Global sustainable development is the focus of the United Nations Rio+20 conference. By providing food, fuel, fiber, medicines, and other necessities, forests and the forest products industry present a solution for a viable, sustainable future for our planet and its citizens.

At the Rio+20 side-event titled “Forests: The Heart of a Green Economy,” a range of high-level speakers and experts participated in panels highlighting the potential of forests in the bio-economy to boost global economic sustainability, the role of forest certification programs in the green economy, and the contribution of the forest industry to rural development and livelihoods.

Organized and co-hosted by the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (Bracelpa), the event emphasized the role forestry plays in promoting a green economy.

“The forest products industry leadership in sustainable development is essential to achieving the goals set here at Rio+20 for next ten years,” said ICFPA President Donna Harman. “This event generated the dialogue that will help create a path forward to global forestry being a positive social, economic and environmental change agent.”

“It also gave us the opportunity to discuss biotechnology and environmental services, like forestry carbon credits, as options for the future we want to build,” added Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, CEO of Bracelpa.

Harman identified innovation, collaboration, partnership and dialogue as the key words of the event and noted the role they share in and between businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations.

“We are all responsible for the future,” stressed Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director General of the FAO Forestry Department. “We all must ensure that we realize the full potential for forestry as a solution to the world’s needs for necessary products that improve the quality of life for our generation and for those to come.”

Buckeye Technologies Inc. has announced it is targeting the restart of its fluff pulp line for July 4. The specialty pulp line has been up and safely running at target rates since early Saturday morning, June 23. The specialty pulp line mix will not be fully optimized until the fluff line is back in operation. Among other things, the July 4 timeline depends on procurement of materials and the amount of work required to repair and replace drums and other damaged equipment. Both production lines were idled on Sunday evening, June 17, due to a significant failure of a steam drum on the fluff pulp line. There were no injuries associated with this incident.

We expect our property damage and business interruption insurance will cover most of the losses in excess of our $2 million deductible. Net of insurance recovery, we estimate the total net earnings impact of this event to be in the range of 5 to 10 cents per share. We expect Q4 FY 2012 (April-June 2012) earnings to be reduced by 8 to 11 cents per share as a result of this event. The net impact on first half FY 2013 earnings (July-December 2012) should be small as we expect to recognize the bulk of the insurance benefits during this period. We also anticipate the lost production volume due to the outage will reduce sales revenue by about $20 million primarily in the July to December 2012 period.

Buckeye Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Crowe stated, “I am proud of our organization’s tireless efforts, teamwork and creativity to minimize the amount of production downtime associated with this significant event. While there is still much work required to get the fluff pulp line safely up and running by July 4 and this date could change, great progress has been made which will help minimize the impact of this production outage on our customers and all of our stakeholders.”

Source: Buckeye Technologies Inc.

Buckeye Technologies Inc. has announced that it has made the repairs on the #1 specialty pulp machine that was damaged on June 17, due to the significant failure of a steam drum on the #2 fluff pulp machine. Structural damage to the paper machine building has been addressed and the specialty machine will begin start up today. Both paper machines have been idled since Sunday evening June 17, when the incident occurred.

There were no injuries to any personnel and there wasn’t a fire. A team at the plant, including contractor resources and structural engineers, continue the investigation to determine the root cause of the drum failure. All drums are being inspected prior to the startup based on the early findings of the comprehensive failure analysis.

With the paper machine building secure, workers have begun the plans and repairs for the #2 paper machine where Buckeye produces all of their fluff pulp. Because the drum failure was on this machine, most of the damage was limited to one area of the paper machine. While it is too early in the repairs and planning to provide a firm timeline, we will provide an estimate early next week. The timeline depends on procurement of materials and the amount of work to repair and replace drums, pedestals and sole plates.

Insurance company representatives have been on site helping assess the damage. We expect our property damage and business interruption insurance will cover most of the property damage and business interruption losses in excess of our $2 million deductible. Our 4th quarter earnings will be impacted by more than this amount as we will not be able to recognize the business interruption insurance benefit until the insurance claim is settled, which will result in a benefit to income in fiscal year 2013.

Buckeye Chief Executive Officer John Crowe stated, “A successful restart of the specialty machine has been a high priority after personnel safety. We are using preliminary findings from the comprehensive failure analysis and plan to inspect all drums prior to returning them to service. That has been completed for the specialty machine that we are returning to operations today. Getting back to normal operations on the specialty machine is important to our specialty customers. We will work around the clock to return the #2 paper machine to operations and are making arrangements with all customers to minimize the impact of the outage on their business.”

Mr. Crowe went on to say, “I am extremely proud and impressed with the teamwork I have observed from Buckeye’s employees, our onsite contractor, venders, and customers. We also, are using the downtime opportunity to complete scheduled maintenance items that will come off our downtime planning list and this will help us avoid downtime in the future.”

Source: Buckeye Technologies Inc.

The Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant will continue to consistently implement its profitable growth strategy during the next three years, as announced by CEO Hariolf Kottmann and CFO Patrick Jany at this year's Capital Markets & Media Day in Munich, Germany. The goal is, amongst others, to increase the company's EBITDA margin from 13.2% in 2011 to above 17% in 2015 and to achieve a return on invested capital (ROIC) that is above peer group average. Clariant will in future generate more than 70% of its sales with core non-cyclical business units.

In order to achieve these goals, considerable progress has to be made in all four strategic directions. Within the existing Business Units, a further profitability increase is planned through Performance Management and Functional Excellence measures. Successful innovations will generate new growth opportunities, as demonstrated already today by new products such as Exolit®, a successful flame retardant, or Life Power®, a high-performance battery material. In addition, increased market shares in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil will further boost profitable growth.

An active portfolio management will play an important role on the path to a sustainably profitable company. As already announced with the publication of the 2011 full year results, the company will sustainably increase the quality and performance of its product portfolio. In this context, Clariant is evaluating strategic options for the Business Units Textile Chemicals, Paper Specialties, and Emulsions, Detergents & Intermediates. These options are planned to be implemented during the next 18 months.

CEO Hariolf Kottmann: "We will implement these portfolio management measures with the same speed and determination as that of our activities in the restructuring phase. They are an important pre-requisite for reaching our targets by 2015. At that point, a newly aligned Clariant will be even more profitable and will generate more than 70% of its sales from non-cyclical business units. The acquisition of Süd-Chemie marked a first milestone in this process. We will continue this success story in the next years."

The acquisition of Süd-Chemie was an important first step for Clariant. Already in 2011 the former Süd-Chemie businesses contributed significantly to the company's results. Until end 2013, an additional EBITDA improvement of CHF 90-115 million is expected from synergies resulting from the integration. The transaction will be accretive in 2013, i.e. in the second year after the acquisition. In addition, the transaction was fully refinanced within less than twelve months.

Once again Kelheim Fibres will attend this year’s ZELLCHEMING general meeting and Expo. Dr. Ingo Bernt, a member of the R&D team of the Bavarian fibre specialist, and Dr. Rene Eckhart from the TU Graz will give a lecture on the results of the latest research into the effects of flat viscose fibres in papers, while other members of Kelheim Fibres are available in hall 2, booth nr 207, for further discussions. There is also the possibility to learn more about Kelheim’s most recent “paper fibre”, the newly developed Leonardo.

Kelheim Fibres continues to pursue the strategy of expanding its activities fin the paper making industry. Kelheim’s speciality fibres have been used in papers for several decades, but recently numerous new developments have led to a multitude of new possible applications in this sector. In addition to interesting functionalities Kelheim’s viscose fibres offer two particular benefits: they are easy to incorporate in the papermaking process – as they are manufactured from cellulose, the same raw material used for paper – and they are an environmentally friendly alternative to other additives, as they consist of a 100% renewable resources and are completely biodegradable.

Integrated solution increases calibration accuracy and streamlines tasks

Emerson Process Management announces an integrated asset management and calibration solution that combines its AMS Suite predictive maintenance software application with Beamex CMX Calibration software. The integration with Beamex further enhances the calibration functionality already available with AMS Suite, providing an enhanced calibration solution that will help users transform their calibration practices to be more accurate and efficient.

This solution broadens the scope of assets that can be calibrated and includes customisable calibration reports to improve analysis and documentation of asset status, and enable manufacturers to comply with industry regulations such as ISO 9001:2000, 21 CFR Part 11, and IEC 61511. Utilising the AMS Suite Calibration Connector, AMS Device Manager populates the CMX Calibration Software with intelligent device data. Users are able to leverage diagnostic information from these assets on overall health, including if calibrations may need to be performed. Upon completion of the calibrations, CMX will provide pass/fail information to AMS Device Manager to update the device history.

One early adopter, Don Brady of GlaxoSmithKline in Cork, Ireland states, "We've eliminated 21,000 sheets of paper per year and we streamlined our end-to-end workflow, which reduced our calibration time by about 15 minutes per calibration. We've also eliminated calculation errors and rework because pass/fail calculations are performed in real-time out in the plant." Brady also mentions the plant reduced scheduled calibrations by 8% as part of the data migration from their legacy system.

"Our users need to focus their resources so they are making the best decisions possible about their critical automation assets with no wasted effort," said Ron Martin, Vice President/General Manager of Emerson’s Asset Optimization and Lifecycle Care. "As more and more industries require some form of regulatory compliance around calibration, this integration enables our users to optimise their calibration practices without introducing risk. The partnership between Emerson and Beamex, pairs two leaders in calibration to deliver a more robust calibration solution to the market." 

With its vast product range and worldwide network of sales organizations, Endress+Hauser´s complexity management is one of the best: the specialist for measurement and automation engineering has won a Top 5 Award for Complexity Management from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

A total of 175 companies were analyzed by the University of St. Gallen within the context of worldwide benchmarking on Complexity Management. As a result of this scientific evaluation, Endress+Hauser was named one of five ‘Best Practice’ companies within this group. The study focused on companies that show exemplary management of the demands of a large product range and a complex internal business structure, with effective sustainable strategies at all stages of the value added process. In particular these companies demonstrate a higher than average awareness of transparency, flexibility and a high learning aptitude to ensure successful positioning in relation to competitors.

