Metso will supply a containerboard production line to Greenpac Mill LLC to their new mill site in Niagara Falls, NY, in the United States. The start-up of the production line is scheduled for the second quarter of 2013. The value of the order is approximately EUR 65 million.

Metso’s delivery will include a complete linerboard machine from headbox to roll handling, including air systems, machine pulpers, a broke collection system and a quality control system. The delivery will also comprise board machine clothing under a long-term agreement. The production speed of the 9.05-m-wide (356.3 in wire) board machine, PM 1, will be 915 m/min (3,000 ft/min). The annual production capacity will be approximately 430,000 tonnes (540,000 short tons) of linerboard in the basis weight range of 97.6–170.9 g/m² (20–35 lb/ft²), out of 100 % recycled fiber.

Greenpac Mill LLC is a Cascades affiliate. Created in 1997, Norampac, a Division of Cascades, is the largest containerboard producer in Canada and the 6th largest in North America, with nearly 5,000 employees. Today, Norampac operates several containerboard and boxboard mills, corrugated product plants, folding carton plants and a graphic center in Canada and the United States.

Measurement engineering specialist, Endress+‌Hauser, will in future be well placed to offer its customers even better support in issues relating to energy efficiency. As of 1 July 2011, the Endress+Hauser Group will take over a majority share of the German consultancy company Systemplan. Headquartered in Durmersheim near Karlsruhe, Systemplan brings a wealth of experience in measuring, charting, analyzing and sustainably optimizing energy flow in both plants and offices.

For companies in the process engineering sector, energy efficiency is top of the agenda. “Hardly any other investment pays off so quickly,” states Michael Ziesemer, Chief Operating Officer of the Endress+‌Hauser Group. As a consequence of the debate on renewable energies and preventing climate change, the topic has also gained a political dimension. “Energy efficiency is not only the most effective but also the most economical way of meeting the internationally agreed objectives for carbon dioxide reduction,” states Michael Ziesemer.

Endress+‌Hauser is already supporting its customers in this field. “With our energy monitoring solutions, we help to record and monitor energy flow,” explains Michael Ziesemer. “And of course we have extensive knowledge of our customers’ applications.” Systemplan rounds off this range of services: “Our strength is in giving advice that takes full cost optimization into account,” says company founder, Michael Hager. “We help in the analysis of energy flows, identifying the measures required to effectively reduce energy consumption.”

Systemplan was founded in 1998. The company has about 25 employees, supported by free-lance staff. Systemplan is a partner in the E-Energy Research Project promoted by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, (German Federal Ministry of Economics), under which new energy initiatives are to be tested and implemented in pilot regions.

Endress+‌Hauser will initially take over 60 percent, followed by all shares at a later date. It was agreed to maintain silence on the purchase price. Michael Hager will continue to head the company as Managing Director and will report to the management of the Endress+Hauser Group in Reinach, Switzerland.

An alliance with potential for growth

The 53-year-old founder of the company hopes to safeguard the future of his company through this sale. “Under the umbrella of the Endress+‌Hauser Group, Systemplan will continue to expand and become an international player,” emphasizes Michael Hager. The trusting relationship that Systemplan and Endress+‌Hauser have built up over the years offers the ideal conditions for a smooth transition. Klaus Endress, CEO of the Endress+‌Hauser Group, is confident that the takeover has advantages for all concerned: “Our customers benefit from an all-embracing offer from one single source. Endress+‌Hauser benefits from the increase in competencies, and Systemplan from our global market presence. And we all benefit from reduced energy consumption and lower environmental impact.”

KBA will cut its workforce by a further 700 in order to restore “competitiveness and profitability” in what it claims, is a much diminished market. At KBA’s annual general meeting, CEO Helge Hansen said big web presses, for print media that compete with online services, are a major cause of concern, with global demand well below pre-crisis levels.

A statement from KBA outlines, “Given the sober market prospects for web presses, Hansen sees no alternative but to trim the payroll at KBA’s Frankenthal, Würzburg and Trennfeld plants by a further 700 in order to restore competitiveness.”

Following protracted negotiations with employee representatives in Frankenthal, talks have now started at the other two locations. The measures proposed will reduce the group workforce from 6,377 at the end of May this year, to well below 6,000 at the end of 2013.

Despite the cutbacks and drop in web press demand, the company reported a substantial increase in new orders for sheetfed and special presses in the first five months of the year.

Even so, preliminary figures to June 1 reveal a leap of 21 per cent in new orders to around €600m and 27 per cent in sales to more than €420m.

The order backlog on May 31 totalled €617m, 40 per cent above the prior-year level. This is largely attributable to KBA’s broad product portfolio.

Hansen anticipates a similar improvement in the group’s half-year performance.

Nordic Paper at Bäckhammar will shortly launch and new evaporation plant. In at press release the company describes this as a journey towards being one of the world's best Kraft paper manufacturers.

