Valmet will supply a moisturizer system to Schumacher Poledno’s corrugated line in Bukowiec, Poland. The Valmet IQ Moisturizer with two beams will enable the mill to improve corrugated board quality and reduce production losses caused by warped board. The system will be started up in July 2017.

The order is included in Valmet’s second quarter 2017 orders received. The value of the order will not be disclosed. Typically, the order value of these kinds of automation system deliveries is below EUR one million.

The order was preceded by a successful trial of the Valmet moisturizer beams in late 2016 on the customer’s 2.8-meter-wide production line.

"We had good experience with re-moisturizing high-grammage 5-ply boards with another device. However, the patented nozzles of the Valmet IQ Moisturizer provide a fine water mist instead of a water jet onto the board and thus offer better controllability. We can now use the device for all board grades without having the negative impact of water stripes," comments Slawomir Kubinski, Maintenance Manager at Schumacher Poledno.

  Voith Paper – a global reference in innovation for the paper industry – will take part in the second edition of Tissue World São Paulo 2017, Latin America’s most important trade show for the tissue paper industry. Among the most important solutions that Voith will be showcasing in the trade fair and congress – which is set to take place between May 31 and June 2 at the Transamérica Expo Center, in São Paulo – is the XcelLine family, with its innovative solutions designed to increase the efficiency and quality of the paper manufacturing process.

The Annual General Meeting on April 5, 2017, decided to split the SCA Group into two listed companies : the forest products company SCA and the hygiene and health company Essity. The distribution and listing of Essity is expected to take place in June 2017. The future forest products company SCA is today holding an investor day in Sundsvall at which the management will present the company’s strategy and operations. The investor day opens at 8:30 am (CET) and will be available by webcast at www.sca.com.

“As Europe’s largest private forest owner with well-invested industrial operations close to the forest holdings, we have a well-integrated value chain that generates strong cash flows and favorable development opportunities. We have control over the entire value chain, from seedling to product at the customer´s, and have built an industrial ecosystem that maximizes value creation from the forest resources,” says Ulf Larsson, the future President and CEO of the future forest products company SCA.

The future forest products company SCA’s forest assets account for around half of the company’s annual timber consumption of about 10 million m3sub*. SCA’s forests are currently in a high-growth phase, whereby gross growth is currently around 9.5 million m3fo* per year and net growth about 3.0 million m3fo per year. In 2016, the volume of standing timber on SCA’s land amounted to around 230 million m3fo. SCA’s plans include increasing felling at its own forests from the current level of approximately 4.3 million m3sub to about 6 million m3sub in about 100 years’ time. Despite the increased felling, the volume of standing timber on SCA’s land is expected to continue increasing over this interval.

   Kadant Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the forest products business of NII FPG Company for $173 million in cash, subject to a post-closing adjustment. The Company also announced that it has increased its revolving credit facility to $300 million from $200 million and intends to finance the transaction through borrowings under the revolving credit facility.

NII FPG Company is a global leader in the design and manufacture of equipment used by sawmills, veneer mills, and other manufacturers in the forest products industry. The company also designs and manufactures harvesting equipment used in cutting, gathering, and removing timber from forest plantations. The transaction is expected to close in July 2017.

RISI is pleased to announce that Mark Kowlzan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), has been named the 2017 North American CEO of the Year. The award will be presented to Mr. Kowlzan at the North American Conference on October 17, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts at the Seaport Hotel.

Stora Enso has appointed Satu Härkönen as Head of Communications for Media Relations and Wood Supply in Finland.

Satu Härkönen has been working for Stora Enso since 1995 in several leadership positions within sales, marketing and communications. Her most recent position was Project Manager for Stora Enso’s FIS Nordic World Ski Championships sponsorship in Lahti, Finland. Before that she was Head of Marketing and Communications for Wood Supply Finland. She holds MSc degrees in Forestry and History.

Satu Härkönen will start in her new position on 1 June 2017. She reports to Ulrika Lilja, EVP, Communications in Stora Enso.

