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Cascades Opens Oregon Tissue Converting Plant

in case you missed it in TAPPI’s weekly electronic newsletter

Cascades Inc. has inaugurated its US$64 million tissue converting facility in Scappoose, Oregon. The state-of-the-art, 284,000-square-foot plant will produce towel and tissue products under the Cascades PRO AFH brand.

Cascades hosted partners, customers, media, community members, and state and local officials for the ribbon-cutting ceremony in July. Oregon Governor Kate Brown told the crowd that she was “so delighted” to welcome the new facility, which she called “truly a win for rural Oregon.”

With three best-in-class converting lines, high-speed rewinders and folders, and one of the fastest bath lines in the world, the new plant will use tissue produced at Cascades’ St. Helens, OR, mill only eight miles away. Production capacity will be about six million cases per year of virgin and recycled bathroom tissue products and paper hand towels, serving the western US and Canada. The facility will have about 80 full-time employees.

The Scappoose plant marks a milestone for Cascades’ plans to expand its presence in the US, noted Jean Jobin, president and COO of Cascades Tissue Group: “This world-class facility is the first step in our plan to modernize our tissue manufacturing and converting equipment and a clear indication of our commitment to this segment.” Land adjacent to the new facility has already been purchased for Phase II of the project; plans for the expansion include an additional three lines and an automated warehouse.From left to right: Jean Jobin, president and COO, Cascades Tissue Group; Betsy Johnson, state senator, Oregon; Mario Plourde, CEO of Cascades; Kate Brown, governor of Oregon; Tony Hyde, former Columbia County commissioner; Scott Burge, mayor of Scappoose; Brad Witt, State House representative.

MANUFACTURERS

Ahlstrom-Munksjö, Sweden, will add new capacity at its Turin, Italy plant to meet growing demand for engine and industrial filtration media.

Anhui Shanying Paper Industry Co. has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Nordic Paper Holding AB, Sweden.

Boise Paper was honored with the 2017 3M Supplier of the Year Award in recognition of the company’s contribution to improving 3M’s competitiveness.

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. will install a 32 MW condensing turbo-generator (estimated cost US$65 million) at its Northwood NBSK pulp mill in Prince George, BC; and will upgrade the refining line at its BCTMP pulp mill in Taylor, BC (estimated cost US$40 million), partially funded through BC Hydro’s conservation program incentives.

Columbia Pulp is building a facility near Dayton, WA, to make paper pulp using wheat straw. The mill would be the first of its kind in North America; anticipated startup is late 2018.

DS Smith Plc. has agreed to buy 80 percent of Interstate Resources, a corrugated packaging business, from Merpas Co. for US$920 million.

Georgia-Pacific:

will expand its corrugated packaging business with the acquisition of Ohio-based PAX Corrugated Products.

will invest more than US$400 million in its Palatka, FL, mill to expand its GP Consumer (retail) tissue and towel business. Investments include a new paper machine using TAD technology, as well as adding associated converting equipment and infrastructure.

Glatfelter will shut down PM 24 at its Chillicothe, Ohio, facility as part of cost reduction measures in the Specialty Papers Business Unit.

Golden West Packaging Group LLC has acquired four independent packaging companies: Heritage Solutions Inc., Capital Corrugated Inc., PackageOne Inc., Packaging Innovators Corp., and their co-owned captive sheet feeder Cal Sheets, LLC. 

Sun Paper’s new dissolving pulp mill in Arkansas could start up in March 2020. The project is still in the pre-engineering permitting stage; when completed, the pulp mill will consume 10,000 tons of wood
fiber daily.

WestRock is expanding its consumer packaging portfolio with the acquisition of Hanna Group Pty Ltd (Hannapak), Australia.

SUPPLIERS

Andritz has received an order from Vajda Papír to supply a complete tissue production line for its mill in Dunaföldvár, Hungary. Startup is scheduled for March 2018.

Dienes has developed a new automatic knife position system, the Quick Set NW, specifically for narrow webs.

DuPont Industrial Biosciences has received the 2017 European Company of the Year Award for bio-based materials from Frost & Sullivan.

