March 15, 2007
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FROM THE WIRE
PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. announced that it will divest its Western European tissue and towel business to SCA. The deal involves the sale of manufacturing assets, P&G's Tempo brand in Europe and Hong Kong, and the licensing of Charmin & Bounty trademarks in Europe. Exact timing will depend on the successful completion of all regulatory processes in Europe. The purchase price is EUR 512 million and will be paid in cash. Annual net sales are close to EUR 500 million. The EBITDA margin is on a par with SCA's total tissue operations. Synergies are expected to be considerable, the company notes.
Procter & Gamble's five facilities are included in the acquisition. The plants are located in Manchester, England, Witzenhausen and Neuss, German, Orleans, France, and Lucca, Italy, and have a total of approximately 1,100 employees. P&G has more than 135,000 employees working in some 80 countries worldwide. SCA had approximately 51,000 employees at the beginning of 2007.
ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED will invest $84.3 million in a new biomass energy generator to be located at its Fort Frances, Ont., pulp and paper mill. Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer with startup of the generator planned during the fall of 2008. The equipment will use renewable, cost-effective fuel from wood waste to generate steam and 45.5 MW of electricity for the mill. The new biomass boiler will burn mill-generated wood waste and primary sludge, as well as harvest slash from woodlands operations and wood waste from area sawmills. The Fort Frances mill annually produces 285,000 metric tpy of commercial printing papers and 116,000 metric tpy of market kraft pulp. The mill employs 650 people, while 350 individuals are contracted for its woodlands operations.
APPLETON announced that Steve Kula has been named executive director of finance strategy, planning, and forecasting. Kula joined Appleton in June 1985 and has served as corporate controller since November 1997. Also, Jeff Fletcher has joined Appleton as corporate controller. He comes to Appleton from Wells' Dairy Inc. where he served as corporate controller for the past two years. From 2003 to 2005, Fletcher worked for IP Innovations as president and CFO for a $30 million startup financial services company backed by Principal Financial Group.
AF&PA's recently released 47th Annual Survey of Paper, Paperboard, and Pulp Capacity shows paper and board capacity continuing to decline in 2006, by 1.6% to 97.7 million tpy. Capacity, according to AF&PA projections, is expected to continue declining by 0.7% this year but turn around with modest increases of 0.7% next year and 0.2% in 2009. The complete survey, which covers capacity projections through 2009, is available from AF&PA for $1,500. The order a copy of the report, call Jared Davis at 202-463-2738.
CATALYST PAPER has appointed Richard Garneau as its president and CEO, effective March 26. Garneau has a broad industry background in paper and forest products built over more than 40 years in various operational and finance roles. Most recently, he was executive VP, operations at Domtar with responsibility for the paper, pulp, and wood sectors where he led a sustained cost-efficiency program to better position the business for competitive markets. Prior to joining Domtar in 2002, Garneau was VP, finance and CFO at Norampac with direct involvement in acquisitions. He was CFO at St. Laurent Paperboard (1997-2000) and president of Finlay Forest Industries (1994-1997). He began his industry career at Donohue in 1974 where he held a number of senior positions.
INTERNATIONAL PAPER announced that Marianne Parrs, its executive VP and CFO, intends to retire at the end of this year. Parrs, 62, joined IP in 1974. A securities analyst by training, she joined IP as a pension trust investment manager, and has since served as the company's director of investor and shareowner relations, director of corporate communications, controller of printing papers, and staff VP of tax. She twice served as the company's CFO, first from 1995-1999 and again assumed the role in 2005. The company plans to announce Parrs' successor later in the year.
IN OTHER IP NEWS, the company announced that Lynn Laverty Elsenhans has been elected to its board of directors, effective March 15. She is executive VP of global manufacturing for Shell Downstream, a business of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, where she began in 1980. In her current role she is responsible for Shell's refining business and chemical manufacturing worldwide. Elsenhans has held numerous senior positions, including president of Shell Oil Co. and country chair for Shell U.S., president and CEO of Shell Oil Products U.S., president and CEO of Shell Oil Products East based in Singapore, and director of strategic planning, sustainable development, and external affairs for Shell International in London.
LEGAL TIMBER PROTECTION Act has been introduced by Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Robert Wexler (D-FL), and Jerry Weller (R-IL). The congressmen joined the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and a broad coalition of supporters from conservation, industry, and labor groups to announce the act, which bans the use of illegally-harvested timber and wood products. The bipartisan legislation will amend the long- standing U.S. Lacey Act, extending its protections to plants to catch trafficking in timber and wood products. Groups currently supporting the bill include EIA, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Alliance, United Steelworkers, and Wood Flooring International.
