Corporate News

Packaging Corp. Acquires Plants

Packaging Corporation of America, Evanston, Ill., has acquired three corrugated container plants from various companies. The plants are from Sun King Container, El Paso, Texas, Domtar Packaging, Watertown, N.Y., and Menasha Corp., South Brunswick, N.J. The El Paso and Watertown plants will be supplied with corrugated sheets from nearby PCA plants – Watertown by the company’s Syracuse, N.Y. location; El Paso by PCA operations in Arlington, Garland and Plano, Texas.

“The acquisitions represent valuable tactical fits for PCA,” says William Sweeney, senior vice president and general manager of PCA’s containerboard business. “The Watertown operation will broaden the market for our Syracuse plant and enable us to better serve customers in northern and western New York state. With the El Paso location, we will greatly increase our capabilities to meet customer needs in the El Paso and Juarez markets.”

The South Brunswick plant is a corrugated container facility that specializes in point-of-sale packaging and point-of-purchase displays. “This acquisition is part of PCA’s strategic plan to increase its presence in the high-end graphics segment of the market and to integrate the services of other PCA divisions,” says Sweeney.

WEYERHAEUSER ACQUIRES TWIN CITY PAPER STOCK INC.

Weyerhaeuser Co.’s Recycling Business, Federal Way, Wash., has acquired Twin City Paper Stock Inc., a paper recycling business in Champaign, Ill. The company will also begin to use an existing Weyerhaeuser facility in Chicago as a collection center. Weyerhaeuser plans to increase the amount of recyclable fiber currently being recovered in Central Illinois for use in the manufacture of recycled-content paper products.

“This strategy will help the citizens of Central Illinois recover more fiber and reduce waste,” says George Hensen, vice president of Weyerhaeuser Recycling. “Our commitment to quality and service will play an important role in maximizing the amount of fiber recovered in the area.”

The two new facilities bring to 31 the number of collection facilities the company now operates in North America. Last year, Weyerhaeuser Recycling recovered more than 2 million tons of paper and plans to increase that to 3 million by 1996.

In other news, Weyerhaeuser acquired Midland Recycling, Omaha, Neb. The agreement includes the processing portion of Omaha's curbside collection program. The 70,000 square-foot facility currently collects more than 3,000 tons per month of newspaper, corrugated containers, office papers, aluminum, glass and plastic, and Weyerhaeuser plans to double that by 1998.

BIRMINGHAM STEEL ANNOUNCES  PLANT

Birmingham Steel Corp., Birmingham, Ala., announced that Memphis, Tenn., has been selected as the site for construction of a new melt shop to produce 1.5 million annual tons of semi-finished steel billets. The company says the facility will be located in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Area on the Mississippi River. Birmingham Steel will invest about $170 million to construct the new facility, which is expected to employ 225 workers. The melt shop will consist of two electric arc furnaces, a bloom caster and billet reduction mill, and a conventional billet caster. The facility will be operational by 1997.

ALLWASTE ACQUIRES ECOVA CORP’S SERVICES

Allwaste Inc., Houston, Texas, has acquired Ecova Corp.’s In-Plant Services Business Unit. In-Plant Services provides ongoing operational and environmental services associated with the storage, transfer and processing of oil and petroleum/petrochemical products. The company mainly provides services to refineries owned by Amoco Corp. Ecova Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amoco.

PRANA ACQUIRES THE PALLET FACTORY

Pallet Recycling Associates of North America, Roseville, Minn., has signed an agreement in principle to acquire The Pallet Factory Inc., Memphis, Tenn., with recycling plants in Memphis, Jackson, Miss., Nashville, Tenn., Knoxville, Ky., Lynchburg, Tenn., and Lexington, Ky.

PRANA currently owns 16 locations nationwide and has annual sales of about $32 million. When The Pallet Factory acquisition is completed, PRANA will own 31 locations and have revenues of about $58 million per year.

NORTH STAR RECYCLING EXPANDS IN TAMPA

North Star Recycling, Minneapolis, announced it has begun a capital improvement program at its scrap recycling facility in Tampa, Fla., that will double its ferrous scrap shearing capacity, modernize its auto shredder, expand its appliance recycling operations and generally improve service.