Firefly AB has developed the world’s first third-party approved Quick Suppression System: “DFL TM170307-1261 – Quick Suppression Systems for certain high-risk areas typically found in industry applications.” It has been developed by DFL, an ISO/IEC 17025 certified test laboratory, accredited to conduct full-scale fire-tests.

FITNIR Analyzers Inc. will supply an online FT-NIR analyzer to replace outdated technology at a pulp mill in the southern US.

Kadant Solutions has launched a line of composite doctor blades that incorporate nanotechnology-enhanced resins.

PMP has signed a contract with Australian Paper to deliver an Intelli-Jet V hydraulic headbox for PM 2 at its mill in Morwell, Australia. 

PMT, Italy, will supply the technological sections of the rebuild of the 7.1 meter wide PM 2 at Varaka Kagit Sanayi AS in Balikesir, Turkey.

Solenis LLC has closed on its acquisition of the business and assets of Nopco Colombiana S.A., a producer and supplier of specialized chemical solutions for water intensive industries. 

Toscotec has supplied two AHEAD-2.0M tissue lines for Vinda Paper Zhejiang, China. The Longyou mill’s new TM 3 and 4 will increase production capacity by 60,000 mtpy. 

Valmet:

will deliver an EVO-56 Defibrator system to Chiping County Senqiang MDF in China. The Defibrator system will produce 30 metric tons per hour of bd unresinated fiber.

will supply two containerboard production lines with related automation systems to Nine Dragons Industries Co., China, for its Hebei (PM 41) and Shenyang (PM 42) facilities.

will supply a complete tissue production line to Sofidel’s Ibertissue mill in Buñuel, Navarra, Spain. The delivery includes an Advantage NTT 200 tissue production line, stock preparation equipment, and automation system. 

will supply a biomass power plant to DONG Energy’s Asnaes Power Station in Kalundborg, Denmark, converting electricity and heat production from coal to sustainable biomass.

Voith:

will supply a new XcelLine tissue machine for The Navigator Company’s Cacia mill in Portugal, to produce high-quality tissue maximizing the use of slush Eucalyptus pulp.

has started up its XcelLine TM 10 tissue machine at the Lee & Man mill in Jiangxi, China in a new record time: only 30 minutes from “stock on wire” to “paper on reel.”

PEOPLE

Dr. Ronald Anton Yeske, an active member of several TAPPI committees, passed away on June 19, 2017. He was a TAPPI member since 1989 and served on its board of directors from 1997-2005. He received his PhD degree from Northwestern University, and later served as VP of the Institute of Paper Science & Technology before serving as dean of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Dr. Yeske also retired as president of the National Council on Air & Stream Improvement Inc. (NCASI) after 22 years of service. He was presented with a Distinguished Service Award from the AF&PA in 2015, and was a TAPPI Fellow. A memorial service was held in June in Anderson, SC.

EVENTS

TISSUE 2017: Oct. 3-6, Miami, FL.
www.tissue2017.org

Corr Expo: Oct. 15-18, Providence, RI. http://www.correxpo.org

RISI North American Conference: Oct. 16-18, Boston, MA. events.risiinfo.com/north-american-conference

ABTCP Pulp and Paper International Congress: Oct. 23-25, São Paulo, Brazil. http://www.abtcp2017.org.br/pt-br

TAPPI PEERS/IBBC Conferences: Nov. 5-8, Norfolk, VA. http://tappipeers.org

PPI 2017 Awards Ceremony: Nov. 29, Brussels, Belgium. events.risiinfo.com/ppi-awards/

TAPPI PaperCon 2018: April 15-18, Charlotte, NC. http://papercon.org  

LC Paper, Spain, has launched its new biomass boiler, which has a capacity of 4 metric tons per hour. In combination with certified renewable energy sourcing, the new biomass boiler, which generates steam for the mill’s tissue machine, has helped LC Paper ensure that most of the tissue production at its Besalú mill is now CO2-neutral—that is, zero CO2 emissions are generated during the manufacturing cycle. LC Paper is the first tissue producer approaching a zero CO2 emissions goal.