Liisa Nyyssönen, previously Head of Media Relations in Finland and SVP, Communications in Paper division, will continue as SVP, Communications in Paper division, and report to Kati ter Horst, EVP, Paper division in Stora Enso.

ANDRITZ has combined its innovative IoT (Internet of Things) solutions, which are field-proven in many reference plants, with immediate effect under the
technology brand “Metris – Industrial IoT Solutions”. Metris technologies are the very latest state-of-the-art in the IoT/Industry 4.0 sector and can be fully tailored to individual customer requirements.

The PERGRAPHICA® portfolio of premium uncoated fine papers from Mondi is now available in Spain through paper merchant SET. PERGRAPHICA® is designed for the exacting needs of the creative and commercial print industries. It provides excellent printability on a choice of textures, shades and weights. Produced by the Mondi Neusiedler mill in Austria, PERGRAPHICA® is FSC® and EU Ecolabel certified.

PERGRAPHICA® complements Mondi’s offering at the high end of its professional print portfolio. It is called ‘Paper for Perfectionists’ because it fulfils the most demanding requirements for sophisticated and elegant printed documents. Graphic designers, advertising agencies and fine book publishers are just a few of the creative industries that will appreciate PERGRAPHICA®’s variety of options : two textures (Rough and Smooth), three shades (High White, Classic and Natural) and six grammages between 90 and 300 g/m2.

Mondi, the international packaging and paper Group, will show how its packaging solutions are addressing industry and consumer trends at RosUpack 2017. Consumers today are sophisticated and demanding. They prefer packaging that is convenient and helps them make a buying decision. Consumer goods producers are asking the packaging industry for solutions and materials that are easy to use and that help increase brand recognition, differentiate at the point of sale and build trust with consumers.

At RosUpack, Mondi will exhibit its wide range of innovative packaging solutions to address these trends and more. Almost all parts of its business will be represented at this important regional trade fair, including consumer goods packaging, technical films, containerboard, industrial bags, and – for the first time – corrugated packaging. Its stand – which features a special product discovery area including a staged kitchen – will allow visitors to ‘Discover how Mondi’s products touch millions of lives, every day.’

Mondi is offering a virtual reality experience to highlight some of its innovative products and show how they are used by consumers around the world. Visitors are invited to broaden their knowledge about Mondi’s large product portfolio by finding 11 Mondi packaging products hidden in a virtual apartment.

Green packaging products & solutions were widespread at the show this year, attracting record breaking number of entrants enthusiastic to gain recognition for their eco-friendly products and sustainable CSR initiatives. For its 4th consecutive year, LUXE PACK NEW YORK honored the best eco-friendly product and business initiative submitted by this year’s exhibitors.

After a thorough review of all submissions, the prestigious judging panel consisting of packaging industry experts awarded this year’s LUXE PACK in green awards to Scheufelen for their paperboard for Promobox “Dein Kräutergarten” ,“Your herb garden” and James Cropper for their “solar array installation plan”. John Morgan, Global Senior Scientist, Open Innovation, AMWAY and one of this year’s judges said,” This year’s in green submissions where very impressive. They clearly demonstrated that sustainability has become an important priority in the manufacturing sector of the luxury packaging industry. It was quite apparent that both of the winners took sustainability very seriously and dedicated a lot of time, effort, and resources toward developing meaningful programs that have an overarching impact not only on the products they produce but also their employees and communities. Once again congratulations to the winners !”

Scheufelen’s Promobox “Dein Kräutergarten” is an innovative laminated board with grass content in a fiber composition. It is produced from 2 substrates manufactured by Papierfabrik Scheufelen. Scheufelen is aiming to offer a more sustainable solution for a new generation of innovative packaging products, permitting premium printing and folding capability typical for high end SBS boards, while dramatically reducing the total carbon footprint of the overall product. This solution permits brand owners to demonstrate their ecological awareness, without sacrificing their premium brand appearance.

Metsä Board is proud to announce that its packaging design for the new T2 Mini Fruit Tea range has won the first place in the Limited Edition category at The Dieline Awards 2017. 

The T2 designs previously gained a prestigious iF Design Award in the Beverages Packaging category earlier this year and a Merit Award at the 28th Hong Kong Print Awards in the category of Paper Packaging last December.

