USA
K-C ANNOUNCES PRICE RISES FOR EARLY 2008

On 9 October Kimberly-Clark announced that its consumer tissue and baby and child care businesses are notifying customers of plans to raise prices in the US during the first quarter of 2008. The company said the increases are necessary to offset significant inflationary pressure from higher raw material and energy costs.

Prices for Cottonelle and Scott bathroom tissue, Viva and Scott paper towels, Huggies diapers, Pull-Ups training pants, Goodnites youth pants and Huggies Little Swimmers swimpants will increase 4-7% effective 3 February 2008. KC's annual net sales for these products in the US are in excess of $4 billion.

VON DREHLE SHARE PLAN
The von Drehle Corporation recently conducted nationwide meetings with company employees to announce that the corporation has implemented an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Under the plan, a substantial share of the company will be distributed to the employees for their part in the success of the company.

The ESOP “has tremendous benefits to both the company and the employees,” von Drehle said in a press release. “The employees all become stock holders and therefore participate financially in the rapid growth of the company. The corporation benefits from substantial tax savings that can be used to fund additional expansions and acquisitions. It is definitely a win/win situation for both the employee/stockholders and the corporation as ESOPs have historically proven to increase morale, productivity, and significantly contribute to the future growth of the company.”

NEW SALES DIRECTOR
David Holland has joined von Drehle as director of sales. He has 18 years of sales experience in the towel and tissue industry and has held positions as sales representative, market development manager, national accounts manager, and district manager.

The company is one of the fastest growing manufacturers of quality towel and tissue products in the USA and has been a leading supplier since 1974. In May of this year, it completed the acquisition of its second paper manufacturing facility located in Cordova, North Carolina, which is capable of producing over 50,000 tons/yr. In addition, it has a mill in Miami, Florida.

NEW PUFFS PLUS WITH THE SCENT OF VICKS®
Just in time for cold and flu season in the northern hemisphere, Procter & Gamble has announced a new product, Puffs Plus with the scent of Vicks®, a non-medicated facial tissue that combines the softness of Puffs Plus with Lotion and the comforting scent of Vicks.

Laura Ims, brand manager for Puffs said, "This launch means the coming together of two powerful P&G brands - Puffs and Vicks - that have both provided familiar comfort to consumers for years. Knowing the sense of smell is so powerful for many people, we wanted to explore the impact of scent on empathy, the core of a mom's love and care." Puffs conducted a first-of-its-kind study with Dr. Alan Hirsch a leading scent expert and founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation. The study found that scents can increase empathy, the ability to recognise, perceive and directly feel the emotion of another.

"Empathy is a complex emotion that is important for so many social interactions, including parenting," said Hirsch. "Scents that comforted us in our childhood etch in our memories and can increase our empathetic response when we smell them again." Study results showed a 17% increase in empathy for participants in the presence of Puffs Plus with the scent of Vicks. In addition, nearly half the participants reported feelings of nostalgia with the Vicks scent, such as childhood memories of their mother comforting them with Vicks. Results also found that participants who experienced nostalgia had a greater empathetic response.

In the study, 100 participants were asked to react to seven different real-life situations designed to elicit empathy. Participants wrote their responses to those situations, while being alternately exposed to a non- scented tissue and Puffs Plus with the scent of Vicks. Each response was then independently scored based on how empathetic it was. Responses written in the presence of the scent of Vicks were exposure to the scent. Tabulated results showed that in the presence of the Vicks scent, participants reacted more empathetically than when they didn't have the scent stimulus.

ELETTRIC 80 UNVEILS NEW FACILITY
To accommodate sales growth and the consequent increase in staff and spare parts requirements, Elettric 80’s North American subsidiary has relocated to a larger facility at 8100 Monticello Avenue, Skokie, IL 60076. In North America, Elettric 80’s market focus is on high volume consumer packaged products, primarily in the beverage, tissue and food sectors.

A major source of recent growth has been generated from repeat sales. Elettric 80 has a track record of supplying solutions which improve operational efficiencies, increase storage capabilities and guarantee reliability. When a system is implemented senior decision makers quickly realise the benefits, often resulting in additional orders for other facilities. Scalability and flexibility are inherent within any Elettric 80 system design, which enables end-of-line systems to be upgraded and enhanced.

Following a strategic review at Elettric 80, it was decided that more space was required to cater for future market demand; LGV-based storage and retrieval systems (LGV SRS) are becoming more prevalent in the United States and there is a growing industry acceptance as to the advantages Elettric 80’s technology provides. The new premises enable Elettric 80 to increase the size of its spares depot and recruit more expertise.

“Our main objective is to provide the best systems and support for all our North American customers, an objective we feel is being met by the amount of repeat business that we have recently acquired.” said Marco Ferrarini, General Manager, at Elettric 80 Inc. “We will continue to hire qualified technical support staff to ensure that all our resources keep pace with current and predicted growth. Almost all our customers are signed up to a preventative maintenance program. Our new building not only allows us to provide high quality technical support, but also ensures that we have the space to deliver on any inventory requests we may receive from customers.”

The new facility will house systems engineers, technical support engineers, a 24/7 help desk and the spare parts depot.

OBITUARY Leo Allo, senior vice president, communications of Metso Paper, has passed away. He died of post-operational complications on Sunday 4 November, at the age of 61, at the Meilahti Hospital in Helsinki. Paper Machinery and Metso Paper right from the start of the company. In 1987, he, as an experienced journalist and communicator, became responsible for the marketing and communications of the newly established Valmet Paper Machinery, and held various positions in marketing and communications from then till the end of his life. In the most recent years he focused especially on press relations. He was a highly esteemed professional and due to his friendly, open personality, many work relations developed into lifelong personal friendships. For Metso Paper's relations with the global pulp and paper press we have Leo to thank. We, his colleagues and friends, will miss Leo for his vast experience of the industry as well as for his outgoing, sociable personality. I know we are sharing this feeling with numerous other colleagues throughout Metso and the international pulp and paper press.