Recent Articles

If you have spent your career in the shelter of large, rated companies, you likely have not experienced this problem. Some explanation. By "rated" I mean a company that carries a rating by a Dun & Bradstreet, Fitch, or some other recognized rating agency. Most such companies fund their capital projects through their corporate treasury.

Maine Governor Janet Mills announced an award of $1,000,000 from the final round of the Forest Recovery Initiative of her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to ND Paper (NDP) for an upcoming project at NDP's Rumford Division to enhance the efficiency of its R15 packaging paper machine.

Domtar's Kingsport Mill recently produced its first 100% recycled containerboard. The milestone marks the culmination of a two-year, $350 million investment project to convert the former uncoated freesheet paper mill into Domtar's first 100% recycled packaging facility.

The contest honors facility maintenance and cleaning professionals who go above and beyond to provide clean and safe facilities, while implementing sustainable cleaning practices. The grand prize winner will receive $4,000 cash and $500 worth of paper products from Sofidel, and the two runners-up will receive $500 cash each.

Strong demand remains, the company says.

Ms. Boydston recently retired after 13 years as CFO at Ashton Woods, one of the nation's largest private homebuilders.

WorkSafe investigators called to scene, plant closed six days ahead of planned curtailment.

Fibre-based consumer packaging leader Graphic Packaging International ('Graphic Packaging') has announced it is moving its Bristol, UK beverage packaging manufacturing operations to a new, state-of-the-art facility nearby, creating up to 30 new jobs in the process.

The Board of Directors of Metsä Group's parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative has in its constituent meeting decided that Jussi Linnaranta continues as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mikko Mäkimattila was elected as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The plant is part of ANDRITZ's CircleToZero product portfolio that focuses on eliminating unused side streams, create new added value products and lay a foundation for zero emissions and zero waste production.

The project is scheduled to be executed in the fall 2023.

Complementary capabilities, product offering, and customer base solidifies leadership position in priority high growth medical device packaging segment.

Mercer International Inc. reports that, due to a lack of appropriate fiber availability, its Celgar mill in British Columbia, Canada, is planning to take approximately three weeks of downtime. This curtailment is expected to commence in March 2023.

Enviva remains committed to conservatively managing its balance sheet and the Term Loan financing, excluding the impact of debt issuance costs, is leverage neutral to the Company.

The Notes will be guaranteed on a senior secured basis, jointly and severally, by RYAM and certain of RYAM's wholly owned restricted subsidiaries organized in the United States and Canada.

UFP Retail Solutions, a business segment of UFP Industries, Inc., will feature new and innovative products from two leading brands, Deckorators and UFP-Edge, at the NAHB International Builders' Show (IBS 2023) in Las Vegas from January 31 to February 2, 2023.

The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World ranking is the result of a performance analysis of international corporations with more than $1 billion in revenues.

Boise Cascade Company announced the retirement of Rich Viola, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Building Materials Distribution (BMD) division, effective March 1, 2023.

Ms. McCabe brings considerable industry experience to Willamette Falls Paper Company. Previously, she was the Specialty Account Director for ND Paper, Catalyst Paper and NewPage Corporation throughout North America. Ms. McCabe has also held sales management roles at other paper and printing companies, managing territories in Texas, the Western U.S., and Canada.

The North American label industry has taken hit after hit when it comes to availability of materials for release liner. While 87% of release liner is paper-based, recent events like the Pixelle mill closure have succeeded in removing large amounts of materials from the market. As alternative options are being utilized, there's one option we're not seeing much of: glassine.

The Global 100 list represents the top 1% of companies in the world in terms of sustainability performance.

Around 1,300 employees may be affected by the plans.

Smurfit Kappa has formally launched a new eCommerce store in the Dominican Republic. The new store created by Smurfit Kappa Todo Carton (todocartonsk.com.do), will act as an online retail packaging boutique, and serve the ever-growing packaging market in the Dominican Republic. This follows on from the success of its bricks-and-mortar shop in the country which has been operating for over 25 years.

Very long time reader Dene Taylor wrote me a note after last week's column (Week of 9 January 2023 "First Number Uttered") suggesting the second number uttered is the time to complete a project. Mike Higgins offered a similar comment. This is so true and in line with the items I covered the first week of this series, the week of 2 January 2023. I have seen so many schedules blown over the years that they are uncountable. The worst are the rebuild schedules, for they are the ones that take an operating machine out of production for a period of time, endangering the customer base. There is a lot of pressure to make these as short as possible.