Maine Governor Janet Mills announced an award of $1 million from the final round of the Forest Recovery Initiative of her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to ND Paper for an upcoming project at the company's Rumford Division to enhance the efficiency of its R15 packaging paper machine.

Valmet and a customer in the Scandinavian region continue their successful collaboration by signing an extension of the Chip Quality Agreement. The agreement supports the customer in maintaining and further improving chip quality and the performance and lifetime of the chipping equipment at two of its sites.

The Felix Schoeller Group is systematically implementing its growth program for North America. Starting in 2023, capacities at the company's sites in the USA and Canada will be significantly expanded in three steps.

By Sören Back
In addition to present heavy investment in the Swedish paper and pulp industry, new start-up companies are bubbling with different ideas regarding opportunities for new products and applications based on forest raw materials and industrial side streams.

The paper sector in France is gradually growing this year, however will probably unlikely to exceed the results of 2021.

Runtech Systems will supply a vacuum system rebuild to Norske Skog Golbey PM1 in France. The delivery includes eight RunEco EP600 Turbo Blowers with EcoDrop water separators and two low vacuum blowers. With the new RunEco vacuum system, PM1 will gain significant energy and water savings.

Valmet will supply a complete automation solution to Melitta Europa for its paper mill in Minden, Germany. The order includes Valmet's distributed control system (Valmet DNA DCS/MCS), a Valmet IQ Quality Control System and a Valmet IQ Web Inspection System.

Stora Enso strengthens its focus on specialised pulp grades by investing EUR 38 million in unbleached kraft pulp (UKP) production at its Enocell site in Finland and EUR 42 million in fluff pulp production improvement at its Skutskär site in Sweden.

Segezha Group is considering selling its European assets or forming joint ventures with a minority stake. According to Lesprom Network, the company has already received three offers from potential buyers, but a decision has not yet been made, explains Mikhail Shamolin, President of Segezha Group.

Prinzhorn Group, having a strategic long term interest in Italy, has made a proposal to acquire corrugated packaging plant Scatolificio La Veggia S.p.A., Roteglia, which is part of the La Veggia Group of companies in the course of a restructuring process under Italian law.

Koehler Paper, part of the Koehler Group, is adding another product for use in the fast-food market to its flexible packaging paper portfolio. Consumer demand for sustainable products and packaging has been evident in the fast-food sector for some time now, which is why system catering is also increasingly looking for solutions in this field.

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, has supported Angulas Aguinaga on its journey to switch to a recyclable paper-based packaging for its Krissia® brand chilled surimi sticks, greatly reducing the amount of plastic being used.

The Cup Collective, a program founded by Stora Enso and Huhtamaki to capture the value of used paper cups through recycling at an industrial scale, has welcomed its first partners. The new partners include McDonald's, SSP - The Food Travel Experts, C2 Centre, and the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB), all further supporting the initiative's ability to significantly increase paper cup recycling volumes in Europe.

Kemira has joined the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) to partner with leading companies and accelerate the industry shift from fossil carbon to renewable carbon and raw materials.

The Voith Group performed satisfactorily in the 2021/22 fiscal year (ending on September 30) and is proving to be in a robust condition with regard to its operations and finances. The Group’s orders received have further increased in comparison to the already high previous-year level.

Long-time TAPPI member was a resident of New Hampshire.

Veritiv announced that Stephen J. "Steve" Smith, the company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has informed the Veritiv Board of Directors that he intends to retire from the company in September 2023. Eric J. Guerin, a seasoned finance leader, will succeed Smith as Senior Vice President and CFO on March 1, 2023.

Ahlstrom announced the appointment of Helen Mets as President and CEO, effective January 1, 2023. Mets will succeed Hans Sohlström, who has contributed greatly to Ahlstrom's success since 2016.

This training event brings you in touch with three knowledgeable instructors and nearly one hundred of your peers in the industry for networking.

Now that finals are over, take a moment to jump-start your scholarship search for the 2023-2024 academic year. TAPPI is offering nearly $60K in funds.

Keep Your Talent Pipeline Strong!  Meet students as they explore the industry and form their career goals at the TAPPI-PIMA Student Summit. 

Don’t’ miss hearing from this large group of international leaders in kraft recovery.