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NEWS IN ENGLISH BY SIMON MATTHIS A.Celli Paper wi
ll supply a paper rewinder for the RDM Group mill in Blendecques FOLLOWING THE FIRE that hit RDM Blendecques mill, A.Celli will contribute to the restart of production with a brand new E-WIND® P100 paper rewinder. On March 22 RDM Group reported a fire that occurred in the Blendecques mill, where the Company produces up to 140,000 tons per year of recycled cartonboard. Although the main production line was not affected and no operator was injured, the fire involved part of the warehouse and the sheeting and finishing department, including the rewinders, and the production was suspended. In light of this emergency, A.Celli Paper immediately sent its specialized team on site to develop a common strategy together with the RDM Group for both short and long term. The first result of this common professional approach will be the supply of a new E-WIND® P100 paper rewinder with very short delivery time. The start-up phase is scheduled for the end of 2022 and the restart of production for early 2023. The rewinder, designed to process coated and uncoated paper with basis weights from 250 to 550 gsm at a speed of 1800 m/min, will feature an in-line unwinder, a spool parking station, automatic core feeding and gluing and automatic in-line slitter with our patented SLITTOMATIC® system. Mr. Michele Bianchi, CEO of RDM Group, says: “ The fire at our Blendecques mill has been a shock and a bad surprise for all our workforce, impacting the continuity of the business and customer service in an already tight market. I’m impressed by the way in which A.Celli reacted and partnered with us in finding the best fit-for-purpose solution with short implementation times. We are living challenging times and it is a pleasure seeing how positively our colleagues reacted as well as how supportive, competent and responsible suppliers like A.Celli embraced the challenge to give new future to our mill. We are looking forward to restart the mill and to turn a new page.” u West Fraser to reduce sawmill capacity at three mills in Canada WEST FRASER TIMBER recently announced it is permanently curtailing approximately 170 million board feet of combined production at its Fraser Lake and Williams Lake sawmills and approximately 85 million square feet of plywood production at its Quesnel Plywood mill. The curtailments will be realized through the elimination of one shift at each facility. The reduction in capacity is expected to impact 77 positions at Fraser photo: wESt FraSEr Lake Sawmill, 15 positions at Williams Lake Lumber, and 55 positions at Quesnel Plywood and will occur over the course of the fourth quarter of 2022. The Company expects to mitigate the impact on effected employees by providing work opportunities at other West Fraser operations. Access to available timber is an increasing challenge in British Columbia and ongoing transportation constraints have impaired the Company’s ability to reliably access markets. These capacity reductions are necessary to better align West Fraser’s operating capacity with available timber and transport availability. West Fraser is a diversified wood products company with more than 60 facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. u 66 NORDISK PAPPER & MASSA 4 2022