Vacon Latin America is expanding operations in Brazil by opening another sales office in Lauro de Freitas in the state of Bahia in September 2011.

The new sales office will focus on supporting existing customers, finding new customers and distributors in the region and on expanding the service network. Vacon Latin America already has a service center located in Lauro de Freitas with trained service personnel and spare drives and parts availability.

Vacon is further improving its services and solution support in northeastern Brazil by establishing new service centers. Vacon Latin America operates as a regional service center supporting its end customers and partners with an extensive range of services including e.g. repair services, spare parts, training, online technical support and special application development.

“We are very happy to expand our operations in northeastern Brazil where we hope to find new customers and partners, and to establish new service centers. Our selection of AC drives suits well for the potential customers in this region,” says Claudio Luis Baccarelli, Managing Director of Vacon Latin America.

Vacon has been active in Brazil through a partnership cooperation since 1998. Vacon started business operations of its own in Brazil and Latin America in 2006 by establishing an office in Barueri, São Paulo. In addition to a large number of customers, Vacon Latin America has several distributors and partners in Latin America. Today, the total power of Vacon AC drives sold in Latin America exceeds 211 megawatts.

Vacon Group

IPX Russia 2013 is the second event in the Adforum IPX series to be launched. It is a new international event for the pulp and paper industry aiming to attract a majority of quality Russian buyers. The first IPX Russia will take place in Moscow, April 9-11, 2013.

- With the rapid economic growth of the Russian pulp and paper industry we felt there was a need for a dedicated trade show for pulp and paper machinery, says Marcus Bergström, CEO of Adforum. - We have chosen Moscow as its location, as this is the real financial and political centre of Russia providing excellent transportation links from abroad. This gives the exhibition the potential of becoming truly international, Bergström continues.

IPX Russia welcomes exhibitors showing machinery, equipment, accessories and raw material for the pulp and paper related industries. A top level technical conference as well as a number of social activities will take place alongside the exhibition offering participants invaluable networking possibilities. IPX Russia will be part of the well established and reputable Moscow International Forestry Forum, organised since 2003.

IPX Russia is a joint venture between Adforum, the world’s leading organiser of international pulp and paper events, and Restec Brooks Company, a subsidiary of the Restec Exhibition Company, the leading exhibition organiser in Russia.      

- The Adforum-Restec Brooks partnership is bound to be a successful one, says Alexander Raspopin, MD of Restec Brooks.  
- Adforum has a strong portfolio of international pulp and paper shows and Restec Brooks has the knowledge and experience when it comes to the Russian market. We are looking forward to working closely with Adforum towards an excellent event.

The first event in the IPX series, launched in 2010, is IPX India 2012, which will be held in Mumbai, December 13-15, 2012.

Founded in 1968, Adforum is the world’s leading organiser of exhibitions for the pulp and paper industry. The company currently organises the world’s largest exhibitions, such as the SPCI exhibition in Stockholm and PulPaper in Helsinki, as well as China Paper in Beijing/Shanghai. Adforum is owned by Stockholmsmässan and the Finnish Fair Corporation.

Restec Brooks is a joint venture between UK company Mack Brooks Exhibitions and the Russian Restec Exhibition Company.

BTG is the proud winner of this year’s ATIP Innovation Gold Prize. The award was received for the TCR-2512/2502 “Peak TOTASH In-line transmitter for measurement of total consistency and ash content”.

From left to right the BTG team:  Bernard Rodriguez, Didier Conjeaud, Philippe Genest, Gwénaël Tartarat-Bardet, and Claude Vallier.

In pulp preparation, for the consistency range of 0.5 to 14%, current technology uses different measuring principles:

* Total consistency by optical or microwave principle: in-line measurement
* Ash content by optical (depolarized retro-diffusion) principle: on-line measurement
* Consistency by shear-force principle (rotating or blade):  in-line measurement The measurement of total consistency and ash content hence necessitates the use of several measurement probes.

BTG’s innovation TCR-2502 / TCR-2512 use one unique measurement principle to very precisely and separately evaluate:
* Total consistency in the range of 0.5 – 12%
* Filler content in the range of 1 – 70%
* Fiber consistency in the range of 0.4 – 10%.

This method is applicable in each step of the papermaking process. The technology allows financial gains of 50 up to 300 k€ per year: from the pulper to the machine chest for pulp, waste water and slurries

Some examples:
* After the pulper:  filler control through raw material selection
* Waste water treatment, deinking:  productivity optimization through filler content management
* Refining:  energy savings through precise and true calculation of the specific energy on the fiber
* Mixing chest:  precise substitution of fibers by filler. Improved use of broke through the control of filler content
* Headbox:  reduced basis weight variation
* Effluent treatment:  precise evaluation of fiber loss and slurry optimization

Geoff Gorrie, Chair of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd, announced today that Richard Stanton had been appointed as the National Secretary of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd. 

"Richard will take up his new role on 11^th October 2011 and his main focus will be the oversight of the revision processes for both the Australian Forest Management Standard AS 4708 and the Chain of Custody Standard AS 4707 as well as continuing the growth of the company."

