Packaging
Smurfit-Stone Names 2007 Plants Of The Year: Anchorage Recycling, Ontario-Area Corrugated Container, Panama City Containerboard Mill
Monday 03. March 2008 - Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation has named its 2007 plants of the year. The announcements were made February 28 at Smurfit-Stone's annual leadership meeting awards dinner.
The winners were:
— Recycling division: Anchorage, AK
— Corrugated Container division: Ontario, Canada, area plants
(Smurfit-MBI)
— Containerboard Mill division: Panama City, FL
Anchorage
“Our recycling division recovered more than seven million tons of recyclables in 2007, a company record,” said Patrick J. Moore, Smurfit-Stone chairman and CEO. “It takes an entire team working together to achieve this kind of success, but the performance of the Anchorage recycling plant stood out among the others in 2007.”
The Anchorage plant’s safety performance has been extraordinary over an extended period of time, having gone seven full years without a recordable incident as measured by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), despite working outside in extremely difficult weather conditions.
In addition, the Anchorage facility received national recognition for its partnership with Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling and its Flying Cans Program, which also partners with regional airlines to enable rural communities in Alaska to send aluminum cans to Anchorage for recycling. Smurfit-Stone’s Anchorage recycling plant is represented on the Mayor’s Advisory Board for recycling and curbside collection, and plant staff has been instrumental in working with the City of Anchorage on starting up a new curbside recycling program.
The plant has been very active in the community, including support for events such as a high school all-star football game to support Shriner’s hospital, and hosting a Keep America Green Days.
Smurfit-Stone is one of the industry’s largest paper recycler and continues to grow in the areas of glass, aluminum, plastic, steel and scrap metal recycling. The company also operates a total waste management system that is unmatched in the industry.
Smurfit-Stone’s recycling operations also provide a secure source of fiber for its mill system. The company’s combination of 24 recycling plants and 16 paper mills represent the largest integrated system in the industry.
Ontario
Smurfit-MBI is Smurfit-Stone’s Canadian corrugated container business unit. Smurfit-MBI’s Ontario area comprises facilities in Burlington, Etobicoke, Guelph, Milton, Toronto, Whitby, as well as a design center in Mississauga.
“With the new area model implemented in our corrugated container division, we determined it was more appropriate to recognize an area of the year rather than a single plant,” said Patrick J. Moore, Smurfit-Stone chairman and CEO. “We are proud to honor all employees from Smurfit-MBI’s Ontario area facilities for their excellent performance in 2007.”
Smurfit-MBI’s Ontario area facilities finished the year with a world-class safety record, achieving a 0.89 recordable case rate as measured by OSHA. The facilities made significant progress toward fully implementing the company’s new area concept with central services including planning, transportation, and logistics. Talent management initiatives have been continuously driven through the organization and increases in production volume and productivity were made while costs were reduced in key areas.
Panama City
“Our Panama City mill demonstrated that a properly executed strategy to improve profitability while controlling production costs can deliver very positive results,” Moore said. “The mill’s success in this area has earned it the distinction of being our containerboard mill division’s plant of the year.”
Driven by the declining availability and rising price of hardwood in the region, the Panama City mill collaborated with the company’s forest resources, containerboard marketing, product development, and technical services groups to identify alternative manufacturing options. As a result, Panama City broadened its capabilities to produce unbleached pine pulp on its linerboard machine, and expanded its capabilities to make baled pine bleached pulp as well as roll fluff pulp on its pulp machine. Operating parameters in the pulping and bleaching operations were modified to contain costs and protect quality while staying within very restrictive environmental regulatory limitations. Uptimes on the two machines were 95 percent and 98 percent, respectively.
The mill completed the last five months of the year without a recordable injury as measured by OSHA.
Supporting the needs of the community has been a tradition at Smurfit-Stone’s Panama City. Once again in 2007, mill employees were the greatest contributors to the local United Way campaign.