Displaying items by tag: coated

FutureMark™ Paper Company, the only North American manufacturer capable of producing up to 100 percent recycled coated paper for magazines and catalogs, announced two new initiatives to lower the environmental impact of paper production. The company is now using an environmentally sustainable binding compound made from corn starch in its paper coatings instead of petroleum-based latex. Furthermore, FutureMark has developed an innovative product that reuses the short paper fibers, inks and coating minerals extracted from recycled paper as a soil nutrient.

“Making recycled paper in an environmentally friendly way has long been a point of pride for FutureMark and our employees,” said Steve Silver, President & CEO of FutureMark Paper Company. “With these two advancements, we’re further reducing the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes, while returning nutrients to the earth and making incremental improvements to our very high-quality recycled paper.”

Read more here or download the Press release below

Caraustar Industries, Inc. announced today that it will increase prices by $60 per ton on all uncoated recycled paperboard grades and $45 per ton on coated recycled paperboard grades produced by its mills. The increases are effective with shipments on and after April 5, 2010. Caraustar will also increase prices of tubes and cores and all other uncoated recycled paperboard converted products on the same date. This series of price increase announcements comes shortly following earlier increase announcements.

Greg A. Bartlett, vice president sales and marketing for Caraustar’s Mill Group, stated, “Publication prices for Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) have reached an average of $170 per ton in the middle and eastern United States, up $95 per ton since December publications. Unreliability of supply has forced us to reach out further with higher cost freight lanes and pay significant premiums over publication list prices to secure our recovered fiber needs. Fiber quality has also declined during this period, impacting our yield of our most important raw material.  Prices for all fiber grades have increased significantly.  We understand the impact that this has on our customers; however, we cannot continue to absorb these costs.  We will be vigilant in monitoring this situation and keep our customers informed of changes and challenges in this volatile recovered fiber market.”

About Caraustar

Caraustar Industries, Inc. is one of North America's largest integrated manufacturers of 100% recycled paperboard and converted paperboard products. The company is a socially responsible corporation, is committed to environmentally sound practices and is dedicated to providing customers with outstanding value through innovative products and services. Caraustar has developed its leadership position in the industry through diversification and integration from raw materials to finished products. Caraustar serves the four principal recycled boxboard product end-use markets: tubes and cores; folding cartons; gypsum facing paper and specialty paperboard products. For additional information on Caraustar, please visit the company's website at www.caraustar.com.

Appleton Coated LLC, NewPage Corporation, and Sappi Fine Paper North America – together with the United Steelworkers commended the U.S. Department of Commerce for its preliminary countervailing duty determinations against subsidized coated paper imports from China and Indonesia.

As a result of these determinations, the Department of Commerce will impose tariffs on imports of coated paper to offset the unfair advantage provided by subsidization. The Department of Commerce found that Chinese coated paper was subsidized by an average rate of 8.38 percent.

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) producers Gold East, Gold Huasheng, Ningbo Zhonghua and Ningbo Asia Pulp and Paper received a subsidy margin of 12.83 percent, while Sun Paper received a rate of 3.92 percent. In Indonesia , APP/Sinar Mas producers Tjiwi Kimia and Indah Kiat received a subsidy margin of 17.48 percent. All other Indonesian producers/exporters will be subject to this same rate. The result of the Department's actions will be the immediate requirement that these importers of paper from the subject countries will have to post bond or cash deposits in an amount equal to the announced margins pending final resolution of the cases later this year.

The companies and the USW filed unfair trade cases on September 23, 2009 with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") alleging that certain coated paper from China and Indonesia had been dumped and subsidized resulting in injury to the domestic industry and its employees. The paper products covered by the petitions include coated paper used in high-quality writing, printing and other graphic applications, using sheet-fed presses with a GE brightness rating of 80 or higher and weighing up to 340 grams per square meter.

source: NewPage

To read the full article go here....>

"Although the time available for the overhaul was extremely short, the reconditioned spreader roll is running very well. Some other spreader rolls will also soon require reconditioning but we have nothing to worry about because we have Metso, a professional team to do it," says Deputy Maintenance Manager Hu Jinguo.

The Jiangxi Chenming mill in China is now familiar with the roll overhaul services of Metso's Guangzhou service center. "Metso really showed its professionalism on this project," says Hu Jinguo, Deputy Maintenance Manager for Jiangxi Chenming PM 1.

Jiangxi Chenming PM 1 (wire width 8,600 mm, design speed 2,000 m/min) is one of the high-speed machines of Chenming Group. Started up in March, 2005, PM 1 mainly makes light weight coated paper at a rate in excess of 1,000 metric tons per day.

This machine was supplied by Metso and its spreader rolls were manufactured by another supplier. Hu Jinguo explains: "After three years of operation some of the spreader rolls were starting to experience runnability problems, increased vibration or bearing failures, which made them very difficult to run. The problems were serious and had an influence on spreading efficiency and machine runnability.

The condition of one press section spreader roll was getting very serious and we decided to remove it from the machine at the next 10-day annual shutdown. Our spare roll for the position had been sent out earlier for maintenance and was still unavailable, which made the situation quite challenging. We contacted Metso's Guangzhou service center and informed them of our need to get the existing spreader roll reconditioned within the upcoming 10-day shutdown. We also ordered a new spare spreader roll for the press section from Metso."

