Short Issues
SCA Hygiene Products plans to cut some 94 jobs, mainly white-collar positions, at its Swedish headquarters in Mölndal, Gothenburg, in the south of the country. Negotiations with employee representatives are ongoing. Tasks carried out at the Mölndal office include HR, marketing and sales and research and development. Almost 1,000 people work there.
Nanning Phoenix Pulp & Paper looks set to restart a 20,000tpy tissue unit in May at its mill in Nanning city, Guangxi autonomous region. The Kawanoe Zoki unit suspended production after an explosion on its iron dryer on November 12, 2011. The accident injured a worker. The machine is a recent purchase, having kicked off production in 2008. It has a trim width of 3.4m and a design speed of 1,000m/min.
Guangxi Hwagain is pushing back the startup of a new 60,000tpy tissue paper unit at its mill in Ganzhou city, Jiangxi province until October. The unit was previously scheduled to come online at the end of last year. A contact close to the project said that its installation only started earlier this year, but he declined to explain the change. Andritz supplied the 5.6m wide unit, which has a design speed of 2,100m/min.
Södra has said “differing views” have resulted in the departure of its chief executive Leif Brodén. In a statement it said: “As the board of directors and chief executive have differing views regarding the ongoing development of the company and what is required in the form of leadership and clarity, the board has decided to terminate the employment of chief executive Leif Brodén with immediate effect.” The board of directors is now starting the search for a new chief executive and group president. In the meantime, the responsibilities of Södra Cell president Gunilla Saltin have been temporarily extended to also include the role of chief executive for the Södra group.
Kimberly-Clark (K-C) Everett staff are to be assisted by a $1.8m National Emergency Grant following the closure of the company’s Washington-based paper mill. The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the grant will assist some 570 staff that were affected by layoffs between 15 December 2011 and 31 March 2012 resulting from the site’s closure. It is being awarded to the Washington State Employment Security Department to be used for training and reemployment support services in conjunction with Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits.
Kimberly-Clark has announced that Jan Spencer, senior vice president, continuous improvement, sourcing and sustainability, will retire after a 34 year career with the company.
Ecuador’s Industria Cartonera Asociada (INCASA) has temporally suspended the assembly of its new 11,000tpy tissue paper machine (PM) 3 at its Quito mill. A contact at the company said it “won’t recover the project this year”.
