs, but it is necessary to appropriately increase prices to help offset these ongoing cost hikes," said David Flitman, EVP and president, Water and Process Services.

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People
Fortress Paper Ltd. has appointed Andre Boucher COO of Fortress Specialty Cellulose Inc., a wholly-owned operating subsidiary that produces dissolving pulp. Boucher has more than 30 years of industry experience in the specialty cellulose sector, including 24 years at Tembec Inc. where he was GM of the Temiscaming dissolving pulp mill. Boucher was responsible for overall mill optimization and development of specialty products, including a full range of acetate and other specialty pulps. Most recently, he was GM of Ethanol Operations for Suncor Energy Inc. where he developed the facility from concept to an efficient, operating mill.

Chadwick Wasilenkoff, CEO of Fortress Paper, said that Boucher "brings a wealth of experience and technical talent to Fortress Paper at a time when we are growing our dissolving pulp business. We feel his mill optimization and unique experience in transitioning a viscose-grade dissolving pulp mill to a specialty-grade dissolving pulp mill will further enhance our already strong specialty cellulose team. Andre's addition provides us with more flexibility as we balance our key personnel between Thurso and our other strategic projects."

In addition, Fortress Paper announced that Marco Veilleux has been promoted VP, Business Development and Strategic Projects of Fortress Paper from his former role as COO of Fortress Specialty Cellulose Inc. Veilleux was an important member of the executive team that managed the successful staffing, startup, and conversion to dissolving pulp at the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill. He will focus on special and strategic projects, manage risk and compliance matters, and will assume other key corporate responsibilities within Fortress Paper.

Fortress Paper operates internationally in three distinct business segments: dissolving pulp, specialty papers, and security paper products.

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PaperlinX Ltd., Australia, reports that its CFO Tony Kennedy has given notice that he will retire from his position with PaperlinX on June 30. Kennedy has been with the company for 22 years. PaperlinX noted that a search for his successor is currently underway.

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TAPPI News

Reintroduced in 2010, TAPPI is pleased to bring back this essential--and popular--program for paper professionals. Plan to attend this course being held in Appleton, Wis., May 15 - 17.

This course, designed for new as well as experienced personnel, helps attendees learn how to improve the quality of their product, diminish waste, and increase output. Machine supervisors, technical resources, lead operators and technical personnel, project engineers, and suppliers can all benefit from this course, which is being led by industry-recognized instructors.

To learn more about this course and register, go to the event website.

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Have you ordered your copy of the The Bleaching of Pulp (5th Edition) yet? There's still time to receive up to 50% off the list price if you order before April 30.

Order Online Now

Still undecided? Take a moment to preview the Table of Contents, Introduction, and chapter on Oxygen Delignification. We're confident you – and your company – will find this newest edition to be well worth the investment.

And we're not alone in that assessment. Here is what colleague and contributing editor Brian N. Brogdon, Ph.D., of FutureBridge Consulting and Training LLC, had to say:

"Readers of The Bleaching of Pulp (5th Edition) will be able to easily examine the holistic philosophical approaches to bleach sequence design in a single reference. The environmental aspects of bleaching section has been completely revamped to cover U.S. and Canadian regulations of bleach plant air and water emissions enacted in the late 1990s, as well as the literature assessing and interpreting the impact of emissions from modern bleach sequences on aquatic life. It also contains an encyclopedic chapter on the safe storage, handling, and standardized hazard labeling of most common chemicals employed in bleaching, and I highly recommend it to process engineers, R&D personnel, equipment and chemical supplier vendors, and consultants whom are actively involved in bleach plants."

What are you waiting for? Order your copy today at the incredible pre-order price of $110, a savings of more than 50% off the May release list price of $232 (TAPPI members: $155). Or, contact TAPPI's Member Connection at memberconnection@tappi.org  +1 800 332-8686 (U.S.), 1 800 446-9431(Canada), or +1 770 446-1400 (Worldwide).

But hurry, pre-order pricing ends April 30!

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Unfortunately the learning curve is not sympathetic when it comes to implementing a new idea-to-launch process and, with a failed implementation, key support necessary to ensure operational success is lost forever!.

Ensure that you and your team will be successful launching a new, or sustaining an existing idea-to-launch process, by attending this companion program to our world-renowned "Winning at New Products" seminar."

Join us and leave ready to implement and sustain, with full confidence, your new product innovation process.

May 15-16 in Philadelphia, Pa., USA, Stage-Gate International is hosting Implementing and Sustaining Your Idea-to-Launch Innovation Process, an action packed, hands-on, two day seminar that will help you and your team:

  •  Accelerate implementation and adoption of your process
  •  Avoid the most common and easy-to- make, but hard-to-correct, implementation mistakes.

Why attend? Because research shows that a high-quality product development process increases new product success by almost 40%.