Metso was willing to take on the spreader roll reconditioning challenge. In the course of the 10-day annual shutdown the spreader roll was taken out of the machine and transported to the Guangzhou workshop. The roll went through a complete reconditioning where all roll parts were inspected and consumables, including bearings, spool couplings and seals, were replaced with new parts. Some of the spools were repaired due to bearing seat wear and distortion. After several days of work, the spreader roll was reassembled and it was ready for a test run. A heat buildup problem was discovered during the test run in one of the tending side spools.

The roll was taken back to the workshop and the problem was solved. The final test run gave excellent results, and the roll was shipped back to the customer mill. This challenging spreader roll reconditioning project was performed, from machine to machine, within the 10-day turnaround time promised.

Metso's first service center to serve the pulp and paper industry in China was opened in 2001 in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The expansion of the Wuxi service center was completed in March 2008, which doubled overall service capacity. In line with its commitment to Chinese papermakers, Metso opened a second service center in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in January 2009, and a third center is currently being built in Zibo, Shandong province.

NewPage Corporation announced today a significant upgrade in the appearance of its No. 4 coated groundwood paper brands, Escanaba ® and Dependoweb ® , effective immediately. In addition, NewPage is reintroducing its Capri ® line of No. 4.5 coated groundwood papers to augment a comprehensive selection of papers designed for magazine, catalog and retail customers.

The Escanaba ® brand has always provided a premium printing surface when compared to other coated groundwood products. Now the brand offers a higher brightness and pleasing blue-white shade to match its unparalleled print performance.

"Escanaba ® is a highly regarded, premium coated paper for the magazine, catalog and commercial printing industries. This improvement further solidifies its reputation," said Lee Bendtsen, general manager, medium weight web products.

In addition to the Escanaba ® product improvements, Dependoweb ® also has been enhanced to maintain its position as a reliable and competitive No. 4 coated groundwood paper. With a brighter, cleaner white shade, Dependoweb ® reproduces images accurately for every type of end use application.

For those customers looking to differentiate their publications while maintaining their budgets, NewPage is pleased announce the return of the Capri ® brand of coated groundwood papers. Capri ® is an ideal choice for catalogers, magazine publishers and retailers because it provides a 76 brightness for great appearance, a choice of gloss or silk finishes and a wide range of basis weights.

"We have listened to our customers and their need for more choices in the coated groundwood category. Whether they are looking for a premium printing surface or a cost saving solution, NewPage has the right paper for their job," added Bendtsen.

Wisconsin Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission (WRWWLC) signed an agreement with Consolidated Water Power Company (CWPCo), a subsidiary of NewPage Corporation, to purchase CWPCo utility transmission and distribution assets.

Located in Wisconsin Rapids, CWPCo provides power to retail customers in [central Wisconsin]. CWPCo also owns and operates five hydroelectric projects along 33 miles of the Wisconsin River in DuBay, Stevens Point, Whiting, Biron and Wisconsin Rapids. The agreement with WRWWLC includes the assets necessary to deliver power to CWPCo's retail customers, and does not include the CWPCo hydroelectric facilities.

An application for approval of this sale was jointly filed later the same day with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Time of closing is dependent on regulatory review and Commission approvals. The purchase price for the utility assets will be equal to the net book value of the assets at the time of closing.

About Wisconsin Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission (WRWWLC)
The Wisconsin Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission is a municipally owned electric and water utility. WW&LC serves 14,500 electric and 8,500 water meters in a service territory that includes the City of Wisconsin Rapids and all or parts of the towns of Grand Rapids, Seneca, Sigel, Grant and the Village of Biron.

About Consolidated Water Power Company (CWPCo)
A subsidiary of NewPage Corporation, Consolidated Water Power Company (CWPCo) owns and operates five hydroelectric projects along 33 miles of the Wisconsin River in central Wisconsin located in DuBay, Stevens Point, Whiting, Biron and Wisconsin Rapids. These five hydrofacilities house 39 hydrogenerators with a combined installed capacity of 35.2 megawatts (annual electricity use by about 75,000 households) and provide river water stability for recreational purposes and other uses. CWPCo also owns 24 percent of the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company, which regulates the river upstream of DuBay, and is represented on the board of directors. The private corporation regulates a uniform flow in the Wisconsin River and helps coordinate the operation of hydroelectric plants on the Wisconsin River. This centralized coordination helps generate increased hydroelectricity and improve flood control capabilities.

About NewPage Corporation
Headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio, NewPage Corporation is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America, based on production capacity, with $3.1 billion in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2009. The company's product portfolio is the broadest in North America and includes coated freesheet, coated groundwood, supercalendered, newsprint and specialty papers. These papers are used for corporate collateral, commercial printing, magazines, catalogs, books, coupons, inserts, newspapers, packaging applications and direct mail advertising.

NewPage owns paper mills in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nova Scotia, Canada. These mills have a total annual production capacity of approximately 4.4 million tons of paper, including approximately 3.2 million tons of coated paper, approximately 1.0 million tons of uncoated paper and approximately 200,000 tons of specialty paper. To learn more, visit www.NewPageCorp.com

Media Contact:
Shawn Hall
NewPage
937-242-9373