Paper producer will restart one production line at NewPage mill, slashing workforce by 271 in restructuring bid.

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POINT TUPPER, N.S. :Workers who worked at an idled paper mill in Cape Breton have started receiving calls informing them if they can expect to be recalled.

Pacific West Commercial Corp. is only planning on restarting the NewPage mill’s supercalendered machine—not the newsprint line—and is slashing the workforce to 229 unionized employees from more than 500.

Last month, the union voted 85.6% in favour of a final contract offer by the Vancouver-based company that includes significant concessions.

Steve MacDougall, the recording secretary with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union local, says it’s been difficult seeing people with years of experience working at the mill receiving notice their days at the Point Tupper factory are over.

Pacific West restructuring manager Marc Dube said they hired a professional group to set up a hiring protocol, and all employees were assessed against it.

When asked what criteria are involved, Dube referred to a Pacific West website where it details the commitments that it wants from its “team members.”

They include a commitment to show up on time for work and to be prepared to work toward achieving the company’s goals, as well as a commitment to meet and exceed company standards and expectations for quality.

A Utility and Review Board hearing into the company’s power rate application has been scheduled for July, and will have to be approved before the mill can reopen.

Dube said the company is also close to an agreement with the province around access to Crown lands.

He says early August is estimated to be the likeliest time that workers would be asked to return to the plant.

©The Canadian press

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Pacific West calling back workers to idled NS paper plant

OTTAWA: Canada’s forestry industry says it is ready for a comeback and expects to add 60,000 new jobs by 2020.

Industry executives have unveiled a strategy for growth to generate an additional $20 billion in economic activity in the next eight years through expanded exports to emerging markets and a recovery in the US.

As well, they have set a target of reducing their firms’ environmental footprint by 35% in such areas as water usage, waste and air contaminants.

Catherine Cobden, interim president of the Forestry Products Association of Canada, said the sector had gone through a difficult few years following the collapse of the US housing market in 2007 and the subsequent global recession.

Overall, the employment in the sector is down more than one-third from the 360,000 peak reached in 2005.

But Cobden said the industry has used the downturn to become more competitive, energy efficient, and to shift attention to markets in the faster growing emerging economies, particularly China and India.

“We have faced a lot of economic challenges, shrinking markets, structural declines in some of our markets with the electronic age, currency challenges,” she said in a news conference.

“But we got busy … the Canadian forest industry is Canada’s leading exporter to China.”

Asia now accounts for about 28% of Canada’s forest products exports, up from 11% a decade earlier, the forest association said.

Sales of lumber to China in particularly have exploded, from a mere $32 million in 2001 to $1.5 billion last year, the association said. Including pulp and paper, total sales to China topped $4 billion in 2011.

Meanwhile, exports to the US have fallen to 62% of the total from 80% during the same period.

Cobden said even with the recent cooling of China’s economy, exports continue to rise.

Tembec Inc. president Jim Lopez adds he believes the US market is beginning to recover given recent growth in demand for lumber and building products, although he cautioned the newsprint sector is unlikely to return to previous levels.

In a report in December, the Conference Board of Canada predicted Canada’s wood producers would double profits in 2012 and add 6,000 workers, mainly because of gains in export markets.

The think-tank said industry profits were expected to rise to $565 million in 2012, and subsequently grow by more than 20% annually for at least two additional years.

© 2012 The Canadian Press

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Forestry industry targets 60,000 new jobs by 2020

BEIJING: Leaders of China’s solar power industry have rejected a US antidumping ruling and say proposed punitive tariffs might disrupt efforts to promote clean energy.

The companies denied receiving improper subsidies and said they would fight proposed duties of 31.2% when US trade regulators announced the higher tariffs May 17.

The ruling is likely to fuel US-Chinese tensions over complaints of improper subsidies and access to each other’s markets for steel, tires and other goods.

The chairman of one of China’s biggest solar equipment manufacturers, Yingli Green Energy, said higher tariffs would be “disruptive and destructive” to the global industry.

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Chinese solar makers reject US dumping ruling

Leading flexible packaging supplier Curwood gains top honors in its supply category in Tyson’s 7th annual awards program.

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Tyson Foods Corporation has named Curwood, Inc. as its 2011 Supplier of the Year in the packaging category.

The prestigious honor celebrates Tyson’s commitment to strong business partnerships that enhance quality, drive out costs and maximize efficiency. Curwood earned the award by excelling in supply chain performance, total cost of ownership, pricing programs, customer service performance, sustainability initiatives and other performance metrics.

