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APRIL, which is considered to be the world's second-largest producer of bleached hardwood kraft pulp, is focusing on sustainability and improving the life of locals in Sumatra, Indonesia. The company has introduced a 'mosaic' plantation concept for its concessions in Riau, Indonesia, that involves setting aside land for high conservation value forests.

The project details of Veracel are presented. Veracel is a joint venture between Stora Enso and Aracruz Celulose.

The operations and management of International Absorbents Inc of Bellingham, WA, are discussed in detail by president Douglas Ellis. The company provides products made from pulp and paper waste materials.

There are several plans for pulp industry projects in Eastern Europe but few are underway. Western pulp and paper companies are interested in working in Latvia while others are interested in operating in the Czech Republic. There are several potential projects in Russia but none of them are firm.

The industry is producing more than ever, but at what price? Papermakers view the 5.8% production increase with mixed feelings An astonishing performance by the industry last year saw paper [...]

There will be some delays and cancellations of major pulp and paper manufacturing expansion plans in Asia due to the currency crisis affecting several countries in the region. Additionally, some projects undertaken by companies that include Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd and Asia Pulp and Paper Co are on schedule. Analysts predict that expansion growth of pulp and paper production capacity will continue, but this growth will be slower than in previous years., The currency woes of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and most recently, South Korea have rippled across regional and world financial markets, causing sharp declines and heightened uncertainties. How have these fluctuations [...]

The startup of a 330, 000 tpy uncoated free-sheet machine energizes Boise Cascade's Jackson mill. When it comes to world record-holders in paper machinery manufacturing, attention doesn't usually turn to [...]

The Abitibi-Price Corp operation in Alma, Quebec, Canada began a series of modernization projects in the early 1990s, including switching its sulfite and groundwood pulp mills to thermomechanical pulping. Wastewater treatment and deinking plants were also included in the modernization. The mill serves the directory paper and newsprint markets, produces 264,000 mtpy, has 669 employees, and has 3 paper machines in use., When Abitibi-Price chairman and CEO Ronald Y. Oberlander visited the company's Alma, Que., mill in 1992, he told managers and union employees of the 1925-vintage mill that it was not [...]

There has been a significant increase in interest recently in the creation of a derivatives market for pulp. Many observers now accept that this may be the best way to reduce volatility in the pulp market. A derivatives exchange for pulp has been established in Helsinki, Finland, and it is already trading in northern bleached softwood kraft. However, there is considerable scepticism within the industry about the use of derivatives, and many producers are reluctant to move into derivatives until they know how their competitors will react.

Fletcher Challenge Paper operates 25 paper machines at 11 mills in seven countries, and is a key producer of communications paper and market kraft pulp. It is among the larger producers of newsprint in the world, and the only manufacturer of newsprint in New Zealand and Australia. It is giving considerable attention to adding value, with developments including moving from standard newsprint grades to groundwood speciality papers and making more use of mechanical pulping. It mainly operates in the Pacific Rim, but is also present in the UK.

Project financing, which can help pulp and paper companies boost share value for investors, represents a good option for low risk projects. Project financing allows several companies to create joint ventures, and limited liability permits increased use of corporate debt. Also, the minimum alternative tax payment can be avoided through business cycle management. Advantages and disadvantages of project financing for pulp and paper companies are discussed., Activist investors in the 1990s have made shareholder value a top issue for corporate management. The result has been an avalanche of corporate restructuring, re-engineering, spin-offs, acquisitions, and stock repurchases [...]

Implementation of an efficient maintenance program is a key factor in helping pulp and paper mills stay profitable and competitive. A successful maintenance program must consider important steps such as problem identification, planning, schedule, execution and quality control. Mill management needs to develop training programs for maintenance personnel and coordinate the mill's operations and maintenance program objectives., Editor's Note: The following speech was a keynote address at the 1996 Paper Industry Maintenance Conference, held October 22 to 25, 1996, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., and [...]