Endress+Hauser has promoted target-based complexity management through various projects and activities for many years. “One of our greatest challenges is finding effective solutions to the growing complexities at all levels of operations,” states Ulrich Kaiser, Director of Technology at Endress+Hauser. “Decisive complexity management has a very direct and positive effect on the performance of a company.” Despite significant growth – from about 6000 to 9500 employees over the past decade – Endress+Hauser has succeeded in keeping complexity under control, true to the motto ‘managing diversity, reducing complexity’.

The objective of the award presented by the Institute for Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) is to formulate scientifically based statements through the analysis of successful practice as well as to promote an exchange of experiences between companies in the field of complexity management. In addition to Endress+Hauser, awards were also given to the BMW Group, Munich; Dürr Systems GmbH, Bietigheim-Bissingen; Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Heidelberg; and Procter & Gamble, Frankfurt.

The first Rio Earth Summit in 1992 challenged business to follow a more sustainable path; to create more value using less raw materials and with less environmental impact. UPM picked up that gauntlet and today our paper is more than it used to be. Our Economist case study shows why.

“Now, 20 years on from Rio, we decided to look back and ask ourselves the question just how much have we achieved in that time,” says Jyrki Ovaska, President of UPM Paper.

UPM chose The Economist, an internationally renowned news and business publication, as a real life example to illustrate the progress. The Economist has, almost exclusively, been produced on UPM paper for those 20 years.

The study showed that in the production of paper used for The Economist 90 percent less fossil carbon emissions are now released, 35 percent less water is used and the amount of production waste to landfill has declined by an incredible 90 percent compared to 1992. These impressive results are complemented by the share of PEFC certified fibre used in that paper rising from zero to 100 percent and the producing mills being awarded the EU Ecolabel in 2007.

“Using this example allowed us to paint an accurate picture of how much the environmental footprint of the paper used for that particular publication has changed since the first Rio Earth Summit. We even surprised ourselves with the impressive results,” Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa, UPM’s Vice President, Environment continues.

To achieve this dramatic improvement the company has made significant investments such as new waste water treatment facilities and state-of-the-art biomass based renewable energy plants. All this means more efficient paper production, with less energy, less water, less waste, and with lower carbon footprint.

“The results of The Economist case study show how much can be achieved when a company embeds sustainable development at the very heart of its business. In our paper business it’s confirmed by UPM achieving the EU Ecolabel for almost its entire product range. Our paper truly sets the environmental benchmark,” underlines Ovaska.

To bolster its industry-leading transparency tool, Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) has announced an expansion of its award-winning site, The Paper Trail (www.domtarpapertrail.com).  The move adds more products and an additional mill, among other updates, to help customers learn even more about the environmental and social impacts of Domtar paper.

Since its launch in June 2011, industry observers and sustainability experts, including Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com, have noted that the site's transparency gives the tool and Domtar credibility. With its third update to The Paper Trail, Domtar's online calculator will now include:

• Two additional products - EarthChoice^® Tradebook, the first publishing grade to be highlighted in the tool, and Lynx^® Opaque Ultra, a popular commercial printing paper;
• Pictures, stories and a history of Domtar's Nekoosa, Wisconsin mill, where paper making traces its heritage back to 1840;
• Updated environmental impact data for all grades highlighted within the tool, ensuring results are accurate and relevant; and,
• Newly posted pictures and stories for mills previously included in The Paper Trail.

"We're pleased that The Paper Trail has set the standard among today's industry calculators, and we're proud that we've raised the bar even further by providing additional transparency," said Lewis Fix, Domtar Vice-President of Sustainable Business and Brand Management.  "By continually expanding The Paper Trail, we're helping our customers gain a broader understanding of the Domtar story, and a better visibility of where their products come from."

The Paper Trail (www.domtarpapertrail.com) develops personalized reports that measure Domtar products across five categories:  water usage, the distance its fiber travels to a paper mill, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, waste send to landfills and renewable energy usage.  The Paper Trail also illustrates how Domtar compares to the rest of the industry in these categories.  In cases where the environmental impact can be improved, Domtar voluntarily discloses the information, as well as the efforts underway to make improvements.

For more information, please visit www.domtarpapertrail.com.

SOURCE DOMTAR CORPORATION

Ahlstrom, a global high performance materials company, estimates that the transfer of the Brazilian operation of its former wipes fabrics business, Home and Personal, to Suominen Corporation will take place in the third quarter of 2012.

Ahlstrom had previously anticipated that the transfer would have taken place in the second quarter of 2012. The transfer is subject to receiving all necessary Brazilian regulatory permits for the operations.

The Home and Personal business area excluding the Brazilian part of the operation was transferred on October 31, 2011 to Suominen Corporation. Receiving an approval from the competition authorities in Brazil is not a prerequisite for completing the transaction.