Metsä Board’s design team based in Shanghai worked closely with T2 to create the packaging as part of T2’s 2016 Christmas campaign, The Grand Most Exotic Bazaar. The fruit shaped boxes reflect the flavour of the tea stored within them, which includes banana bake, watermelon sorbet, Turkish apple, and peach.

The design is printed on the reverse side of MetsäBoard Pro FBB Bright 250 gsm fresh fibre paperboard. The uncoated side was deliberately selected to echo the natural feel of the fruit and to give a softer texture to the boxes while still reproducing vivid graphics. The stiff and durable structure of MetsäBoard Pro FBB Bright enabled the design team to create a 100% glue-less packaging structure through clever creasing and folding of the material. The packaging also holds up well in transport and on the shelf.

Following the recent acquisition of GapCon tissue at the end of 2016, PAPCEL acquired another major player in the world market of papermaking industry - in April 2017, the company PAPCEL completed acquisition of the Italian company PMT Italia S.p.A.
The Czech company PAPCEL continues to make acquisitions of western competitors. A new member, the Italian manufacturer PMT Italia S.p.A. joined the PAPCEL Group of companies, consolidating its position among the world leading players supplying technology for the papermaking industry. Nowadays, PAPCEL Group comprises of leading and highly qualified patented technology suppliers with strong references worldwide. By merging with the Italian PMT, PAPCEL Group gains references in the USA and in China. This year PAPCEL expects to exceed the magical limit of revenues over 2 billion CZK for the entire Group of companies.

Management of the joint-stock company PAPCEL continues to purchase other western European papermaking manufacturers. The latest acquisition was made in April 2017, i.e. the acquisition of the Italian company PMT Italia S.p.A., based in Pinerolo. Thanks to the purchase of the Italian company Comecart, based in the town of Cuneo (former Burgo Group) ; the Czech PAPEL founded a manufacturing division PAPCEL Italy in 2015. Establishing the new manufacturing division significantly expanded the production potential, which is now being used by GapCon tissue S.r.l., a member of the Group. The Italian company PMT is completing a very strong group of companies and Italy is becoming a very strong technical-manufacturing “competence” centre for production of tissue papers, printing & writing papers and packaging paper grades. The purchase of manufacturing facilities from PMT premises expanded the manufacturing park and increased the production capacities.

Ranjit Baxi, President of the Bureau of International Recycling world body, announces today that the first Global Recycling Day will take place on March 18th 2018. The day also marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of BIR.
“I am delighted to be announcing this very important date,” said Mr Baxi. “We want to use this day to promote action on recycling around the world. Our members, who rank amongst the most prestigious recycling companies in the industry, want to take ownership of this powerful initiative. We were the first global trade body to be created and therefore our 70th anniversary is a fitting date for such an important event. We want people to think ‘resource’, not ‘waste’. There are 7 billion people on this earth, and if we can just get 10% of these people to make one positive recycling change on Global Recycling Day, it will have a massive impact.”

The BIR Executive Committee under the presidency of Ranjit Baxi is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Arnaud Brunet as BIR Director General as from 1 June 2017.
Prior to joining BIR, Mr Brunet headed Sony Europe Brussels Office, managing their relationship with the European institutions (Commission, Parliament and Council) and with European trade associations. He was also Head of the External Affairs team at Sony France.
Mr Brunet graduated in 1986 in Tax and Business Law from the University de Paris II “Assas”. He joined ESSO France in 1986 as a junior lawyer and moved on to IBM France in 1990 to take on a position as lawyer. In 1997 he became Senior Attorney at IBM EMEA.

The Navigator Company, European leader in the production of UWF paper, is forced to increase the prices for its UWF (uncoated woodfree) paper products, by 3 to 5% in Europe, between 3% and 5%, as from July 1st (dispatch date).
This decision is a direct consequence of a continuous upward trend in production costs that have made the current European paper prices unsustainable. Furthermore, this decision is supported by a record order book, driven by very positive economic indicators and outlook, both in Europe and worldwide.