A new bleach plant configuration should be environmentally sound, cost effective and controllable. This sequence should be evaluated as a unit operation with several variables working simultaneously, including, Ph, retention time, temperature and amount of chemical used, rather than a series of independent stages., WITH THE RECENT REVOlution in new technology and equipment resulting from the environmentally driven research of the late 1980s and 1990s, the options for bleach plant configurations have increased exponentially. [...]

Recycled and deinked mills are facing significant problems with outdated equipment and wastepaper supply quality. Deinked mills do not have adequate equipment to handle today's 'mixed office waste.' Recycled mills are working with suppliers to develop effective procurement and collection procedures. Water consumption and energy costs are significant issues for recycled and deinked mills., OFFSET, XEROGRAPHIC,AND FLEXOGRAPHIC inks. Chemical, mechanical, unbleached, nonwood, and recycled fibers. Coatings, fillers, hot-melt, and pressure-sensitive adhesives. These are the challenges that today's pulp and paper producers face when using [...]

The major goal of Boise Cascade Corp's Jackson, AL, plant was to develop a high-quality pulp production, including deinking, plus making an effort to use fewer chemicals. Developing and training operations and maintenance personnel is a major part of the effort. Incoming stock is fed into the system, sent to the flotation stages, and bleached. Off-quality stock is then retreated. A target of 84 GE brightness is part of the final pulp specifications., FROM ITS INCEPTION, BOISE Cascade's new recycle plant at Jackson, Ala., was a project with an eye on the future--a deinking plant built at a mill that has always had [...]

The paper and pulp industries are capital intensive, and the demands for capital are becoming stronger due to heightened competition and government regulations. Paper and pulp companies have no control over prices, which makes it imperative for companies to enhance their economic viability by improving their project management. The key to improving the project management of greenfield projects lies in forecasting project availability., FEW MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES ARE AS CAPITAL-intensive as the pulp and paper industry. Indeed, the trend in recent years indicates the industry is becoming even more capital-intensive. And in light of [...]

Perry, FL-based Foley Mill won the 1994 North American Maintenance Excellence Award. The firm has focused on reliability since 1983 when a benchmarking study was performed. The mill's maintenance philosophy is comprised of equal parts of reliability, engineering and operations. A high performance work system was implemented in 1986 and total quality management was implemented in 1990., EMPLOYEES AT BUCKEYE FLORIDA L.P.'S FOLEY MILL in Perry, Fla., frequently use the word 'reliability.' At times, it seems they manufacture reliability instead of dissolving and fluff pulps. But the [...]

Indah Kiat has started up a new bleached hardwood kraft pulp fine at its integrated mill in Perawang, Riau province, Sumatra. The company's third pulp installation, the new line was [...]

Scott Paper Co is logging, milling, and exporting over 1 million tons of wood chips from its Mobile, AL port facility. The port facility exports $50 million worth of chips per year, mostly to five paper companies in Japan. Three mills located in Alabama and Mississippi supply the chips, and wood and chips are transported mostly by barges. The 16 to 18 barges per week that arrive are unloaded by a huge clamshell grapple, and the wood and chips are sent via ship to Asia, where they arrive still fresh., THIS YEAR, SCOTT PAPER CO. WILL EXPORT 1 MILlion+ tons of high-quality chips from its dedicated port facilities in Mobile, Ala., as it has been doing for the past several [...]

The ending of the world recession has seen increased activity in the forest products industry's merger and aquisition (M&A) market, led by the need for financial consolidation, the availability of reasonably cheap companies and the need for rationalization. In Europe, consolidation during the 1980s has led to a reduction in paper and board mills and an increase in mill size. This trend is set to continue. In the US, industry concentration continues to be low, with the leading four companies accounting for just 27% of sales in the pulp and paper sector, despite brisk M&A activity.

On 9 August, 1993, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries (APFI) got the go-ahead to start the world's largest single-line bleached hardwood pulp mill. Four years after the project started - and only [...]

