Server: Microsoft-IIS/3.0 Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 00:02:04 GMT Content-Type: text/html Accept-Ranges: bytes Last-Modified: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 23:04:54 GMT Content-Length: 11857 News: Remodeling and expansion

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November 13, 1997

Contact: Dave Hill, (318) 255-6258

WILLAMETTE INDUSTRIES TO BUILD SMALL-LOG SAWMILL IN TAYLOR, LOUISIANA

PORTLAND, Ore.—The board of directors of Willamette Industries, Inc. today approved plans to construct a small-log sawmill at the site of the company’s former Taylor, La., plywood plant. Willamette’s Taylor plywood plant closed its doors in July, due to economic pressures of the commodity sheathing market.

The new sawmill, which will employ 64 people, is projected to start production during the third quarter of 1998.

The mill will utilize the existing infrastructure of the former plywood mill. New equipment will include a hydraulic knuckleboom loader to feed raw material into a 26-inch debarker, chop saws to cut the stems into specified lengths, a fully optimized small-log saw system, and an 84-foot steam-heated kiln for drying lumber.

Dry lumber produced at the mill will be shipped to Willamette’s Dodson, La., planing mill, where it will be surfaced. The majority of the lumber produced at the mill will be sold to current customers, including the treated-lumber market.

Raw material for the production of narrow dimension lumber at the new mill will come from existing fiber supply sources, including Willamette’s Southern region forest lands.

"Some of the fiber that is currently being generated will be redirected to lumber production," says Dave Hill, vice president of Willamette’s Southern Building Materials Division. "This will enable us to produce a higher-value product from the raw material. The new mill won’t significantly increase Willamette’s overall raw material needs."

Willamette Industries, an integrated forest products company, produces building materials and paper products. In Louisiana, the company employs more than 2,000 people at 10 manufacturing plants, as well as several administrative and forestry offices. Willamette owns and manages 709,000 acres of timberland in Louisiana.

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May 21, 1997

Contact: Carrie Reese

WILLAMETTE PAPER MILL PLANS BOILER UPGRADE

KINGSPORT, Tenn.—Willamette Industries’ board of directors has approved a multi-million dollar project to upgrade the No. 7 power boiler at the company’s Kingsport paper mill. The boiler produces steam to generate electricity at the mill and also provides steam for the production of pulp and paper.

"The boiler, built in 1965, is still in very good condition," says Mill Manager Shaker Chandrasekaran. "We looked at many options and decided upgrading the boiler (rather than buying a new one) was the right thing to do."

According to Chandrasekaran, the project will improve the operating efficiency of the boiler and reduce manufacturing costs at the mill. The project also will have environmental benefits.

The manual controls on the No. 7 boiler will be replaced by a modern Distributed Control System (DCS). The new, automatic control system will enable one operator to control both the No. 7 boiler and the mill’s new hog fuel boiler, which is expected to start up in June 1998. The project also includes installation of a burner management system within the No. 7 boiler. The burner management system will control fuel introduction to the boiler, ensuring safe combustion. The DCS will improve fuel efficiency and reduce the combustion of by-products.

The project also will increase the capacity of the No. 7 boiler by an additional 75,000 pounds per hour of steam. This will allow the mill to permanently shut down four smaller, less-efficient boilers, and reduce opacity emissions. Three boilers will be shut down immediately upon completion of the upgrade, and a fourth boiler will be shut down after start-up of the mill’s new hog fuel boiler next year.

"By increasing the steaming capacity of the No. 7 boiler and shutting down several smaller boilers, we will achieve a reduction in manufacturing costs," Chandrasekaran explains.

The upgrade to the No. 7 boiler comes on the heels of a project to replace the boiler’s generating section tubes, approved by Willamette’s board of directors in February.

