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Media Contact: Amber Garwood FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 937.495.4313 NewPage Corporation Considers Strategic Alternatives for Carbonless operations DAYTON, OH – June 2, 2005. NewPage Corporation announced today that it is evaluating steps needed to ensure the carbonless business and associated facilities remain viable for the long term. Options under consideration will include, but are not limited to: · The sale of the facilities to an owner with better alignment to its core businesses that would enhance the viability long term. · The sale of the business to the Chillicothe management team and/or employees, or Major restructuring and streamlining of the existing facilities to reduce costs.
“We believe the Chillicothe-based operation is the largest, fastest, fully integrated carbonless system in the world. However, the total carbonless market is declining slowly as other business forms, especially electronic, take market share” said Peter H. Vogel, Jr., president and CEO of NewPage Corporation. “This means that to meet our continued obligations to our customers, employees and communities we need to take bold steps to keep the overall business competitive and sustainable for the long term, and to take advantage of the strong Chillicothe-based assets. We are publicly announcing this initiative at this early stage so we can openly engage our employees, their representatives, and other key stakeholders in our deliberations. It is important to make informed decisions and we value their input.” Vogel added, “Our new company is committed to act quickly and address opportunities to improve the business. Over the past several years, considerable capital has been invested in the facilities to drive cost and quality improvements over the longer term. These efforts should be accelerated and the operations streamlined to remain sustainable.” Recent investments in core assets supporting the carbonless and uncoated paper manufacturing businesses include: $25 million rebuild of 12 Paper Machine including the installation of a shoe press and dryer rebuilds to enhance productivity $15 million rebuild of 12 coater to install the state-of-the-art in coating technology
The Ohio-based facilities under review include the carbonless paper manufacturing operations and the Chilpaco facility in Chillicothe, and the facility in Fremont. The Distribution Center and Converting facility on Chambers Drive in Chillicothe are not a part of this initiative.
About NewPage Corporation NewPage™ Corporation, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a leading U.S. producer of coated and carbonless papers in North America. With more than 6,300 employees, the company operates five integrated pulp and paper manufacturing mills located in Chillicothe, Ohio; Escanaba, Michigan; Luke, Maryland; Rumford, Maine; and Wickliffe, Kentucky. These mills have a combined annual capacity of approximately 2.5 million tons of coated and carbonless paper. For additional information, please visit the company’s Web site at newpagecorp.com. |
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June — 2005
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Flag Day - June 14th |
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IP to close third U.S. uncoated freesheet machine with indefinite shutdown at Bastrop, LA., mill International Paper will indefinitely shut down an uncoated freesheet paper machine with annual capacity of about 180,000 tons at its integrated paper mill in Bastrop, LA affecting 86 jobs. The company last week said the mill’s No. 3 machine would be shut down starting between June 5th and July 4th. PM 3 has listed capacity of 475 tpd and accounts for about 40% of the mill’s uncoated freesheet and specialty paper capacity. The unit was installed in 1963 and rebuilt in 1985. Bastrop produces a total of 470,000 tpy of uncoated freesheet commodity and value-added grades on four machines. IP in April shut down two uncoated freesheet machines with combined production of 250,000 tpy at its Pensacola Mill in Cantonment, FL., and the Androscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine (P&PW, March 7, p.6). PULP&PAPERWEEK May 23, 2005
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Father’s Day 19th !
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Happy Birthday ~ Jane Miller—19th |
