DUBLIN,
GEORGIA OPERATIONS:
SP Newsprint Co.
began as Southeast Paper Manufacturing Company when it's first mill was built along
the Oconee River near Dublin, Georgia in the late 1970s. The
project – to build a recycled newsprint mill in the southeastern United
States – was initiated by Media General through Garden State Paper Company.
Later, two additional owners joined the project to form a partnership in 1977 that
included Media General,
Knight-Ridder and Cox Enterprises – all
highly-respected newspaper publishers and leaders in the communications
industry.
The mill’s first machine, a Beloit Bel Baie II, began producing paper on
June 1, 1979. It was designed to operate at 3000 ft/min, producing 487
tons/day of newsprint. Initial furnish was 92% deinked Old Newspapers (ONP)
using the Garden State Paper Company deinking process, and 8% Thermomechanical
Pulp (TMP). The mill operated from it's inception with a unique, all-salaried workforce. Also in 1979, the company formed Southeast Paper
Recycling Company to procure ONP for the mill. The recycling company currently
operates 23 collection centers in the southeastern United States - along the
Atlantic coast, from Silver Springs, MD through southern Florida, and
west to New Orleans, LA.
The Dublin operations have been noted for the innovative application of new
manufacturing technologies. For example, Black Clawson slotted pressure
screens were installed in 1982 for removal of "stickies", the first
such use for recycled ONP. In 1984, the mill started the land application
of waste treatment sludge by spray irrigation.
A second paper machine, featuring a Valmet Speedformer HS,
was added as part of a major expansion program
which began in 1987; start-up was in September of 1989. The machine has a
design speed of 5000 ft/min, with an initial daily capacity of 675 tons.
The
project also included a 75 MW Cogeneration facility, featuring a Pyropower circulating fluidized bed boiler,
designed to burn sludge for energy, along with GE gas and steam turbine
generators.
Since September 1989, the mill’s furnish has been 100% recycled
deinked ONP. In March of 1990, the Dublin mill became
the first in North America to use calcined clay for opacity control in
newsprint.
Other innovations have included the installation of a Jagenburg single-drum
winder in 1993 to produce large diameter rolls, and a centralized ONP sorting
system in 1996 to improve ONP quality to the pulpers. The most recent major
upgrade was the installation of a Valmet shoe press on the No. 2 machine
in July of 1998 – the first application on newsprint in North America.
Another recent
technological development is a patented system to remove contaminants such as
ink, stickies, and wax from aqueous solutions of recovered fiber. A new
company, SEP Technologies, was formed to market the Lawson Separation System
to the pulp and paper industry.
The No. 1 paper machine has a current capacity of
more than 690 tons/day at 4150 ft/min, while No. 2 machine can produce 900+ tons/day at speeds exceeding
5500 ft/min., holding the North American speed record for newsprint machines.
Annual ONP consumption exceeds 750,000 tons and annual production is
more than 550,000 finished tons of newsprint. Currently production at Dublin exceeds
1600 tons/day, with daily ONP usage of more than 2150
tons. The Dublin mill is now the largest 100% recycled newsprint mill in North
America and the third largest in the world. Delivering high-quality newsprint to
more than 250 locations, its customer base is approximately 50%
owner-partner newspapers and 50% open market.
In November 1999, Southeast Paper Manufacturing Company purchased the
Newberg, Oregon, newsprint mill from Jefferson Smurfitt and changed the
company name to SP Newsprint Co. With this acquisition, the
company now has the capacity to produce almost 1,000,000 tons of recycled
newsprint annually.
NEWBERG,
OREGON OPERATIONS:
The Newberg, Oregon mill produces
recycled content newsprint – approximately 1,180 tons per day.
The old newspapers used as raw materials at Newberg come from all of
western North America. Customers are primarily newspaper publishers located in the
western states. Through our
history of continuous improvement, both Newberg newsprint machines
consistently rank among the most efficient and productive in the world.
The Newberg mill site is
situated on the Willamette River in Yamhill County and has hosted various wood
products operations dating back to the late nineteenth century.
Charles Spaulding started sawmill operations at the Newberg location in
1892. In 1927, the Spaulding Pulp
and Paper Company began producing unbleached sulfite market pulp.
Major milestones in the mill’s history as a newsprint manufacturer
include:
·
1965 – The mill was purchased by Publishers Paper Company.
·
1968 – A refiner-mechanical pulp line and one newsprint paper machine
(No. 5 PM) started production at a cost of $27.5 million.
·
1979 – Construction of a 125 ton per day deink facility marked our
first step into the recycling of old newspapers.
·
1980 – Major expansion added a second newsprint machine (No. 6 PM)
and two thermo-mechanical pulp lines. A
power boiler and a full-condensing turbine generator were constructed for
cogeneration of steam and electricity. Total
cost was $127 million.
·
1984 – Recycled newsprint capacity was increased to 525 tons per day.
No. 5 paper machine was upgraded by the addition of a top-wire former.
The sulfite pulp mill was closed.
·
1986 – The mill was purchased by Jefferson Smurfit Corporation.
·
1990 – Recycled newsprint capacity increased to 625 tons per day.
·
November, 1999 – The mill was purchased by Southeast Paper
Manufacturing Co., and the name was changed to SP Newsprint Co.
·
August, 2000 – Broke ground on an ambitious project to improve the
optical properties of its recycled-content newsprint and to reduce the level
of sheet contaminants to improve runnability.
The project, dubbed “Recycle Oregon”, was an investment in excess
of $70 million, and was completed in September of 2001.
·
September, 2001 – Began the construction of our second major capital
investment in two years with the installation of two large gas turbine
generators and heat recovery steam generators that will give Newberg the
ability to generate all of its internal electrical needs, as well as provide
electricity to the market. This
$70 million cogeneration project, which is due to be completed in June of
2003, will boost the mill’s total electrical generation capacity to 130
megawatts.
The Newberg mill has provided employment to local residents for over 100 years.
Currently it employs
approximately 340 employees (70 salaried, 270 hourly).
All hourly workers are represented by the Association of Western Pulp
and Paper Workers (AWPPW), Local 60.
Its $20+ million payroll is one of the largest in Yamhill
County. Tax dollars paid to the
county taxing districts are $1.9 million and represent about 3% of the Yamhill
County tax base.
Mill employees are involved
in many aspects of community life, including membership on the Chamber of
Commerce board, local organizations and clubs, service to the Providence
Newberg Hospital board and foundation, active participation on the
Business/School Partnership Committee, distribution of rebuilt bikes through
the “Retired Recyclers” program, interaction with elected officials, and
support of numerous other community activities.