Sunshine & Dirt

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A few months ago, I visited one of our longtime sustaining member companies, IMERYS. The three individuals in our meeting included Ken Johnson, Business Director, Pigments for Paper North America; Kristina Thompson, Senior Market Analyst, Pigments for Paper Americas; and Ellis Benson, Corporate Accounts Manager.

I was aware of IMERYS prior to my time at TAPPI, but my first up close experience with them was my connection with Phil Jones, Director, Technical Marketing & New Ventures, Pigments for Paper Americas. Phil is a TAPPI Fellow and has served on the TAPPI Board. If you know him and that accent of his, as well as his training and knowledge, you know he instantly makes you realize that you are in the presence of greatness when he speaks. So, you can just imagine my surprise when he spoke at PaperCon08 in Dallas, TX. I had the pleasure of introducing Phil to our audience. I then positioned myself on the edge of my seat to take notes on each and every word that would soon come from the mouth of this industry legend. Phil began his talk with, "Sunshine & Dirt, and that's about all there is to it."

That speech, my friends, led me on my quest to discover more about this company whose corporate headquarters are in Paris, France. IMERYS has nearly 16,000 employees in 47 countries. The company mines industrial minerals in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa, turning these rare resources into value-added solutions that contribute to customer performance in industry and construction.

The four IMERYS business groups are: Minerals for Ceramics, Refractories, Abrasives & Foundry; Performance & Filtration Minerals; Pigments for Paper; and Materials & Monolithics. In the world, IMERYS ranks No. 1 in kaolin for paper, No. 2 in ground calcium carbonate for paper, and No. 3 in precipitated calcium carbonate for paper.

IMERYS practices EHS (Environment, Health & Safety) as an improvement process that aids in the Sustainable Development principles defined by employees and placed into action plans. The company practices strict environmental management and works in harmony with nearby communities.

The group I visited had some excellent suggestions on how TAPPI can better serve our members and how IMERYS plays a part in our industry with its Solutions for the Green Package. This package is fully recyclable by adding coatings that provide an acceptable MVTR, replacing fluorocarbons by utilizing clay coatings (Barrisurf™). As a matter of fact, the IMERYS Barrisurf™ line of products and offshoots are exceeding expectations of this environmentally friendly barrier.

Ken Johnson's points for the State of the Future of our industry and TAPPI were as follows:
• Packaging will never be out of the public eye.
• We need to reconnect with what the paper mills can do with what the end user wants through the suppliers.
• The end user should be involved in this process and TAPPI is uniquely positioned to promote this to the industry.
• Paper with coating barriers that are recyclable will continue to grow.

"Sunshine & Dirt"? Well, I guess you were right, Phil.

For more information on IMERYS, go to www.imerys.com. For more information on TAPPI, go to www.tappi.org.

Until next time...............

Larry