1. Kimberly-Clark to restructure European operations (News from RISI)

Kimberly-Clark has unveiled plans to restructure its consumer business operations across Europe. The firm blamed the move on the changing business dynamics which are affecting fast-moving consumer goods companies, combined with the ongoing impact of the global recession. The restructuring will lead to some jobs cuts across its sites, generally among white-collar workers. Tissue paper output will remain unchanged.

"We are in a tough business environment, with growing uncertainty due to the cost of raw materials, significant currency fluctuations and the global recession - we need to evolve our business in response," K-C's president of Consumer Europe Giles Turrell stated. "In doing so, we have examined every option and have taken the decision to reduce our cost base which will regrettably result in some job losses."
K-C is currently in talks with employee representatives. The company did not specify how many workers would be made redundant or which plants would be affected as the consultation process has only just begun. The firm aims to ensure business continuity for all its customers.

Media reports in the UK said that the company's 135,000 ton/yr tissue plant in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, will be affected by the restructuring. A K-C spokesperson confirmed that between 25 and 30 white-collar workers there are set to lose their jobs. The mill employs 426 people, including 121 white-collar workers.

2. AG Lafley retirement speculation “premature”, says P&G

On Tuesday 9 June speculation mounted that AG Lafley, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble, would retire on 1 July. This followed a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. But in advance of a board meeting held Tuesday, P&G said the report was “premature”.
US media assumed that CFO Bob McDonald would succeed Lafley. He has been with the company since 1980 and has extensive experience in global markets for household goods, with notable Asia Pacific experience.
On Tuesday, P&G’s share price slipped slightly on the speculation.

3. Shandong Chenming to add new tissue machine (News from RISI)

Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings is to branch out into the tissue paper sector. The company has ordered a machine from A Celli for its Shouguang facility. The unit will have a width of 5.6 m, a speed of 2000 m/min and a capacity of approximately 60,000 tons/yr. The cost and start-up date are not yet available.

The new tissue machine will come as the final part of an investment in three paper machines and a pulp mill in China, spanning fine paper, tissue and linerboard. The company will establish a new subsidiary, Shouguang Meilun Paper, to carry out two of the projects.

The first comprises a 600,000 ton/yr white-top liner machine, to be installed at the firm's Shouguang mill in Shandong province. The unit will be supplied by Voith Paper and is scheduled for start-up in February 2011. The scheme is expected to cost ¥2.6 billion ($380 million).

The second project coming under the auspices of Shouguang Meilun Paper is a coated woodfree machine, to be installed at the greenfield site in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, where Shandong Chenming was already planning to build a pulp mill. The PM will have a capacity of 800,000 tons/yr, a leap up from the original 450,000 ton/yr amount the company was originally considering. The unit will be supplied by Metso Paper and is targeted to come on stream in May 2011. The investment is set to cost ¥5.2 billion.

The pulp project is being carried out by another Shandong Chenming subsidiary, Zhanjiang Chenming Pulp & Paper. Construction of the mill began at the end of last year but was put on hold after ground levelling was completed as the firm decided to renegotiate the supply contract for the pulp line with Metso Paper. It has now cancelled the order and signed up Andritz to provide a 700,000 ton/yr bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) pulp line for the new plant. The BHK pulp will be integrated with the new fine paper machine, with the remaining furnish for the PM comprising softwood pulp bought on the market.

4. SCA brings Pratovecchio mill back online

SCA has restarted its Pratovecchio mill and converting plant near Florence, Italy, following the end of a two-month strike. This was provoked by the company’s announcement in the spring that it was planning to close the facility as part of its restructuring program for Italy and France. It is carrying out intensive discussions with the unions over future plans for the workforce.

The plant is to be shut down by the end of the year, with the expected loss of 128 jobs. The converting equipment will be moved to other production units in the Lucca area, where SCA has extensive facilities and plans to concentrate all its Italian operations in future. A decision on what to do with the 22,000 ton/yr tissue machine is still to be taken.