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March 4, 1997

Contact: Carrie Reese

NEW PLANT EXTENDS RESOURCE INTEGRATION

FOR WILLAMETTE INDUSTRIES

MILLERSBURG, Ore.—Resource integration is a philosophy that has helped Willamette Industries grow from a small lumber mill in Dallas, Ore., into an international forest products company. Today, that philosophy is in action at the company’s new Custom Products/ Laminated Veneer Lumber plant in Millersburg, Ore.

"Resource integration is Willamette’s term for the process that moves wood-based products to customers in several internalized, value-added steps," explains Tom Karshneski, general production manager for Willamette Industries. "The Custom Products/LVL plant is a perfect example of resource integration."

The plant manufactures value-added specialty products and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) from materials produced at other Willamette manufacturing facilities. The Custom Products side of the plant uses particleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF) to manufacture drawersides, furniture components and a lumber substitute called Will-TrimTM. Particleboard comes from the company’s KorPINE particleboard plant in Bend, and MDF is shipped from Willamette’s MDF plant in Eugene.

The other half of the building is devoted to LVL production. LVL is a lumber substitute made of large sheets of wood veneer bonded together with resin, then cut to lumber-equivalent sizes. The raw material for LVL production comes from Willamette’s veneer plants in Dallas, Sweet Home, Springfield and Coburg, as well as external suppliers.

Metriguard machines at the company’s veneer plants are used to identify the strength of veneer panels. Veneer that meets certain strength requirements is sent to the Custom Products/LVL plant for manufacture into LVL. Most of the LVL produced at the plant is sent to Willamette’s StrucJoist plant in Woodburn where, in another value-added step, it is manufactured into wooden I-joists.

"The Custom Products/LVL plant utilizes other wood products that the company is producing," explains Karshneski. "It gives us additional opportunities to add value to our resources and provide quality products for our customers."

In operation since early November, Willamette’s Custom Products/LVL plant features all-new, state-of-the-art equipment. Even the paint-line side of the plant is different, Karshneski says. "It’s completely different from the old plant. Knowledge and techniques that we used at the old plant are of little use here. The employees who worked at the old plant, as well as about 60 new employees, are working hard to learn to use the new equipment."

According to Karshneski, the new plant is environmentally clean and friendly. For example, the plant no longer uses solvent-based paints. "We now use ultraviolet coatings that are environmentally safe," Karshneski says. "This has drastically reduced our air emissions compared to the old plant. The only solvents we use now are for clean-up purposes."

The new plant greatly increases Willamette’s production capacity of custom products and LVL, and Karshneski says there’s plenty of room for growth in the future: "As long as we can add value to products from other Willamette plants and provide high-quality products for our customers, the Custom Products/LVL plant will continue to be an important part of Willamette’s resource integration process."

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February 3, 1997

Contact: Cathy Baldwin

WILLAMETTE INDUSTRIES TO BUILD

PAPER CONVERTING PLANT IN BROWNSVILLE

Willamette Industries has announced plans to build a $20 million paper converting plant and distribution center in Brownsville, Tennessee.

Willamette has entered into an agreement to purchase a 15 acre site in the Haywood County Industrial Park on which it will build a 125,000 sq. ft. building to house the facility. Construction will begin within two months and the plant will open in March of 1998. When at full capacity, it will employ 30 people.

The plant will make cut sheet paper which is fine paper cut to size for use in photocopiers, computer printers and facsimile machines. This is the company’s fourth such plant to be developed in the last ten years, according to Bart Nicholson, converting operations manager.

"The Brownsville location is an excellent site for us," Nicholson said. "It puts us near major western and southern business centers which are a natural market for our product. Western Tennessee seems very pro-business and the cooperation we received in our siting quest from state and local government was extremely helpful."

Willamette Industries currently employs 670 people at three manufacturing facilities in Kingsport and Memphis and two sales offices in Tennessee with a payroll of about $32 million. The company owns nearly 200,000 acres of timberland in central Tennessee. Nationwide, Willamette is an integrated wood and paper products manufacturer with over 13,000 employees and 1.8 million acres of timberland. The company’s 1996 earnings were $192 million on sales of $3.4 billion.

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