MeadWestvaco to Idle Paper Machine
- Published: December 15, 2005, By pffc-online.com
PRESS RELEASE
STAMFORD, CT—MeadWestvaco Corp. has announced plans to indefinitely idle the No. 1 paper machine at the company’s Evadale, TX, paperboard mill. The machine will be shut down in the first quarter of 2006. This action is taken as a result of substantial increases in input costs and is consistent with MeadWestvaco’s disciplined approach to eliminating excess capacity while improving efficiency across the bleached board operations. The company anticipates that 50 to 75 positions will be affected and is working on plans to reassign the employees to other parts of the mill.
Evadale’s No. 1 paper machine, which is the mill’s oldest machine, began operation in December 1954 and has the capability to produce approximately 180,000 tons per year. The machine produces various bleached board products for food service, office products and packaging applications. The products produced on the No. 1 machine will be transitioned to other machines at the Evadale and Covington, VA, mills to maintain efficient production levels and to meet key customer needs.
