Minnesota Awaits Decision on New $500 Million Paper Machine

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Going back as far as the spring of 1998, the air around the UPM-Keymmene (Helsinki, Finland) Blandin paper mill in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, was filled with talk of a new paper machine. The new No. 7 machine was pegged to possibly replace the mill's No. 3 and No. 4 machines. Most of the nearly 300 employees would be retained with the addition of the new paper machine. However, less than favorable market conditions and zoning issues stifled plans for the new machine, and eventually led to those workers being let go in 2003, when the company retired the No. 3 and No. 4 machines. This past summer the air around the mill began to heat up again when the company announced it was conducting a feasibility assessment and preparing an environmental impact statement for a new paper machine that would produce publication paper.

Following the announcement, UPM-Keymmene released few details about the project, mainly indicating that beyond the study phase, construction would be at least a year away and could cost several hundred million dollars. According to Industrialinfo.com, the construction phase of a new paper machine, similar to the one proposed by UPM-Keymmene, could be completed, at the earliest, in about eighteen to twenty-four months, depending on site characteristics.

Operations at the Blandin site began in 1902 with one paper machine. UPM-Keymmene acquired the mill from its second owner, Blandin Paper Company, in 1917. Today, the mill is comprised of two paper machines that have a combined capacity of more than 350,000 metric tons of coated groundwood paper. The mill currently employs 500 workers.

UPM is one of the world's leading forest products companies. The company's businesses focus on magazine papers, newsprint, fine and specialty papers, converting materials and wood products. The company has production in sixteen countries and an extensive sales network comprising over 170 sales and distribution companies.

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Industrilainfo.com's coverage of the forest products industry in the United States and Canada includes data on over 3,300 major manufacturing plants that produce pulp, paper, and wood products. Industry sectors include tissue, newsprint, coated and uncoated papers, packaging and industrial converting, lumber, plywood, and reconstituted wood products such as particleboard, medium density fiberboard (MDF) and oriented strand board (OSB).

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