Meanwhile, SCA is also looking to restructure its mill in Orléans, sout of Paris, in a bid to improve its competitiveness. Some 44 jobs will be cut as a result. The company plans to diversify the site's output by introducing through-air-dried products and adjusting the factory's cost structure. The plant houses one 35,000 ton/yr TAD machine and employs 148 people.

5. Kostenez starts up tissue machine in Bulgaria

On 16 May 2009  Kostenez HHI started up its new machine for high-quality tissue, centrepiece of an €11 million investment, under the supervision of machine supplier Over Meccanica. According to the mill, saleable paper was produced from the first jumbo roll.

Kostenez paper mill, situated 60 km south-east of Sofia, Bulgaria, is already running another tissue machine as well as another for packaging in the mill. The new 2.75 m wide machine has a design speed of 1800 m/min running on 100% virgin pulp.

The Over Meccanica scope of supply covers the full line from approach flow system to wrapping line including Crescent former tissue machine, sectional drives, steam, vacuum, hood system and a three-ply combining winder."

The machine start-up was delayed by 18 months by gas supply issues and, more recently, by bad weather and a Russia-Ukraine dispute that disrupted gas supplies earlier this year. These problems appear to have been overcome through recent political discussions.

6. US prefers paper towels for drying hands

In an online survey conducted this spring, 94% of US adults who responded said they always wash their hands after visiting a restroom. However, when asked what percentage of other people they thought washed their hands each time after using a public restroom, 99% felt that other people don’t do so each time, and almost half (48%) felt that people wash their hands less than 50% of the time after using a restroom.

The commissioned survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Tork® brand of SCA Tissue North America and drew 2516 U.S. adult respondents 18 or older — 46% male and 54% female. It was conducted 26 February to 2 March 2009.

Visiting a public restroom is the situation that ranks highest in terms of health and hygiene concerns for US adults. Asked what activities give them most concern about health and hygiene risks, most, adults selected:

Visiting a public restroom - 44%
Preparing food or meals - 26%
Contact with other adults - 9%
Other answers were: contact with babies/children - 7%; contact with animals - 3%; other - 2%; and not sure - 8%.

“Clearly people think public restrooms present a hygiene risk and claim they are washing their hands after using those restrooms,” said Mike Kapalko, environmental and Tork services manager, SCA Tissue North America. “But their observations of others in public restrooms indicate that a large percentage of them are not actually doing so.”

The survey results show that most people, given a choice in a public restroom, would prefer to dry their hands with paper towels. Among those who visit public restrooms, 55% selected paper towels followed by 25% for high-velocity jet air dryers, 16% forhot air dryers, 1% for linen or cloth towel and 2% not sure.

The majority of respondents (59%) also selected paper towels as the fastest method for drying hands, followed by: high velocity jet air dryer (25%); linen or cloth towel (8%); hot air dryer (4%); and not sure (4%).

Asked what they thought was the recommended length of time to actively wash hands with soap and water after using the restroom, 38% said 30 seconds and 28% said 20 seconds, followed by: 60 seconds (14%); over 60 seconds (8%); 40 seconds (6%) and 10 seconds (6%).

‘The recommended procedure for washing hands in restrooms is to wet them, then thoroughly wash with soap for 20 seconds before rinsing off and drying them completely with a paper towel,” said Kapalko. “If faucets are not touchless, it is further recommended that the paper towel be used to shut them off to keep from re-contaminating their hands.”

The survey also asked questions to determine opinions on the most hygienic and effective ways for drying hands and reducing bacteria levels. In both cases, the opinions reflected in this poll have been disproved in a controlled experiment conducted late last year by Westminster University in London.

Asked for the most hygienic method for drying wet hands, respondents selected: high velocity jet air dryer, 41%; paper towel, 31%; and hot air dryer, 20%. Not sure was selected by 6% and linen or cloth by 2%.

