Ashdown Mill A62 Paper Machine Resumes Full Operation

The A62 paper machine at our Ashdown Mill is once again fully operational thanks to excellent planning and foresight by our commercial paper team, along with outstanding dedication and agility from our manufacturing production team.

The strategic initiative to restart the previously idled machine, as well as a sheeter to convert the rolls into cartons of copy paper, is helping us maintain our leadership position in the North American uncoated freesheet paper market and deliver the service and quality our customers expect.

The A62 paper machine was idled in April 2020 — a difficult but necessary action taken to align our manufacturing network’s paper production capacity with reduced customer demand that was brought on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With offices, businesses and schools closed in a large part of our markets, we had to take the appropriate steps to optimize our operations and match our capacity to our reduced demand,” says Rob Melton, senior vice president, pulp and paper commercial.

Then, as the economy recovered from the pandemic, so did the demand for paper. Demand for uncoated freesheet paper increased four percent in 2021 compared to 2020, driven by increased retail activity, in-person store visits, reopened schools and employees returning to the office.

With the economy rebounding from the impacts of COVID-19, the decision was made to restart A62, adding back the paper production capacity necessary for us to meet increasing customer demand.

“Our customers’ business is steadily growing, and we’re fortunate to be able to support that growth by leveraging our asset base’s flexibility,” adds Melton.

But restarting a large uncoated freesheet paper machine isn’t as simple as plugging in your desktop printer or turning on a lamp. It’s a complex undertaking with, quite literally, a lot of moving parts. Restarting a machine such as A62 occurs over a period of months to gradually build the machine up to its current 24/7 run schedule.
more at: https://newsroom.domtar.com/ashdown-mill-a62-paper-machine/

Related Posts

Europac Increases Its Net Profit by 59,4 per Cent

The Board of Directors of the Europac Group has approved its 2017 annual accounts, which recorded a net profit of 78 million euros, 59.4% up on 2016. Aggregate sales increased by 10.9% to 1,186 million euros, Aggregate sales increased by 10.9% to 1,186 million euros, while consolidated sales reached 868 million euros, 8.4% more than a year ago. Consolidated EBITDA amounted to 158 million euros, 25% up on the 127 million euros of the previous year, while recurring EBITDA totalled 147 million euros, 19.3% up on the previous year. The difference between consolidated and recurring EBITDA is mainly due to the extraordinary effects of the sale of the packaging factory in Tangier and the logistics operator at the port of Viana do Castelo, as well as settlement of the guarantees linked to the acquisition of the paper and packaging factories in Rouen (France) in 2008. In this context, the EBITDA margin rose by 2.4 percentage points to 18.2%, while EBIT amounted to 106 million euros, 37.1% up on the previous year.

Stora Enso invests in Forshaga to develop sustainable barrier solutions

Stora Enso is making an investment in dispersion barrier technology at its Forshaga site in Sweden, as a step in its innovation agenda. The investment of approximately EUR 10 million enables the development and production of paperboard with barrier properties that are easier to handle in a recycling process, have a lower carbon footprint and can be compostable in industrial facilities. The new equipment is expected to come into use during the second quarter of 2021. Stora Enso Forshaga manufactures and develops barrier solutions that are required in certain packaging, for instance to protect against liquid, moisture, oxygen or fat. Liquid packaging, beverage cups and certain food packaging are some of the products that have a barrier which serves to protect the packaged product, while also ensuring that the packaging maintains its user-qualities. The investment in new dispersion technology aims to achieve the desired barrier properties in a more sustainable way. Stora Enso Forshaga has an annual capacity of approximately 120 000 tonnes of barrier coating across two machines/coating lines, with around 100 employees. Since the beginning of this year, the Forshaga site has also become a competence center within Stora Enso’s Packaging Materials division, tasked with producing and developing new bio-based barrier technologies and products.

Mercer International Inc. announces 30 days downtime at its Celgar mill

Mercer International Inc. reports that its Celgar mill, in addition to regularly planned maintenance downtime of five days, will be taking approximately 30 days of additional downtime (aggregate 52,000 ADMTs) in July 2020. The additional downtime largely results from reduced fiber availability in the mill’s procurement area as a result of Covid related sawmill curtailments in British Columbia, the imposition of sawlog equivalent stumpage charges on pulpwood and complex stumpage rules which result in a significant amount of pulp wood already harvested being left to burn in the forest.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search