The plant will be inaugurated on Wednesday 22 June by the Mayor of Kristinehamn, Bjarne Olsson (S).

”When more and more can consumers react negatively towards plastic products and demand alternatives with smaller environmental footprints we also see increased demand for our products” says Jan Runo, leader of the Nordic Paper concern.

This gives Nordic paper great possibilities and is why we are now investing in our Kraft paper mill at Bäckhammar. The evaporation plant is the first step in the pulp mill´s chemical and energy recycling concept. It contributes to making the mill self sufficient where energy is concerned. The plant dries lute from the pulp boiler in five different stages. After that it can be used as fuel in the process. According to Lars Rosén, Produktion Director Kraft Paper, the medium term aim is to increase the yearly capacity of pulp from the current 195 000 tonnes to 230 000 tonnes and of paper from 120 000 tonnes to 160 000 tonnes. The next step will be to evaluate the capacity of the soda boiler before we can increase paper production capacity.

Source: The Paper Province

Following months intensive work together BAM54, Böhler-Uddeholm Precision Strip launched a totally new concept for its coatings blade for paper manufacture at SPCI in Stockholm 17-19 May.

The focus on the new concept "The Line Concept" is totally new technique and the goals were set high. Fredrik Broström is sales manager for the products included in "The Line Concept". “We wanted to aim high because we know we have something that the competition cannot offer. BAM54 were given the assignment to create our total concept that was completely new. The combination of graphic design, colours and tonality in the message should not only be different from what Böhler-Uddeholm Precision Strip has previously done but even revolutionise the industry.

The concept should also include the naming of the products. Fredrik points out that the goal for the SPCI fair was to launch the news, create attention and meet the right customers. “We aimed to portray ourselves on our completely different level that matches our goals and products. Visitors to the fair should not doubt that we had something to say. When the basic concept was decided BAM54 also took responsibility for design and production of the stand at the fair, marketing material and invitations and brochures, datasheets and the concept film that would run on the stand during the three days. Uddeholm Strips CEO Joakim Sköld describes participation at SPCI: ”Our stand at SPCI was at success and completely in line with my personal taste”.

source: The Paper Province

As part of its ongoing communications with its key stakeholders, Akzo Nobel N.V. (“AkzoNobel”) today provides a trading update.

AkzoNobel confirms that revenue development year-to-date has met the company’s expectations, but that results for the second quarter will be adversely impacted by ongoing challenging trading conditions and one-off factors.

Recent performance has continued to be impacted by further raw material price inflation in Q2 and, as a result, sequential second quarter contribution margins are expected to be flat compared with Q1. Year-on-year raw material prices are estimated to be around 20 percent higher.

In addition, continued softness of demand in our mature markets and prolonged maintenance stops within Specialty Chemicals will also impact results in the second quarter. These factors lead to an expected second quarter EBITDA of around €550 million.

AkzoNobel expects full-year 2011 EBITDA to be at least in line with the prior year, assuming no further deterioration in economic conditions.

CEO Hans Wijers commented: “We are on track in terms of our medium-term growth ambitions. Our revenues for the first half will illustrate this as they are expected to be ahead of full-year guidance, driven by positive price and volume development.

“Ongoing actions to mitigate raw material price inflation, company-wide cost containment actions, our continuing successful progress in turning around the performance of US Decorative Paints and continued encouraging growth in high growth markets, will all help mitigate the weaker-than-expected market conditions.”

We are pleased to invite you to listen to AkzoNobel's analyst conference call on June 27, 2011, which starts at 10.00 am (CET)

Nalco continues to achieve good price increase progress to offset higher raw material costs and will seek additional price increases as necessary to offset any further raw material inflation, the Company said today in advance of an investor webcast review next week on its water and paper segments.

Details on price increase progress, the 2011 outlook and progress executing growth strategies in the global Water and Process Services segment will be discussed in a previously scheduled June 28 business review webcast with Dave Flitman, Senior Executive Vice President and President, Water and Process Services. The webcast event will be available at www.nalco.com/investors.

"We have been actively negotiating prices at all accounts throughout this year," said Nalco Chairman and CEO Erik Fyrwald. "In the critical North American water and paper businesses, we had pricing agreements in place by the end of April with 75 percent of our customers and have continued to finalize agreements that we expect will cover our cost increases on a run-rate basis by the end of the third quarter. Based on our progress, including previously discussed efforts in Energy Services which were highlighted in an investor call with Steve Taylor on May 31, we expect margin improvement in the second half of this year with 4th quarter margins more consistent with our historical norms."

Water and Process Services Business Review
Date: 6/28/2011
Start Time: 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT / 8 a.m. MT / 7 a.m. PT
Length: 60 minutes
Dial-in Telephone Number: 1-913-312-1438
Confirmation Code: 6595515
To help ensure the conference call begins in a timely manner, please dial in five to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

The webcast of Mr. Flitman's presentation will be available through the Investor Relations section of Nalco's website, www.nalco.com/investors. Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will also be available on the site under Investor Relations, Archived Presentations. An archive of Mr. Taylor's May 31 webcast is currently available under Investor Relations, Archived Presentations.