MENASHA FOREST PRODUCTS has agreed to a merger arrangement through which it would be acquired by an affiliate of investment funds managed by The Campbell Group. Approximately 135,500 acres of prime timberlands in Oregon and Washington together with MFPC's related businesses are involved in the acquisition. In addition to its timberland holdings, Menasha also conducts (through its wholly-owned subsidiaries) logging operations, forest management, fire fighting and helicopter services, and "higher and better use" land development.
NEENAH PAPER, Alpharetta, Ga., announced that it will permanently close one of the fine paper plants acquired in its recent purchase of Fox River Paper. The Housatonic mill, located near Great Barrington, Mass., has annual production capacity of some 15,000 tpy and is expected to cease manufacturing operations by the end of the second quarter. Housatonic was the smallest of four fine paper mills involved in the Fox River acquisition. The company said it expected to incur one-time cash costs of approximately $3 million for severances and other charges related to the closure. Ongoing annual savings of approximately $5 million are expected from the elimination of fixed costs and increased manufacturing efficiencies, although these savings would not be realized immediately due to product transition costs expected to be incurred in 2007.
NORDSTROM, Seattle, Wash, announced that it will be incorporating more environmentally sound practices into its catalog program. The company notes that it will be the first among its peers in fashion specialty retail to print on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified stock with 30% post-consumer waste. Starting in April, the company will source all of its catalogs, its internal company newsletter distributed to 55,000 employees, and its annual report on paper containing 30% PCW from suppliers certified by the FSC. In addition, virtually all of the company's printing partners will be FSC-certified. Nordstrom has 155 U.S. stores in 27 states. Through its merchant partner, Strategic Paper Group, the company is sourcing paper from Stora Enso.
STORA ENSO says it will expand its corrugated packaging business in Eastern Europe and Russia by constructing new plants at Balabanovo in Russia and Komarom in Hungary, and by expanding the existing plant at Lodz in Poland. The EUR 23 million Balabanovo plant will be an offset printed micro-flute packaging plant, and is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year, end be completed in the second quarter of 2008. The company will also build an offset printed micro-flute packaging plant at Komarom in Hungary. Instead of expanding the current site at Paty, a new plant will be built at Komarom closer to a key customer, to further enhance service levels. The investment in the Komarom plant will be approximately EUR 15 million. The project will begin in the first quarter of 2008 and is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2008. The Lodz plant will be a heavy-duty corrugated box production facility that will offer new types of products to the Polish market. A EUR 8 million investment, the new unit is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.
UPM has appointed Matti Lindahl president of its Wood Products Division. Lindahl previously held several executive positions within UPM's paper and converting divisions. Harald Finne, president of the Wood Products Division since 2004, will leave the company due to differing views on the strategic development of the division. In this connection, the Wood Products Division will be divided into two separate business areas, the company noted. Arto Juvonen has been appointed head of the plywood business area. He has recently been in charge of UPM's Russian operations and previously held several management positions in the plywood industry. Suomo Visanko has been appointed head of the Timber business area. He is currently senior VP, Operations, of the Wood Products Division. New management teams will be appointed in the coming few weeks, according to UPM.
WEYERHAEUSER reports that all of its U.S. containerboard packaging plants have earned Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification, making it one of the first corrugated packaging companies to receive this certification. To earn the use of the SFI-certified procurement label, two-thirds of a company's packaging raw material must originate from mills with certified wood fiber procurement systems or recycled paper sources. Weyerhaeuser exceeds this standard with 85% of its packaging plants' raw material coming from company mills with procurement systems certified to the SFI standard.
ROCK-TENN CO. has announced a $50 per ton price increase on all grades of coated and uncoated recycled paperboard, effective with shipments beginning April 9. In February, the company had announced a $50 per ton increase for it uncoated, recycled paperboard grades, effective with shipments beginning March 5. Located in Norcross, Ga., Rock-Tenn has annual net sales of approximately $2.1 billion, with operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.
Additives Tutorial at the 2007 Coating and Graphics Art Conference offers practical solutions
To borrow an expression from Mark Twain, additives for papermakers are a bit like the weather, everyone talks about them but no one does anything about them. A special tutorial will be held during the 2007 Coating and Graphic Arts Conference on the morning of Tuesday, April 24. Presenters for this session recognize the challenge of working with additives and have developed a program to educate their industry peers about effective use of additives.
Just to be clear, additives for this session will include all those items that are not pigments or binders. In general they break down to a group of eight items: Specifically they include insolubilizers, lubricants, rheology modifiers, defoamers, dispersants, biocides, colorants, and functional additives (for example, those that impart anti-skid properties).
