February 3, 2016
This is the fourth and final submission on white top liners in North America. Although we’re wrapping this up, there is much more information on this subject than what we’ve covered here. Contact me directly for more information.
Independent-Focused
RockTenn has by far the largest exposure to the independent corrugated market. IP, with the third-largest production capacity and only a 50 percent integration level, is also sensitive to the open market. However, the product offerings from these two accounts are very different from each other.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Although Simpson had itself on the auction block for many years and later reconsidered, RockTenn finally won the war. Now there do not appear to be more consolidations ahead in companies making these substrates.
Separate Sales Forces
A corrugated salesperson who sells brown will also sell white with two or three colors and maybe some process work. Corrugated utilizing higher-quality substrates, more detailed printing, and displays will be handled by a separate sales force. Mills are also known to separate sales forces based upon the quality level of the printing substrates. Technical service support also increases as the quality increases.
While Kemi may have the best sales and technical force for its coated white top substrates, RockTenn is a close second and may have more support people per ton than any other manufacturer. IP has many containerboard sales and technical people but none focused solely on the white substrates.
Closures in Recent Years
Many companies and mills have exited the white market either because their volume was too small to compete with the bigger competitors, or they did not have the capital for the equipment upgrades to move from mottled white to white-top. Companies that are no longer engaged include Norampac, Weyerhaeuser (when acquired by IP), Inland (when acquired by IP), Champion (when acquired by IP), Arkansas Kraft at Green Bay and Morrilton, and Tembec in the fully bleached area. G-P never executed its plan to convert a machine at Big Island, but instead purchased from then Smurfit-Stone’s (now RockTenn’s) Brewton mill.
More ECT Values
It seems that the five other expected value charts that we have published have never been completely comprehensive, so we are occasionally asked by members to provide numbers for additional flutes and board combinations. Here are some more you can add to your notebook (left). Please note that in the other charts, we published only the top quarter of expected ECT values, given perfect combing. Here we have published the entire range of values based upon the low to high range of ring crush/STFI values as compiled by the American Forest and Paper Association.
Ralph Young is principal of Alternative Paper Solutions and AICC’s technical adviser. Contact him directly about any technical at askralph@aiccbox.org.