A sequel to the company’s first Digital Specialist Forum in April 2010, Mondi takes “going digital” to the next level with a full roster of experts presenting on digital printing and marketing trends.

After the success of Mondi’s first Digital Specialist Forum (DSF) in Vienna, the company will host DSF 2.0, bringing customers together with industry experts to learn more about new trends and technologies in digital printing.

The impressive list of international guest speakers includes Hans van Lith, CEO of Eclipse, a digital communication and marketing service provider based in the Netherlands; Tony Hodgson, CEO of PODi UK, a branch of the PODi organisation, which drives the demand for digital print applications and helps PODi members build successful digital print businesses; Vito Ferrone, CEO and founder of the Milan based printing house Loretoprint – a company that merges digital innovation and corporate social responsibility to cooperate with NGOs to improve the living conditions in Haiti; and Ulbe Jelluma, a seasoned marketing and advertising professional and Print Power’s Marketing Manager.

“Our uncoated fine paper business development is tightly aligned with the current market focus on digital printing and sustainable production. There has been continuous growth in our eco-friendly Green Range and digital printing portfolio, not to mention a number of initiatives, such as online tutorials and events, which help us maintain an ongoing dialogue with our customers about how their needs can be best met by applying the latest industry trends and technologies,” explains Johannes Klumpp, Marketing and Sales Director, Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper.

Determining the best papers for specific technologies and desired applications has been a driving force behind Mondi’s digital programmes. With the continuing growth in the digital print market, the company also works together closely with OEMs to develop new digital papers – the latest being DNS^® indigo, Color Copy indigo and DNS^® high-speed inkjet.

Both Color Copy indigo and DNS^® indigo received HP’s 3-star certification, which is the highest performance rating for HP Indigo digital presses and indicates the best performance for runnability, fixing and blanket compatibility. In terms of optimal applications, HP recommended Color Copy indigo for photo book printing due to its smooth surface characteristics and natural whiteness level, whereas the high-white DNS^® indigo is recommend for applications requiring strong contrasts such as point of sale material, corporate stationery, company reports and brochures. DNS^® high-speed inkjet is Mondi’s latest development for transactional and transpromotional communication, offering excellent colour density and sharp definition, which is essential for barcode and logo readability.

The digital printing papers by Mondi can be used on all modern printing machines and come in the most important digital formats. They are tested and enhanced for toner and ink-jet, for sheet-and continuous feed and will – together with the printers’ skills – yield the benefits of digital printing: small print runs, print-on-demand and variable data applications to create highly customized print materials. Part of the Green Range product family, these papers are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC^®) certified, totally chlorine free, or 100% recycled.

A complete overview of Mondi’s digital product portfolio and its environmental accreditations can be found at: www.mondigroup.com/digitalprinting.

Metso will supply advanced process and quality vision system, Metso PQV, to three Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership’s pulp mills (CPLP) in British Columbia, Canada.  Metso PQV is using the most advanced high-resolution, high-speed digital imaging technology available on the market, and will target improvements to the mills’ efficiency and quality control.

The new Metso PQV will replace an existing off-line dirt count analysis system. Through faster, more accurate and more efficient detection of defects in the produced pulp, the mills will improve quality control.

“Implementation of the Metso PQV across all four of our fibre lines confirms our commitment to constantly improve our quality to CPLP’s global customers,” stated Joe Nemeth, President and CEO of CPLP.

Metso PQV integrates web quality inspection and web break analysis capabilities. The delivery scope to Canfor Pulp LP includes a dirt count application for full web-length pulp quality analysis.  

Metso PQV incorporates high intensity LED-illumination and transmission imaging to analyze the on-line dirt count of the pulp according to TAPPI’s statistical dirt count index significantly improving the dirt count measurement accuracy.

The new systems were delivered in March 2011 and will be fully operational during this Autumn. Total value of the delivery is EUR 1,3 million.

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has appointed Dr. Hans-Joachim Müller member of the Executive Committee. He will join the company on July 1, 2011.

Hans-Joachim Müller, born 1959, joins Clariant from Süd-Chemie AG, where he was as Member of the Managing Board. Before he was Head of the global Business Unit Catalytic Technologies at Süd-Chemie, developing this business into a global market leading position. He holds a PhD in chemistry from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, Germany.

Clariant's CEO Hariolf Kottmann commented: "I am pleased that Hans-Joachim Müller has accepted the offer to join the Executive Committee of Clariant. With his broad leadership experience in the chemicals industry and his deep understanding of the Süd-Chemie businesses he will guarantee for continuity and contribute to the successful execution of our profitable growth strategy."

Hans-Joachim Müller will be responsible for the two Business Units Catalysis & Energy and Functional Materials.