"Richard is well qualified to lead the company through its next stage of growth and development. He has been involved in the forest and wood and paper products industries for many years. He comes to this new leadership position from an extensive term as the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P). Richard also has experience at both the State and Australian Government levels."

"The Board of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd looks forward to working with Richard to continue to promote the benefits of certification both in Australia and internationally through the company's accreditation by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes."

Geoff Gorrie also wished to express the Board's appreciation of the efforts and achievements of the parting Chief Executive Officer, Kayt Watts.

"Kayt has worked tirelessly to promote the Australian Forestry Standard brand and develop the company. The growth in Chain of Custody certification in Australia and the resulting logo licence agreements to display certification logos on wood and paper products over the last three years has been remarkable. The company's management systems and governance are on a sound footing for further growth and development."

The Board would like to wish Kayt well in any endeavour that she commences when her contract expires on 12^th October 2011.

Innventia’s Marco Lucisano was awarded the Best Presentation Award at Paper Physics 2011 in Graz, Austria. The same person does not usually win more than once, but this was the second time Marco had been voted the winner in this category by participants at the conference.

“This award is particularly important to me, because it relates to conveying knowledge,” he said. “Our goal must always be to get our message across, and this is essential if what we do is to be of any use.”

The award was presented at the conference dinner on 7 September, together with the prestigious Van den Akker Prize for Paper Physics. This accolade also went to Innventia, being awarded to Petri Mäkelä for work carried out at Innventia. Petri now works for Tetra Pak.

Today, the Rottneros Group has announced a planned reduction of staff that will affect about 25 employees at Rottneros Mill. Negotiations with union organisations will commence immediately. The mill is running at a loss, primarily as a result of a weak market for both groundwood pulp and CTMP, which are the kinds of pulp produced at this mill.

The Group does not envisage any rapid improvement on account of the weak growth on the part of our customers within the printing paper sector, which are the largest purchasers of the mill’s pulp. Rottneros Mill has taken downtime during the year and is planning further shutdowns during the autumn as a consequence of this weak market.

These planned reductions form part of an improvement programme, which also includes changes to our range and other reductions in respect of production costs. It is intended that the cost of these measures be carried in the Group’s result for the fourth quarter of 2011. Our objective is for these measures to be implemented gradually up to and including the summer of 2012.

“It is regretful that we are compelled to take measures that have an adverse effect on our employees and their families, but we cannot continue to run the mill at a loss,” explains Olle Dahlin.

Plans to commence the production of refined biofuel at Rottneros Mill in cooperation with joint venture partners will not be affected by the measures announced.

The Rottneros Group’s other manufacturing unit, Vallvik Mill, which manufactures chemical pulp, is showing good profitability, primarily on account of a strong market.

SCA is investing SEK 350 m in Ortviken paper mill in Sundsvall. The investment will increase the mill’s capacity to produce improved newsprint qualities and strengthens SCA’s profile as a leader in the environmental field.

Ortviken’s PM5 paper machine is being rebuilt to produce higher quality paper and the capacity to produce high-bright pulp is being increased. Additional investments are being made in Ortviken’s wastewater treatment plant.

“We are making these investments to expand the flexibility of our product mix thus enabling ourselves to better meet customers’ requirements for products with higher levels of brightness,” says Kristina Enander, Mill Manager of SCA Ortviken.

Ortviken only utilises fresh wood fibre as raw material, which provides a stronger grade of paper with a higher level of brightness than recycled fibre.

“These investments enable us to enhance utilisation of our raw material,” says Kristina Enander. “Spruce pulpwood from North Central Sweden is the best raw material in the world for producing publication paper based on mechanical pulp. In addition, we can also draw greater benefit from the investments we have made in new technology for mechanical pulp production.”

The investments will also strengthen SCA’s profile as a leader in the environmental field. SCA was among the first to offer totally chlorine-free products and was one of the world’s first paper-manufacturers to offer substantial volumes of FSC certified publication paper. In later years, the use of renewable biomass for energy production has contributed to products from SCA Ortviken having a uniquely low carbon footprint.

Justice David MacAdam agreed to NewPage Port Hawkesbury's proposed restructuring plan on Sep. 9, giving the company permission to use funds from its American parent company to shut down operations this week and proceed with the sale of the Port Hawkesbury mill.

In the U.S., NewPage Corp. received permission from the court to continue operations while under Chapter 11 protections, and received interim approval for $600 million of debtor-in-possession financing.

Justice MacAdam reportedly questioned the wisdom of the plan to grant certain current assets of the Port Hawkesbury mill to the parent company in exchange for $25 million, but decided to proceed because otherwise the Canadian operation would not have enough cash to pay employees this week.

The $25 million settlement will keep the Port Hawkesbury mill open in a "hot idle" state for the next 13 weeks, while the company attempts to find a buyer.

NewPage has also agreed to set up a fund to pay forestry contractors, who have not been paid since Aug. 22. The woodsman reserve fund will contain $1.35 million. Without such a fund, the forestry contractors would have opposed NewPage's creditor protection plan.

