Displaying items by tag: FutureMark™

FutureMark^®Paper Group, North America’s leading provider of responsibly made, high-recycled paper, grew its customer base for a third straight year in 2012 with the addition of respected organizations such as the American Museum of Natural History, Black & Decker, Kaplan, Kohl’s, Sam’s Club, Time Inc., Trader Joe’s and Wiley. FutureMark also significantly expanded relationships with existing customers Chick-fil-A, National Geographic and Whole Foods Market.

“FutureMark Paper Group continues to expand and grow, despite tough conditions overall in the North American market for printing paper,” said FutureMark President and CEO Steve Silver. “Our commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of paper production is really paying off. Customers value our products’ high recycled content and environmental profile. They especially seem to like that our recycled paper performs and costs the same as less green, non-recycled alternatives.”

Recycled paper helps conserve natural resources.  According to the Environmental Paper Network’s Paper Calculator, by using FutureMark recycled paper in lieu of non-recycled paper, FutureMark customers collectively generate these environmental savings each year:

• Displaced the need to cut down more than 4 million trees
• Saved enough energy to power more than 30,000 American homes for one year
• Uses about 2 trillion fewer gallons of water
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions roughly equivalent to taking nearly 60,000 cars off the road

FutureMark Paper Group’s responsibly made printing and packaging papers have the highest recycled content for products of their type made in North America. The group’s two manufacturing facilities produce 90- to 100-percent recycled papers used in books, catalogs, magazines, retail inserts, office papers, labels and promotional mailings, as well as in fast food and commercial packaging applications.

FutureMark® Paper Group, North America’s leading provider of responsibly made, high‐recycled paper, named respected paper industry veteran Paul E. Bradshaw Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the group’s uncoated paper products. FutureMark’s 100% recycled uncoated printing and packaging papers, made at the group’s plant in Manistique, Mich., are used by sustainability-minded companies such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, JPMorgan Chase, L.L. Bean and McDonald’s.

News Summary

• Paul E. Bradshaw joins FutureMark Paper Group as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for uncoated paper products, made at the group’s plant in Manistique, Mich.
• Bradshaw takes charge of expanding FutureMark’s footprint in uncoated publication papers—including book and digital papers—and in the growing market for brown kraft and packaging papers.

Mr. Bradshaw will direct all aspects of sales and marketing for FutureMark uncoated products, which include printing and writing grades such as Future Book™ UC, Future Mystique™ and Future Office™ and packaging papers such as Future Bag™ and Future Pack™. Mr. Bradshaw will also spearhead FutureMark’s continued expansion into high-end publication paper markets, including book and digital papers.

“Having Paul join the FutureMark team is a boon for our business,” said FutureMark Paper Group President and CEO Steve Silver. “Paul has proven experience building market-leading positions in high-end publication and digital papers. His deep expertise and relationships in our customer markets will generate many new opportunities for FutureMark with companies that value the environmental benefits of our 100% recycled uncoated papers.”

Mr. Bradshaw previously served as the senior vice president for publishing papers at Appleton Coated LLC, overseeing relationships with major publishing customers and leading the company’s entry into coated inkjet papers. He had held various sales and management positions at Appleton Coated and its predecessor companies since 1988.

FutureMark® Paper Group launched as the umbrella group for two recycled paper producers previously operating as Manistique Papers and FutureMark Paper Company. Guided by an unwavering commitment to sustainability, FutureMark Paper Group is now the leading North American provider of responsibly made high-recycled paper for books, magazines, catalogs, retail inserts, business papers, commercial printing applications and packaging.

FutureMark Paper Group aligns the executive management, business development, marketing and operational functions of FutureMark Paper Company and Manistique Papers. FutureMark Paper Group’s uncoated recycled papers will be made at its FutureMark Manistique facility. The FutureMark Alsip facility will produce the group’s coated recycled papers. Industry veteran Steve Silver will serve as FutureMark Paper Group’s President and CEO, overseeing both manufacturing facilities.

“In addition to sharing a senior management team and board of advisors, our two recycled mills share a strong history of innovation,” says Silver. “Combining the unique production capabilities of these two mills creates a platform for faster growth and enables us to achieve operational synergies that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. We’re joining forces at a great time in the market to take advantage of the momentum behind environmental paper.”

Combining capabilities for improved performance

FutureMark Paper Group is strategically aligning the talents of its Manistique and Alsip teams to accelerate product development, spark innovation and enhance the business value it delivers to customers.

• Process innovation and product development – By cross-pollinating best practices in operations, predictive maintenance and new technology between the two mills, FutureMark Paper Group will accelerate development of high-quality products and lower the environmental impact of its manufacturing activities.
• Sales and marketing integration – Sales and marketing resources are now realigned to better serve the group’s green customer base with a unified brand and complementary products.
• Transportation optimization – The group is optimizing paper transportation routes between its two manufacturing facilities and their suppliers and customers to speed delivery and decrease its transportation footprint.

While FutureMark Paper Group’s Alsip and Manistique facilities will work closely in the marketplace to achieve synergies and bring new value to customers, each operation is financially and legally independent, owned by separate investment funds managed by The Watermill Group, a strategy-driven private investment firm.

New names, new products

FutureMark Paper Group’s 100% recycled uncoated papers, formerly sold under Manistique Papers’ product names, will now be sold under the brand Future Mystique™. Book papers will be marketed under the Future Book™ UC brand. Printing papers for the converter market will be bundled under the Future Office™ product family, and recycled packaging and bag papers will be sold as Future Pack™ and Future Bag™, respectively.

Product names for the group’s recycled coated publication papers, previously sold by FutureMark Paper Company, will remain unchanged: Future Book™, Future Choice® and Future Connection®. Future ReMark®, a C1S label paper, will now be renamed Future Label™.

Customers will continue to be served by their current sales representatives. Inquiries about all FutureMark Paper Group products should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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