Asked to rate each method as extremely, very, fairly, somewhat, or not at all effective in drying hands and reducing bacteria levels, poll respondents gave extremely or very effective ratings to:

High velocity jet air, 65% of respondents
Paper towels, 53%
Hot air dryer, 50%
Air drying or drip drying, 19%
Linen or cloth towels, 15%

“These opinions giving high marks to hot air and jet air dryers are fairly widespread among consumers, but scientific research shows that paper towels are not only more hygienic and effective but that hot air and jet air dryers actually do more harm than good when it comes to reducing bacteria in public washrooms,” said Kapalko.

“Controlled experiments conducted in December 2008 by scientists at the University of Westminster found that paper towel drying reduced the average number of bacteria on the finger pads by up to 76% and on the palms by up to 77%,” Kapalko said. “By comparison, electric hand dryers actually caused bacteria counts to actually increase.”

Test results of the Westminster study showed:

Traditional warm air dryers increased the average number of bacteria by 194% on the finger pads and by 254% on the palms.

Jet air dryers increased the average number of bacteria on the finger pads by 42% and on the palms by 15%.

The scientists also carried out tests to establish whether there was the potential for cross contamination of other washroom users and the washroom environment as a result of each type of drying method. They found:

The jet air dryer, which blows air out of the unit at claimed speeds of 600 km/hr, was capable of blowing micro-organisms from the hands and the unit and potentially contaminating other washroom users and the washroom environment up to 2 m away.

Use of a traditional warm air hand dryer spread micro-organisms up to 89 cm from the dryer.

Paper towels showed no significant spread of micro-organisms.

“The Westminster results confirmed previous studies that show thorough hand drying with a paper towel is not only the most effective way to dry hands and reduce bacteria but also the most hygienic when it comes to preventing the spread of bacteria in public restrooms,” Kapalko said. Tissue World will publish a précis of the Westminster research, authored by Keith Redway, the scientist responsible, In July.

7. Tissue plant in New Zealand goes geothermal

SCA Hygiene Australasia’s tissue plant in Kawerau, New Zealand will reduce its carbon emissions significantly by replacing steam raised from natural gas with locally produced geothermal steam.

The country’s volcanic zone contains several areas of thermal activity, amongst them Kawerau in the North Island. Thus News Zealand’s geothermal power stands for approximately 10% of the country's electricity with installed capacity approaching 600 MW.

Steam, currently produced from natural gas firing in boilers, is an integral requirement at SCA’s tissue plant in Kawerau for producing household towels, napkins, toilet paper. They are sold under brands as Purex, Tork, Deeko and Handee.

“By replacing the natural gas with sustainable and locally produced geothermal steam we will significantly reduce our carbon emissions”, explains Murray Lucas, Site operations manager at the tissue plant.

Using geothermal steam directly instead of natural gas follows SCA’s sustainability target to reduce emissions from fossil fuels by 20%, using 2005 as a base year. The pipeline and steam processing equipment in Kawerau will be constructed by September 2010.

To intensify the cooperation with the paper mills, Voith Paper has nominated a new team of technical consultants for all paper mills in Central Europe. Each paper mill has a contact partner advising and assisting its maintenance, technical and production teams. During regular visits to the customers, the production processes will be observed and custom-made concepts for process optimization will be developed jointly with the customer.

To maintain competitiveness, many paper mills are increasingly focusing on optimizing their production processes step by step. Based on the long-term strategic orientation of the paper mills, production processes are constantly being evaluated and improved, thanks to services and minor rebuilds. The new Voith team is a response to this evolution.

“Currently paper mills are especially interested in safety audits to examine whether the safety equipment of the mill complies with the new EC safety rules. Audits on topics of energy saving and efficient use of chemicals are other focal points of Voith Paper consulting services,” explains Peter Haider, vice president sales products & services Europe

In addition, Voith Paper offers a wide range of more than 200 services and optimizing products to improve paper quality and the efficiency and safety of production processes.