In addition to presenting chemistries that are in use, the tutorial will also focus on how to apply them so that participants can learn what are the right materials for the right application. What's more, there will be case histories presented that form snapshot lessons that attendees can take back to their workplace for enhanced productivity.
More information about the Coating and Graphics Arts Conference is online. (www.tappi.org/07coat) Register before March 27, 2007 to receive the early-bird registration discount.
Gulf Coast TAPPI offers "high-energy" program
"Power and Alternative Fuels/Biomass Energy" will be the focus of an intensive technical program being offered by TAPPI's Gulf Coast Local Division. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 22, 2007, and will feature a full day of programming on important topics in energy and alternative fuel. On Friday, March 23, a mill tour of Alabama River Pulp in Monroeville, Alabama, will be open to all registrants at no additional charge.
Thursday's programming will take place at the Monroeville Watertower Conference Center. Engineers: PDH Credit is available for participation. A special room rate is available at the official event hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Monroeville. A limited number of tabletop sponsorships are also available. Full details and registration are available online. Special registration discount for all TAPPI members - you don't need to be a member of Gulf Coast TAPPI to attend. Local Section meetings are fast, affordable, and offer great networking opportunities - we hope to see you there!
"Knocking Down Barriers" with Lake States TAPPI
Need to know what's going on in the specialty coatings arena? Lake States TAPPI will hold its 2007 Coating Technical Meeting at Liberty Hall in Kimberly, Wisconsin. The meeting's theme is "Knocking Down Barriers: Specialty Coatings Technical Meeting and Mill Tour." It is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27, 2007, in Kimberly, Wisconsin, USA.
The meeting begins with a tour of Thilmany's Kaukauna Mill, which includes the Paper Machines and Converting Department. The technical segment includes a case study presented by mill representatives who will share how they have successfully applied specialty coatings in their operation. Additional speakers will update attendees on the newest specialty bio-based polymer and starch functional and barrier coatings for web-based substrates.
Remember, you don't need to be a member of Lake States TAPPI to attend and learn! Network with industry peers in a central location for an extremely affordable conference rate. For more information, contact Jeff Lange at (218-729-0747), or via email at jeff.lange.wpc@prodigy.net. More complete program and registration information can be found at the Lake States website, www.lakestates.org. Clark Schabo can assist with registration questions at 920-734-5073, or email lstappi@execpc.com.
Special Facility Tour, Three Esteemed Keynote Speakers Highlight 2007 Nanotechnology Conference
TAPPI and the Forest Products Society will host the 2007 International Conference on Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry, June 13-15, 2007, in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Special Facility Tour: Conference attendees are invited to tour the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the afternoon of Thursday, June 14, 2007. There is no fee for the tour, and bus transportation will be provided. Pre-registration to obtain security clearance is required. The deadline to register for the tour is April 13, 2007. Details are available online or by contacting TAPPI Registration at registration@tappi.org.
Keynote Presentations: The conference will feature Keynote Presentations by three esteemed speakers.
- Dr. Altaf Carim, Program Manager, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy (DOE)
- Dr. Andrew Maynard, Chief Science Advisor, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies
- Dr. Ashok Mulchandani, Professor, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside
Chicago TAPPI Meeting: Using Technology to Improve Customer Service
April 3, 2007 - Oakbrook, IL
Please join TAPPI's Chicago Local Section for an exciting and interesting meeting that will challenge box makers to see if they are using all the tools they need to be using for cutting-edge customer service. Customer service is extremely challenging in today's fast paced environment. This information-packed program can help you understand the tools that can make customer service faster, more accurate and easy to use.
This single-evening program features four corrugated industry experts who will share tips that work for improving customer service. A "Social Hour" for networking begins at 5:00 pm; dinner begins at 6:15 pm, and the program will commence at 7:15 pm. Full details are available at the Chicago TAPPI web site [www.chicagotappi.com].
Register now for the TAPPI Symposium @ Interzum!
TAPPI and Interzum are proud to announce the TAPPI Symposium @ Interzum - Insights into Modern Surfaces, in conjunction with Interzum 7-8 May 2007 in Cologne, Germany. The symposium will provide an exciting forum for worldwide industry professionals to network and collaborate on the latest developments and trends of the decorative and industrial laminate industry. Attendees will also get a full pass to Interzum! For continually updated information, including registration information, please visit www.tappi.org/07EURODIL.
Sponsorship Opportunities are still available for the Symposium!
