Gorham Paper and Tissue to Bring New Tissue Machine Online by End of September

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Gorham Paper and Tissue reportedly has purchased a new tissue machine for its mill in Gorham, N.H., USA, that will be installed and brought on-stream by the end of this September. Dick Arnold, president of Gorham Paper and Tissue as well as the nearby Old Town Fiber and Fuel, acquired last year by Patriarch Partners of New York, N.Y., recently told The Berlin Daily News, Berlin, N.H., that the new tissue machine was ordered from ABK Italia of Italy.

The new machine, with an estimated cost in the $35 million range, will be a 100 tpd unit producing tissue paper, paper towels, and napkins, but focused especially on bath tissue sold to the private label market.

"Our focus is to get this installed and running as quickly as possible," Arnold was quoted in the newspaper article, adding that the company is already talking to potential customers. Bancroft Construction Co. of South Paris, Maine, has been hired to install the machine. Site and demolition work is already underway.

Patriarch Partners acquired the 110-year-old Gorham mill from Fraser Papers after it was shutdown in the fall of 2010. Patriarch held the mill’s "grand opening’ last summer, during which CEO Lynne Tifton announced plans to restart its existing No. 9 towel machine that produces towels for the away-from-home (AFH) travel market, and also announced her plans to purchase and install the new tissue machine now being put together in Italy. At that time, Tifton said that if the demand is there, she would be willing to consider a second tissue machine.