The technical sales team for products & services comprises seven consultants to assist the paper mills in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Their tasks and responsibilities include the product groups of services, spare parts, components and rebuilds.

9. Voith introduces compact OnQ ModulePro nozzle moisturizer

Voith has introduced OnQ ModulePro nozzle moisturizer, a simpler alternative to high-end ModulePro. Mainly directed at the printing paper sector it is nonetheless also of potential interest to tissue makers, the company says.

With older, existing paper machines, moisture problems in the paper often appear. However, for many of these machines, the ModulePro nozzle moisturizer which has been successfully installed in many cases is technically too complex and thus not cost-efficient. Therefore, Voith Paper Automation has come up with a new layout of the proven product: OnQ ModulePro compact, a solution for paper machines with a maximum speed of 1500 m/min and a web width of up to 8.5 m.

OnQ ModulePro compact features a simpler technical solution for the spray beam which is available with at most two rows of nozzles and with zone widths of 50 or 75 mm. In addition, no suction station is required for these simpler applications. Despite all technical reduction, OnQ ModulePro compact improves the moisture cross profile quality due to its innovative nozzle and valve technology, which for years has been the benchmark in the paper industry, according to Voith.

“Due to the uniformly fine rewetting and the optimal CD moisture profile, OnQ ModulePro compact meets the highest quality requirements,” Voith says in a press release. “A homogeneous moisture distribution and reduced curling tendency are the result. The advantage: Fewer complaints . . . since the runnability of the end product is considerably improved.”

10. SCA Tissue gets footballers to plant trees

SCA Tissue deepened its environmental partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles, a US football team, when it teamed up recently for a special event in Eagles Forest, a 2.5 ha space located within the Neshaminy State Park in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

The two organizations, both headquartered in Philadelphia, held a VIP Tree Planting event on Friday 29 May that included executives and employees from both organizations, SCA customers.

Participants planted 15 trees, which were added to the 1500-plus trees and shrubs the Eagles previously planted in the space, more than 150 of which were purchased by fans.

“We are proud of the mutual commitment to the environment we share with the Philadelphia Eagles under their Go Green program and pleased to be part of their Eagles Forest initiative for the second year in a row,” said Joe Russo, SCA Tissue VP of sales - distribution, US and Canada.

In remarks at the event, Russo said that parent company SCA has a long record of supporting sustainable forestry management, planting three trees for every one tree used in Europe. In North America, SCA Tissue manufactures its Tork® towel, tissue and napkin products using 100% recycled paper.

Russo pointed out that based on its recycling annually of more than 750,000 tons of paper and its other environmental initiatives, SCA Tissue annually saves more than 1billion litres oil; 11.9 million trees; 2.8 billion kilowatts of electricity; more than 1 billion litres of diesel fuel; 20 billion gallons of water; and 2 million m3 of landfill space.

11. New meeting place for pulp and paper industry to discuss energy issues

The Energy Square is launching a new website to promote discussion and the sharing of knowledge within the area of improved energy efficiency in the pulp and paper industry. “The new website increases opportunities to exchange experiences and provide feedback for organisations across the world,” says Magnus Persson, manager, The Energy Square.

The website has four main areas: a news service, an events calendar, a Wikipedia section with documents, research information and articles, and a discussion forum. The website has been running for a few weeks and has already made its mark.

“An energy co-ordinator at a mill entered the forum and asked if there was a special piece of equipment that could solve a problem he had. He received a direct answer from a company who made exactly what he was looking for. That’s how you can both solve a problem and create business,” says Persson.

The Energy Square is a project managed by The Paper Province, a Swedish cluster. This is an international centre focused on improving energy efficiency within the pulp and paper industry. The aim is to make it easier for businesses to develop new products and services that reduce energy consumption within the global pulp and paper industry.

Contact Magnus Persson, Manager Energy Square, +46 703427941. New web site : www.energysquare.se