TAPPI and Koelnmesse GmbH are proud to invite you to sponsor the TAPPI Symposium @ Interzum - Insights into Modern Surfaces. As a sponsor, you will be able to promote your booth at Interzum to symposium attendees in addition to gaining valuable recognition for your company. For more information, please visit www.tappi.org/07EURODIL or contact Shelley Sawyers at 404.760.8110 or ssawyers@tappi.org.
2007 TAPPI International Conference on Renewable Energy
May 10-11, 2007
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The keynote presentation at the 2007 TAPPI International Conference on Renewable Energy will be delivered by Richard E. (Rick) Zalesky, Chevron Technology Ventures Company, LLC. His presentation is titled "Global Energy Outlook, and Where it Intersects with the Forest Products Industry," and will be delivered on Thursday, 10 May, 2007 during the morning Conference Kick-Off session.
Richard E. (Rick) Zalesky is Vice President of the Biofuels and Hydrogen business for Chevron Technology Ventures Company, LLC. In this role, he has responsibility for the commercialization of infrastructure development, production and supply, as well as all current technology initiatives.
Rick is Chevron's representative on the Fuel Operations Group of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Program of the Department of Energy. Rick joined the company in 1978 as a design engineer at the Richmond refinery. In his career, he has held a variety of management positions of increasing responsibility in the downstream in refining, marketing, and technology. Prior to his current role Rick was general manager of the Richmond refinery. A native of Los Angeles, Calif., Rick is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering.
Join Rick and other experts, leaders, and industry peers to explore this hot topic. For additional conference information and to register online, go to www.tappi.org/07RENEW. Inquiries: +1.866.850.0999 (toll free US and Canada), or +1.404.760.8177, or email registration@tappi.org.
Register now for 11th European PLACE Conference
Registration is now available for the 11th European PLACE (Polymers, Laminations, Adhesives, Coatings and Extrusions) Conference, the premier technical event for the European Flexible Packaging and Converting Industry. The conference will be held from 14-16 May 2007 at the beautiful Westin Athens, Astir Palace Resort on the Vouliagmeni Peninsula in Athens, Greece. To register and to view the conference program and abstracts, please visit www.tappi.org/07EUROPLACE.
Sponsorship Opportunities are also still available for this event!
The TAPPI European PLACE Committee is pleased to invite your company to be a sponsor at the 11th TAPPI European PLACE Conference, the premier technical event for the European Flexible Packaging and Converting Industry.
Don't miss the opportunity to show your customers and co-suppliers you are committed to their continuing education and advancement of the industry. For more information about sponsorship, please visit www.tappi.org/07EUROPLC or contact Christine Hilgert at +1 404.760.4234 or chilgert@tappi.org.
Plan to attend the 2007 PLACE Conference
Make plans now to attend the 2007 PLACE Conference, September 16 to 20, 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Sponsored by TAPPI's Polymers, Laminations, Adhesives, Coatings and Extrusions (PLACE) Division, the conference is tailored for attendees from all areas of the flexible packaging and converting industries.
Key areas already planned for 2007 include end user presentations, waste reduction, interactive packaging, converting solutions, performance packaging, and productivity enhancement.
For continually updated information, please visit www.tappi.org/07PLACE. Sponsorship opportunities and registration will be available soon!
Mark your calendars for the 2007 EPE Conference
Mark your calendars now for the 2007 Engineering, Pulping and Environmental Conference, from October 21-24, 2007 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. This event is the perfect forum for paper industry professionals both to acquire practical operating insights and to network with industry peers in technical sessions, tutorials, round tables, new technology sessions and workshops.
This year's conference will feature an exciting technical program, focusing on new developments, information, guidelines, tools and learning opportunities pertaining to some of the industry's hottest topics.
For continually updated information, please visit www.tappi.org/07EPE. Sponsorship opportunities and registration will be available soon!
Notice of TAPPI Test Methods in Ballot
The TAPPI Test Method regulations require public review of methods that are up for ballot. TAPPI members can view any drafts that are in ballot by logging in to the TAPPI web site (www.tappi.org), clicking on "My TAPPI," and then clicking on the "Test Method Public Draft Review" link on the left side of the page. If you would like to review and comment on any draft and are not a member of the corresponding Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG), you may view the draft on line or you may request a copy of the draft being balloted by writing to standards@tappi.org.
Listed below are TAPPI test methods that have recently gone out for ballot to the corresponding Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG). The date in parentheses is the closing date for voting.
- T 838 om -03 "Edge crush test using neckdown" (April 2, 2007)
- T New "Score bend test" (April 2, 2007)
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