A multi-national flexible packaging manufacturer and a division of Bemis Company, Curwood has been a leading supplier to Tyson for more than 20 years, supplying it with a broad range of packaging solutions for their high-quality smoked and processed poultry, case-ready meats and fresh meats. Curwood continually reinvents its products and invests in new technologies to achieve ongoing packaging and process improvements.

“We have a dedicated team that works closely with the Tyson plants and corporate office in a true partnership,” says Gianni Holzem, Curwood’s national account manager for Tyson. “Curwood strives to understand Tyson’s current and future packaging needs. We continue to push our team and drive innovation to strengthen our long-term relationship.”

Tyson Foods, founded in 1935, is one of the world’s largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves.

Curwood supplies innovative packaging materials and systems for food, beverage, household, industrial and personal care industries. Headquartered in Oshkosh, WI, Curwood is part of the Bemis family of companies who  are a major supplier of flexible packaging and pressure sensitive materials used by leading food, consumer products, healthcare and other companies worldwide.

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Curwood earns knockout award from Tyson

TORONTO—The OMERS pension fund manager is selling 23 per cent of its stake in Constellation Software Inc. for $89.5-million.

The deal leaves OMERS with about 20.4 per cent of Constellation’s common shares.

On Thursday, Constellation bought California-based Wynne Systems Inc., which provides software to manage rentals. Wynne will become part of Constellation’s Volaris Group.

OMERS is one of Canada’s largest pension funds, serving current and retired employees of Ontario municipalities.

Constellation develops, installs and customizes software for select industries.

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OMERS reduces Constellation position in $89-million deal

$116 million in lost business wasn’t enough to stop this uber-innovator.

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MILAN, Italy: Losing $115 million in business can be truly devastating to any company.

Survival, however, comes down to adaptation, and in the case of SAES Getters, sticking to a steadfast corporate innovation policy.

The company, a Milan-based innovation think-tank that specializes in the production of components for ultra-high vacuum and gas purification applications for industrial customers invests at least 10% of its revenues in research and innovation annually, a practice it says saved the company.

In 2009, SAES Getters recorded its worst sales in the 70 year history of the company, $164 million. It attributes that rough year to changes in technologies of one of its major industrial sectors. When consumer electronics companies were producing liquid crystal displays (LCD), SAES Getters provided vaccuum sealants and ultra pure gases that kept the liquid crystals found televisions and computer monitors alive.

But, when the LCD industry made the move towards organic light emitting diode displays, SAES Getters’ business sunk to virtually zero because their components were no longer necessary. When LCD was in its hay-day, SAES Getters was producing getter and metal dispensers for the flat screen and cathode ray tubes within them.

Instead of tanking, however, the company went to work and stuck to its innovation-centric practices, developing more materials, such as shape memory alloys, and entering new markets such as automotive and renewable energy.

“We’re still here because of our continuous R&D and innovation practices,” says Giulio Canale, managing director of SAES Getters.

It seems that practice paid off. In 2011, the company was able to rebound, earning more than $190 million thanks to its recent focus on building its shape memory alloy business.

The company, founded in 1947, now boasts an arsenal of more 300 patents. Canale says the company produces between eight and 10 inventions a year, mainly inside its 35,000 square foot corporate headquarters on the outskirts of Milan.

The tour that followed the earlier press conference during a recent visit by journalists from Canada and the US, part of a media delegation hosted by Machines Italia and the Italian Trade Commission, was truly impressive. Unfortunately, because of the uber-secretive nature of the things the company is doing inside, photos and video coverage was not allowed. And to be honest, understandably so.

Nowadays, the company is focusing on bettering its vaccuum, metal dispensing, shape memory alloy and gas purification technologies. It has even developed a way to harness the hydrogen found in lithium-ioon batteries found in electric cars that will allow automakers to use larger batteries without worrying about them over-heating.

The batteries currently used in electric vehicles are about the size of laptop batteries, and are packaged together to form a battery-pack that reduces the danger of over-heating that could result in engine fires and other problems. Roberto Giannantonio, the company’s corporate research and development manager, says SAES Getters’ new hydrogen harnessing technologies could be a game changer.

And while it’s nearly impossible to describe the extent of what the company is doing at its Milanese facility here, I would highly suggest checking out the company’s website and having a look for yourself.

One technology, however, really stuck out, and it’s simply based on its cool factor: shape memory alloys.

The company, which employees 1000 people at 10 facilities worldwide, is now producing shape memory alloy actuators, which replace the need for bulky DC and electronic motors. The alloys, which appears as ultra-thin wires grades, recover their shape through heat, making them ideal for compact, powerful and silent actuators, replacing traditional technologies made out of wax.