The Stage-Gate process provides an operational roadmap that takes a new product from concept to launch, using a decision-based approach to maximize effectiveness and efficiency. When properly designed and implemented, it has been shown to be a key factor for ensuring innovation success.

Created to ensure successful implementation of the Stage-Gate® process, Implementing and Sustaining Your Idea-to-Launch Process introduces you and your team to a structured implementation process that has been used by hundreds of the world's leading companies.

This seminar will teach you and your team how to:

  • Accelerate adoption of your process
  • Select the right approach for your organization
  • Assess your organization's innovation change readiness
  • Sustain a new and existing innovation process.

Learn More: Download Brochure

Lever Your TAPPI Membership to Receive 10% OFF the Registration Fee – Use Code TAP11

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Dr. Albrecht C. Meinecke of J.M. Voith GmbH, displayed outstanding leadership and inventiveness in several fields of papermaking as evidenced by an impressive list of patents and publications. When nominated as a TAPPI Fellow in 1991, he had earned more than 20 patents for his developments, including twin-wire paper machines and hybrid formers.

During his career, Dr. Meinecke oversaw the application of twin-wire paper machines to newsprint, lightweight coated grades, heavy board, and tissue. Another important contribution he made to the industry was the development of thermogrinding, which controls the increase of grinding zone temperature. This innovation allowed the industry to get a greater fraction of long-fiber and better strength properties of groundwood pulp.

After earning M.S. and PhD. degrees from the University of Braunschweig in Braunschweig, Germany, Dr. Meinecke pursued a post doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He joined Voith in 1966 as a research engineer and was promoted to director of R&D in 1971. He became VP of Voith's R&D division in 1977. A member of Zellcheming, the German Association of Pulp and Paper Chemists and Engineers, he served on the Professional Education Committee and was VP of the local section in South Germany.

Dr. Meinecke's work stands as an inspiration to future engineers entering the industry. His career path demonstrates how a talented innovator can work his or her way into leadership positions within the pulp and paper industry, overseeing the implementation of new technologies they've help create and design.

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Members who would like to nominate a candidate for TAPPI's 2013 Board of Directors election should submit a nomination datasheet available online. The candidates must be TAPPI members.

Nominations should be submitted no later than May 15, 2012, by email to mcornell@tappi.org or by mail to Mary Beth Cornell, TAPPI, 15 Technology Parkway South, Norcross, GA 30092 USA +1 770 209-7210.

Thank you,

Jeffrey Siegel, TAPPI Nominating Committee Chair

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Registration is now underway for the TAPPI Hands-on Workshop for Pulp and Paper Basics June 4 - 8, 2012 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., USA.

Register here to reserve your seat. The number of students in the course will be limited in size - to 32 - for maximum effectiveness, and registrations will be accepted in the order they are received.

If you're wondering whether this course is right for you, it probably is! It's an essential course that teaches the basic concepts in pulp and paper manufacturing and is designed for anyone wanting to improve their role in operations. Learn more.

This workshop is especially beneficial for:

  • New process engineers, manufacturing operators, and technicians who want to understand more fully how raw materials are processed into products
  • Individuals who wish to broaden their knowledge of the processes through basic laboratory and pilot paper machine experiences
  • Sales and service personnel, machine operators, and maintenance personnel who need to better appreciate paper machine operations by conducting a pilot paper machine trial 
  • Individuals who have completed TAPPI's Introduction to Pulp and Paper course and who want to benefit from the laboratory and pilot plant experiences.

Previous participants said:

"The information was detailed and easily understood by both engineers and non-engineers. I will definitely suggest the course to others."

"This is an excellent course, providing an intense overview of the entire papermaking process."

Workshop Materials: Participants will receive a course notebook and CD with approximately 400 pg. of reference materials.

Earn CEUs: You'll earn 3.7 continuing education credits at the completion of this June 4 - 8 course. It's a lovely time to be in North Carolina.

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Tension Control

Kee-Huyn Shinn, Ph.D.

This volume provides a thorough study of the longitudinal dynamics and tension control of web handling systems. Critical web handling problems that can be related to improper tension control include wrinkle, slack, breakage, lateral movement, and poor roll quality. This valuable text is the only reference currently available devoted entirely to tension control.

Tension Control

View the Table of Contents

 Product code: 0101R275

Member Price: $50.00

Non-Member Price: $75.00

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2012 Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Association Annual Meeting in May The Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Annual Meeting and Conference will be held May 9-11, 2012 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. PPMA provides human resource information to the pulp, paper, converting and allied industries. The meeting includes a program of expert speakers covering topics such as labor law, training and health care, extensive networking opportunities and updates on key industry research including an annual salary survey.