The provincial government has stepped in with $15-million investment to keep woodlands workers in the Strait area employed and keep the supply chain to the mill ready for restart.

"By keeping the supply chain operating, we can say to interested buyers: here we have an efficient workforce; here we have one of the best mills in the world; and here in Port Hawkesbury we have a mill in hot idle with a supply chain intact. It's ready to go without needless delay," said Premier Dexter.

The seven-point plan includes actions to:

- Expand the province's silviculture program for 2011 and 2012.

- Stockpile wood for future use in the Strait, to keep harvesters and truckers working. Much of this work will involve creating a stockpile of fuel for the planned Nova Scotia Power biomass co-gen facility under construction.

- Ensure Crown forest roads are maintained in the NewPage Port Hawkesbury harvest area. The province will invest $125,000 per month for the next few months to keep the usual number of road contractors working to maintain NewPage's road infrastructure.

- Ensure the mill is able to retain a core team of about 20 woodlands staff with the knowledge and ability to facilitate work and training and oversee the appropriate use of Crown land.

- Amend a small business loan program to better address financing concerns for contractors and other small businesses.

- Invest up to $3.5 million and work with the NewPage Port Hawkesbury's core woodlands team to develop specialized training programs for self-employed workers that will focus on silviculture, sustainable forestry practices, productivity improvements and efficiency of forestry operations.

- Engage a specialist to complete a comprehensive market study for newsprint and the high-gloss paper, which were the products of the Port Hawkesbury mill.

source:pulp & paper canada

The Metso-supplied tissue line at Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti (ICT) in Montargis, France, successfully started up on July 15, 2011.

Metso’s delivery comprised a complete tissue production line with complete stock preparation equipment including OptiFiner RF refiners and an Advantage DCT 200 tissue machine. The tissue machine features an OptiFlo II TIS multi-layer headbox, a Metso Yankee cylinder, an Advantage AirCap hood, an Advantage WetDust dust management system and an Advantage SoftReel reel. Also included was the first installation of Metso’s new OptiThick DF disc filter. The production line is optimized to enhance final product quality and save energy. The delivery also comprised an extensive automation package including Metso DNA machine, process and drive controls, as well as a Metso IQ quality control system with non-nuclear Metso IQ Fiber Weight Measurement.

With a large width and an operating speed of 1,900 m/min, the new production line will produce 70,000 tons a year of high-quality facial, toilet and towel grades. The raw material for the new line will be virgin pulp.

Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti is headquartered in Lucca, Italy, and operates mills in Italy, Spain and Poland with a combined capacity of 400,000 tons a year, has a turnover of more than EUR 500 million and around 1,200 employees. The group has been present in France since 1999 through its sales organization based in Paris.

AbitibiBowater Inc. is echoing the concerns of Ontario Northeastern municipal leaders with regards to the newly proposed forest management approach on the Abitibi River Forest that would result in the immediate reduction of the conifer wood supply in the area by 25%, with reductions of up to 65% after 20 years. Last week, the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) held a press conference in Timmins, Ontario, to publicly express concern with the Abitibi River Forest's Long-Term Management Direction (LTMD), a document recently released by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) for public comment.

The Company is concerned that if confirmed, these significant proposed reductions in wood supply could jeopardize future forest sector investments and curtail employment opportunities generated from forest activities, impacting the economic foundation of 25 Northern Ontario communities.

"We should not have to make a choice between protecting caribou and protecting northern jobs. All too frequently this either/or choice is placed before the public, and everyone is told to line up on the side that best reflects their values. This is unfortunate as environmental considerations and economic outcomes are not mutually exclusive. We agree wholeheartedly that sustainable forest management must recognize all three pillars - economic, social and environmental," stated Richard Garneau, AbitibiBowater's President and Chief Executive Officer.

AbitibiBowater supports a transparent and balanced approach involving the relevant stakeholders, ensuring all three sustainability pillars are addressed. Serious collaborative work is needed to revisit the proposed implementation of the Caribou Conservation Plan in the Abitibi River forest, factoring in the impact of wood supply and its corresponding effects on future employment. This work has to involve representatives of impacted communities, forest companies operating in the area, the OMNR and ENGOs.

"We need to roll up our sleeves and work together, review maps, analyze the numbers, seek out the latest independent science, and come up with solutions that save caribou and provide the resources necessary for a sustainable and prosperous manufacturing sector," concluded Garneau.

AbitibiBowater supports constructive solutions, engaging stakeholders in a collaborative spirit. One potential solution to the LTMD is a reassessment of the southern boundary of the Kesagami range by the OMNR. The assessment should consider the potential benefits of moving the boundary of the range to focus efforts on the areas where the caribou presence is not in dispute. The work could be done in a separate process that does not affect the timing of the current Forest Management Plan, considering that most agree that the wood supply for the next ten years is adequate for current needs.

AbitibiBowater and other member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation issues that meet the goal of balancing the three pillars of sustainability linked to human activities:  economic, social and environmental.