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PLANT takes on SAES Getters Spa. [VIDEO]

Halifax, N.S. – Netherlands-based ingredient supplier Royal DSM has reached an agreement with Clearwater Fine Foods and funds managed by Richardson Capital to acquire Halifax-based Ocean Nutrition Canada for $540 million.

Ocean Nutrition is the world’s largest supplier of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) derived from fish oil for the food and beverage industry and dietary supplements market. Net sales for the company in 2012 are expected to reach approximately $190 million.

The acquisition will allow DSM to extend its portfolio of omega-3 fatty acids for use in different market segments and applications. It will also strengthen and complement DSM’s newly established global Nutritional Lipids growth platform.

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Ocean Nutrition sold to global ingredient supplier

Skyline Steel will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nucor and will maintain its headquarters in Parsippany, N.J.

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ArcelorMittal’s integrated complex in the port of Lázaro Cárdenas (flat and long products). PHOTO: ArcelorMittal

LUXEMBOURG—ArcelorMittal has sold its Skyline Steel and Astralloy steel foundation distribution business to Charlotte, N.C.-based steel company Nucor Corp. for about $605 million.

The transaction includes all of ArcelorMittal’s stake in Skyline Steel’s operations in the NAFTA countries and the Caribbean.

ArcelorMittal will continue to own and operate the foundation distribution businesses in the rest of the world.
In 2011, Skyline Steel generated revenues of $873 million.

Skyline Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, is a steel foundation distributor serving the construction and infrastructure industries—including marine construction and bridge and highway construction—in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Nucor was Skyline’s largest steel supplier.

As part of the transaction ArcelorMittal and Nucor negotiated long-term commercial agreements for ArcelorMittal to provide Skyline Steel with sheet piling and wear resistant products.

“Skyline Steel and Astralloy are strong specialist businesses with excellent prospects in their markets. However, this decision is very much in line with our strategy of focusing on core assets and reducing net debt”, said Aditya Mittal, CFO and member of the Group Management Board for ArcelorMittal. “As the largest supplier to Skyline Steel, Nucor was a natural buyer for this subsidiary business.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including but not limited to competition clearance, and is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2012.

“Skyline is a significant consumer of H-piling and hot rolled sheet piling from Nucor-Yamato Steel, and they will become a more valuable downstream consumer of Nucor’s coiled plate and sheet products.  Skyline will also develop synergies with our other downstream operations by providing value-added solutions to the construction industry,” said Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman and CEO of Nucor.

ArcelorMittal is the world’s biggest steel and mining company and operates in more than 60 countries, posting 2011 revenues of $94.0 billion and crude steel production of 91.9 million tonnes, representing approximately 6 per cent of world steel output.

Nucor manufactures steel products with facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Nucor is the largest recycler in the U.S.

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ArcelorMittal sells Skyline division to Nucor for $605 million

Magna International Inc reported better than expected 1st quarter profits of $322 million, up 44% on the same period in 2010, with sales up by 34% to $7.2 billion. Magna is said to be the world’s No.3 automotive parts supplier and the company attributed the gains to big increases in vehicle production in Europe and North America.

Complete vehicle assembly sales increased 51% to $674 million for the first quarter of 2011 compared to $446 million for the first quarter of 2010, while complete vehicle assembly volumes increased 85% to approximately 33,000 units.

www.magna.com  

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Magna 1st quarter profits up 44%

Auto parts maker, Tenneco Inc, reported a 34% increase in turnover to $1.760 billion in the 1st quarter of 2011, compared with $1.316 billion a year ago. The increase was said to be driven by higher OE production volumes and aftermarket sales, and incremental revenue from new light and commercial vehicle launches.

Earnings before taxes were up 59% to $94 million. “We are off to a strong start in 2011 with our highest ever quarterly revenue and strong first quarter earnings. These results demonstrate the progress we’re making in executing on our growth opportunities and driving operational excellence,” said Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO, Tenneco.

Tenneco is a $5.9 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and has approximately 22,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. The company operates in-house PM plants for shock absorber parts.

The company reports that the global automotive industry will see some impact from the crisis in Japan in the second quarter. Prior to these events, IHS Automotive forecasted a 9% increase in light vehicle production in the regions where Tenneco operates.

However, the current forecast, while still up in most regions, has been adjusted to an overall 3% increase in light vehicle production to account for temporary customer disruptions. This includes an 11% year-on-year increase in North America, 6% in China, 16% in India and 7% in South America.

www.tenneco.com 

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Strong growth from Tenneco in 1st quarter