Operations News

WestRock Company , a leading provider of differentiated paper and packaging solutions, announced Alpa Sutaria has joined the Company as senior vice president, Strategy and Sustainability.

In February, company employees said the mill was expected to shut down by the end of August.

Wahlroos has announced that the commencing term will be his last as the Chairman.

It is anticipated that the reduced operating schedules will impact production capacity by a minimum of 100 million board feet.

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. is announcing a minimum six-week extension of the curtailment of BCTMP production at Taylor Pulp due to the ongoing transportation shortages that have resulted in continued high finished product inventories at the pulp mill.

A 44-year-old maintenance worker died when a machine he was working on re-engaged Friday, March 18, at Pactiv Evergreen/Evergreen Packaging in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, said officials at the Jefferson County sheriff's office.

A fire shortly after midnight on Wednesday, March 16, occurred at the Pixelle Speciality Solutions paper mill in Chillicothe in the area where wood chips are kept, according to officials.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. said that Chief Financial Officer Maria Henry will retire from the company. She joined in 2015 and will stay on in an advisory capacity until September 1.

Employees at the Longview paper mill NORPAC narrowly voted against unionizing last month in the staff's first effort to organize.

Norwegian pulp-and-paper company Norske Skog ASA said that its Bruck paper mill in Austria will gradually resume production Monday, March 21, following its March 9 decision to introduce temporary downtime as unprecedented energy prices made operations unsustainable.

Union workers took to the streets last month in demonstrations, to fight for a new contract.

This was the mill's second blaze in as many months, although it was not as severe as the Jan. 22 fire that wrought $500,000 in damage, according to the East Jefferson Fire Rescue report.

Conciliator Leo Suomaa has submitted a proposal for a settlement in the collective labour agreement negotiations between UPM Pulp and the Paperworkers' Union. The conciliator has asked the parties to state their position on the proposal by 14 April 2022 at 10:00 EET.

Close to 200 Unifor delegates kicked off bargaining preparations for the pattern agreement in the pulp and paper industry in Eastern Canada by selecting Resolute Forestry Products as the target company. Members at the Pulp and Paper Wage Policy Conference, held in Montreal on March 23 and 24, 2022, worked together to build a list of demands and choose the target employer.

Ontario's Labour Ministry confirmed the incident and is now investigating.

Workers at Cascades Containerboard Packing in the city have overwhelmingly ratified a collective bargaining agreement which will remain in place until the end of the year.

Firefighters were called to Dunn Paper in the town of Gouverneur shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday, March 6.

Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, starts negotiations on its plans to discontinue the lumber production in Kyrö, Finland in the summer of 2022. The production stop will affect all the sawmill's 73 employees.

The operations of Metsä Group's only production unit in Russia, the Svir sawmill, have been suspended.

Syktyvkar is currently operating, but the mill is starting to see a number of operational constraints, including in the importing of process chemicals, spare parts and other critical supplies. While difficult to assess the ramifications in what remains a fast-moving situation, this may significantly impact the operation of the mill.

Neenah, Inc. announced that Larry Brownlee, Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer (CAO), has communicated his plans to retire in August. To ensure a smooth transition, Mr. Brownlee will remain with Neenah through the August 12 retirement date.

Neenah announced the restart of its Brownville, New York manufacturing facility.

Due to unaffordability of operations in the current energy environment, temporary downtime has been initiated at the Bruck paper mill in Austria. The new boiler scheduled for start-up in April is expected to contribute to alleviate the situation by reducing the mill's gas consumption and improve its energy supply. The boiler project and the packaging conversion project at the Bruck mill continue as planned.

Stora Enso announced that they will stop all production and sales in Russia until further notice due to the ongoing invasion in Ukraine.

The Svetogorsk mill, located at the border with Finland, employs approximately 1,700 people and produces uncoated freesheet, coated paperboard and pulp. The mill relies on raw materials and other critical supplies and services imported from Europe.