The International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) announced Jane Molony as its new president. Molony, Executive Director of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), will serve in this capacity for the next two years. 

“Across the world, wood, paper and tissue products touch lives every day in ways that often go unnoticed. Without our industries’ products, many people would not be able to teach, read or learn ; businesses would not be able to ship merchandise, or protect goods ; nor would people be able to improve their lives through the basics of personal hygiene. Forest and paper products also have a great environmental and economic story to tell. It is a story that has been proudly told by the ICFPA for 15 years. I am particularly honoured to take charge of this group of leaders,” said Molony.

The ALLIMAND Group, designer and manufacturer of paper & nonwovens machines, reknowned for its continuous innovation strategy, won the order for the new paper machine for the production of the security paper required for the printing of Euro banknotes. This machine, which is currently being installed at the EUROPAFI mill in Vic-le-Comte (Puy-de-Dôme), a European public fiduciary center, will go into production at the end of 2017.

Can a recycled paper product be supplied inside a dispenser made with reclaimed materials ? Now it can : this is the successful case history presented by Lucart at Pulire, the largest professional cleaning industry trade show in Italy, a world-leading event in the sector held in Verona from 23rd to 25th May.

Thanks to the Fiberpack® project, the innovative and sustainable project developed in collaboration with Tetra Pak®, Lucart can now recycle 100% of the components of a beverage carton, allocating 74% of cellulose fibres to the production of recycled paper products and the remaining 26%, consisting of 22% polyethylene and 4% aluminium, to the production of AL.PE.®, a recovered material intended for industries that produce building materials, urban furniture elements and objects of everyday use. Lucart used this material to create a full range of washroom area dispensers, combining the concept of sustainability with the three key elements that are most in-demand on the market : manageability, design and reliability.

ANDRITZ has received an order from First Quality Tissue to supply a PrimeLineTAD tissue machine with complete stock preparation for its mill in Lock Haven, USA. Start-up is scheduled for 2019.

The TAD (Through-Air-Drying) tissue machine has a capacity of approximately 70,000 tons per year. The improved softness, absorbency, and bulk generated by the TAD technology give these products superiority over products made using conventional processes. ANDRITZ has supplied two TAD machines previously to First Quality Tissue’s Lock Haven mill.

First Quality Tissue, which markets its products under the brand name “PlentyTM”, is one of the leading private label producers worldwide of TAD premium quality tissue and towel products. It currently operates five tissue machines in the USA (two at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and three at Anderson, South Carolina).

As communicated earlier BillerudKorsnäs experienced a major breakdown in the digester in the semi-chemical pulp production line in Gruvön. The problem has now been resolved. The pulp line and the fluting machine PM6 is back in production.

The impact on EBITDA for the breakdown is estimated to approximately SEK 25 million after compensation from insurance.

“The impact of the breakdown could be limited thanks to a very efficient work in the mill, and we could start up production relatively quickly. Now we have to limit the indirect damage in the form of missing deliveries and customer relations,” says Per Lindberg, CEO of BillerudKorsnäs.

Metsä Board, the leading European producer of premium fresh fibre paperboards and part of Metsä Group, has achieved the Gold level rating by EcoVadis for its approach to sustainability. Overall Metsä Board was ranked in the top 1% of suppliers assessed by EcoVadis across all categories.

During the summer, Södra is to organise nine different forestry youth camps. These are for intermediate-level school children who will learn more about what the forest has to offer for both people and society.

During the two to three days of the youth camp, children will learn about both nature conservation and which products you can make from the forest, as well as how to drive a forest machine and learn various survival tips. Classic camp activities are also included in the programme, such as swimming and barbecuing.

"The forest is so important for Swedish society. Despite this, there are still many people who know very little about it. We hope this initiative will not only increase knowledge about the forest but also build a stronger relationship with Sweden’s forest," said Martina Gustafsson, HR Manager at Södra Skog.

Valmet will supply an off-machine coater rebuild for Hansol Paper Co., Ltd., at its Shintanjin site in South Korea.

Paper Prime, a company belonging to the Trevipapel Group, and Toscotec announce the successful start-up of the new TM1.