“With Tampa rapidly becoming a major supply source to many ferrous and nonferrous customers in the region, this expansion reflects North Star Recycling’s commitment to the recycling industry in central Florida,” says Dave Gresko, manager of North Star Recycling’s Tampa division.

Improvements underway at the auto shredder will result in expanded recovery of nonferrous metals such as aluminum, brass and copper, the addition of municipal scrap processing capabilities, lowering of production costs and the addition of further environmental safeguards.

The final phase of rebuilding its Harris 1335 shear is also nearing completion, which will double the throughput capacity, lower production costs and improve product quality, according to the company.

A 25,000-square-foot warehouse also is being used to improve processing efficiency and service for the company’s automobile core and industrial nonferrous customers, and for processing appliances, says Gresko.

METAL COMPANIES REPORT RECORD SALES

Three metal processing companies, CasTech Aluminum Group Inc., Long Beach, Calif., Commercial Metals Co., Dallas, and Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Ore., reported record sales and earnings recently.

Commercial Metals reported net earnings of $11.4 million on sales of $573 million for the third fiscal quarter ending May 31, 1995. This compares with net earnings of $7.1 million on $441 million of sales for the same period last year. The principal contributing factor to the rise in sales and earnings was record sales and earnings by the Steel Group which posted an 87 percent increase in income. Record steel mill tons were melted, rolled and shipped, and average selling prices increased by 5 percent.

In addition, the company’s copper tube manufacturing business operating income was up 41 percent over the same period last year, and the recycling segment also reported a 12 percent increase in operating profit. In all, this was a record financial quarter for the company.

CasTech, an aluminum scrap-based minimill operator and a manufacturer of aluminum and non-metallic wiring products, recently reported net income for its first fiscal quarter ending June 30, 1995 at a record $6.8 million. That figure represents an increase of 48 percent over the same period last year. Revenues were also up during the period to $109.2 million, a 23 percent increase over last year.

And finally, Schnitzer Steel reported record net income of $7.9 million on revenues of $106.6 million for the fiscal third quarter ending May 31, 1995. For the same quarter last year, the company had income of $3.4 million on revenues of $77.9 million. “The company earned record quarterly profits primarily as a result of its scrap operations and the company’s purchase of Manufacturing Management Inc.,” says Robert Philip, president of Schnitzer. “We continue to believe in, and are committed to, our core scrap business.”

WELLMAN REPORTS RECORD QUARTER

Wellman Inc., Shrewsbury, N.J., recently reported net earnings for the second quarter of $21.6 million. This represents a 34 percent increase from the $16.1 million in net earnings during the same period last year. The company attributes the  increase to improved profitability in the fibers business, primarily in Europe, resulting from higher polyester fiber selling prices.

In addition, second quarter earnings were also enhanced by additional sales of PET resin, stemming from the previously-announced late second quarter start-up of a 140-million-pounds-per-year capacity expansion.

IWI RECEIVES MAYFRAN’S METALWORKING AWARD

IWI Inc., Wickliffe, Ohio, has been selected by Mayfran International, Cleveland, as its metalworking “Dealer of the Year.” The award recognizes the top sales performance of a Mayfran dealer in the metalworking and waste industries. Last year, IWI sold more than $2 million of Mayfran's chip processing and conveyor equipment to accounts throughout Northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Accepting the award from Mayfran International's Dick Merrill, vice president of sales and marketing, in the above photograph is Bob Iacco, IWI president.

RESOURCE NE ACQUIRES 4 RECYCLING

In a continuation of the company’s consolidation activities in the New York metropolitan market, ReSource NE Inc., Brooklyn, has acquired 4 Recycling, a $7 million-per-year Brooklyn-based construction and demolition debris processing company.

The acquisition of 4 Recycling business operations, land, equipment and other assets will allow Star Recycling, one of ReSource’s operating companies, to process an additional 1,000 cubic yards of C&D debris daily.