"The 2012 Annual Meeting will provide attendees with helpful information that can be used to improve business performance, including results from our annual salary surveys and other human resource information," notes PPMA Executive Director, Dick Kendall. "In addition, we have a strong speaker line-up including David Scheible, CEO of Graphic Packaging, who will share his views and insights on how to sustain results in a tough economic and business climate."

The theme of this year's conference is "On the Anvil." Key topics that will be covered include: how to discuss and implement a labor/management committee to help efficiency; update on current health care discussions across the U.S.; current labor law developments; OSHA rules and their impact on union and non-union operations. In addition, a review of how to use the National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training (NPT2) training resource will be provided.

A wide range of key trends in the industry will be addressed by an outstanding program of speakers including: David Scheible, CEO, Graphic Packaging International; Dan Murphy, Labor Law Expert; Dennis Smith, Secretary of the Department of Health Services; Daniel Van Wychen, Commissioner, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS); T.J. Murphy, Executive Director, NPT2, Mike Lies, Partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Professor Emeritus C.Y. Allen and Eric Hobbs, partner at Michael Best & Friedrich Law Firm.

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Engineers involved in papermaking wet end chemistry will want to mark June 4 - 6 on their calendars. The 2012 TAPPI Introduction to Wet-End Chemistry course takes place during these three days at TAPPI headquarters in Norcross, Ga., USA.

This course will help you get up to speed on the latest technology and terminology you need for optimum papermaking performance. Instructors for this course know that cost savings is ultimately your mark for a strong finish, so they focus the three-day interactive training on innovative wet end chemistry principals and the use of additives to change or create new paper products.

Through case studies, break-out sessions, and networking with others in the course, you'll learn how to:

  • Implement new technology into your mill's wet-end process to reach higher efficiency and yield consistent, quality products
  • Use chemicals and other additives to change or create new products and maximize machine capacity
  • Put the brakes on machine downtime and off-specification products
  • Make better judgments on selection and use of papermaking chemicals
  • Better troubleshoot problems on paper machines
  • Get up to speed on the challenges papermakers face due to changing fiber qualities, regulations, and competitive pressures.

View the Workshop Schedule to see specific topics covered.

This introductory- to intermediate-level course is designed for those in pulp and paper manufacturing facilities with job responsibilities, such as chemical and process engineers, mill superintendents, research and development engineers, technology and chief chemists, R&D VPs, process and quality control technicians, and suppliers involved with the wet end processes.

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Nominations for the major TAPPI 2013 awards are due by August 1, 2012.

The awards that may be presented in the upcoming year are:

Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award - The Association's highest technical honor may be presented annually to recognize an individual or individuals for preeminent scientific and engineering achievements of proven commercial benefit to the world's pulp, paper, board, and forest products industries and the other industries that TAPPI serves.

Herman L. Joachim Distinguished Service Award - The Association's highest award for service, may be presented annually to recognize leadership and service which have significantly and demonstrably contributed to the advancement of the Association.

Paul W. Magnabosco Outstanding Local Section Member Award – The highest honor for Local Sections may be presented annually to recognize an individual for outstanding leadership and exceptional service to one or more Local Sections, which have resulted in significant and demonstrable benefits to the Local Section members.

TAPPI Fellow - TAPPI Fellows are Individuals who have been members of TAPPI for not less than 10 years prior to the nomination, and who have contributed meritorious service to the Association and/or the paper and related industries. Retiring members of the TAPPI Board of Directors become Fellows automatically at the end of their term.

The TAPPI Awards and Honors page has links to these awards which will show the qualifications required and links to the nomination forms that must be completed. You may submit all nomination forms by email to standards@tappi.org, or you may fax them to the attention of the awards department at +1-770-446-6947, or send by mail to TAPPI, Awards Department, 15 Technology Parkway South, Norcross, GA 30092, USA.

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Cost Saving Strategies in Papermaking Chemistry

Martin A. Hubbe and Kasy King

This handbook provides cost-saving strategies associated with the use of chemical additives during the manufacture of paper. Topics include:

  • Loss of materials (i.e. "yield" of the papermaking process)
  • Production rate issues
  • Downtime
  • Inefficient use of functional additives
  • Process-enhancing additives and their control
  • Strategies to reduce the amount of fibers required to make a paper product
  • Strategies to reduce the amount of energy to make paper.

A glossary of terms and a brief introduction to selected principles of capital budgeting are provided as appendices.

This book is ideal for paper machine process engineers/scientists, paper machine superintendents, paper mill management, chemical supplier technical staff, product development engineers, paper mill consultants, and technical staff from allied industries, e.g. process control equipment, papermaking machinery, and environmental services.

Cost Saving Strategies in Papermaking Chemistry

View the Forward and Table of Contents

Product code: 0101R325

Member Price: $150.00

Non-Member Price: $215.00

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Nalco Company
SGS – Group Management Ltd
Sweed Machinery, Inc





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