Euwid was told by the mill's managing director, Lothar Burchardt, the company had to close down the machine because it needed to restructure the mill's portfolio. Not only is PM 1 the oldest machine, but with a width of 2.40 meters, it is also the least profitable of the production machines and should therefore be permanently shut down as quickly as possible, according to Burchardt. The equipment has been temporarily idled since June 11 and the affected employees have since been on a short-time work scheme with zero hours.
PM 1 can produce 15,000-18,000 metric tpy of mechanical book paper. Arctic Paper Mochenwangen will now produce this grade on the mill's other two paper machines, leading to a reduction in their output of improved newsprint. The two other paper machines have a combined capacity of around 100,000 metric tpy, according to Euwid.
The Mochenwangen mill was founded in 1868 by the Müller family and was bought by the Arctic Paper group in 2008. The mill has a long tradition of producing wood-containing bulky book paper and also produces a significant amount of offset paper as well as wallpaper base and specialty papers such as backer paper. The integrated mill operates a groundwood pulp mill and has a total paper production capacity of a120,000 metric tpy on three paper machines, including PM 1 that is being shut down.
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