Ketchikan Pulp Co. (KPC) may be the least visible of Alaska's major businesses, but it is an economic powerhouse for Southeast. For 40 years the company, sitting on scenic Ward […]

BOOM AND BUST are all-too-familiar words to market pulp producers: During the last five years, they have experienced the full force of both. The sector is well known for its [...]

Parsons & Whittemore Inc.'s (P&W) giant pulp and paper complex in Claiborne, Ala., certainly needs tremendous amounts of wood-almost 5 million tons annually now that all three mills are operating [...]

The North American pulp and paper industry has not engaged in nonwood pulp production for the past 30 years, but that may soon change. Rod Brown, general manager of the [...]

Millar Western Launches Plans for Second BCTMP Mill in Saskatchewan Success of Whitecourt Alta., mill during past two years lays ground for $250-million, 240,000-metric-tpy greenfield expansion Less than two years [...]

Economic boom boosts paper demand THE LAST three years have been a time of rapid expansion for Thailand. In 1989, the economy grew by 11% for the second year in [...]

The article discusses the objectives of Jouko M. Jaakkola, M-real's new CEO. Jaakkola's top goal is to successfully finalize the consolidation and restructuring process initiated after M-real purchased Modo Paper and Zanders.

How can asset-intensive companies break away from average performance and get off the cost/price reduction tread mill? The business environment for most asset-intensive industries is undeniably tough. Even before the [...]

Eliminating inefficiencies in the fiber value chain could present many companies with a realistic chance to boost profitability Over the past decade, the forest products industry has earned less than [...]

Metsa-Serla was not a prime performer in financial terms through the early 1990s, but dramatic changes have taken place In City of London financial circles, it's called 'doing a kitchen [...]

Management at Aracruz moved into fast-forward when implementing an ambitious modernization program at the world's largest market pulp mill 'Speed of thinking, as well as speed of pulp production, gets [...]

Ozone has gained acceptance as a pulp-bleaching agent. With the Cluster Rule's final promulgation, pulp mills that are adopting elemental chlorine-free production are again considering ozone. For many mills, the least costly option for using ozone for bleaching will be to introduce it to the initial chlorine dioxide bleaching stage, turning that stage into a 'ZD' or a 'DZ' stage., No longer viewed as an unpredictable bleaching agent, ozone is becoming a more common element in bleach plants worldwide Ozone has moved a long way toward its acceptance within the [...]

The beginning of this decade found Abitibi-Price (now Abitibi-Consolidated) in serious need of change. The North American paper industry was entering its most severe cyclical downturn since the 1930s, and [...]

Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. is one of the largest forest products companies in Canada. Before it was acquired by Fletcher Challenge Ltd. of New Zealand in 1987, it was known as British Columbia Forest Products Ltd. In 1996, the company divested its groundwood papers operations and divided its pulp and paper operations into separate units. The company had earnings of $154 million in FY 1996 with sales of $2.4 billion., Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. (FCC), one of Canada's largest forestry companies, operates three British Columbia (B.C.) facilities, including two integrated pulp and paper mills on Vancouver Island, and a kraft [...]

Address by CARL GEIST, Vice President, Pulp Weyerhaeuser Company Delivered to the 4th International Market Pulp Conference, Charleston, S.C., June 9, 1997 Good morning. I hope everyone is enjoying being [...]

Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company Ltd is a major global presence in the pulp and paper industries. The company owns assets in the US and Canada that produce market pulp, newsprint and groundwood papers. Daishowa garnered a net profit of $78 million in 1996 compared to a loss of $67 million in 1995. The company also posted $3.2 billion in sales gains in 1996, a 2.4% rise when compared to 1995's results. The company's major assets in North America are detailed., Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd., a Japanese pulp and paper company, owns interests in several North American pulp and paper facilities manufacturing market pulp (about 42% of capacity on a [...]