GORHAM — The White Mountain Paper Co. expects to restart tissue production this week at the Cascades mill on the banks of the Androscoggin River.
Production had to be halted for an estimated 3½ weeks when the mill’s 1920s-era boilers failed to pass a third-party safety inspection, required for all pressure vessels by the N.H. Department of Labor, explained CEO Price Howard in a Friday telephone interview.
“We’ll be able to start working on fulfilling a 45-day backlog of orders,” Howard said.
The mill’s boilers produce the steam to operate the tissue machine’s big Yankee dryer as well as to heat water and the buildings themselves, the CEO said.
“Although we undertook due diligence before acquiring the mill on Jan. 1, 2021, there was no way we could anticipate this outcome,” Howard said. “There was nothing in the latest inspection report to indicate this result.”
A rental boiler system shipped from Virginia is expected to be fired up this week to run the mill’s sole operating paper machine. Permanent boilers should be installed in the second quarter of 2022, likely at a cost ranging between $2 and $2.5 million, Howard said. The specifics of that replacement project will require Gorham Planning Board approval.
The mill has 65 workers on the payroll.
A regionwide search is underway to fill six positions to boost the mill’s payroll to over 70: IT technician; safety coordinator; mechanical technician, shift supervisor and mill engineer/maintenance mentor.
Del Doyle is now on site, holding the key role as vice president of operations, reporting to Howard and the company’s board of directors.
Doyle manages, either directly or indirectly, all staff related to production, construction, maintenance, safety, warehouse and shipping. He manages the mill’s day-to-day operations, including production planning, equipment maintenance, safety and compliance, hiring and organizational leadership.
“Del brings 34 years of experience in the paper industry,” Howard said. “He worked his way up through the ranks across mills in six states and joined us from Dunn Paper in Port Huron, Mich., where he oversaw all mill manager operations.
“We have made great strides as a team in repositioning the mill for sustained success,” Howard said.
Prior to any new construction, owners plan to demolish parts of the mill and remove equipment that is no longer being used. Howard hopes that state and federal dollars could help with this undertaking.
The Gorham Mill has been in operation since 1852, when it opened as the Berlin Sawmill. It expanded operations to include pulp and paper in 1888 and is one of the oldest operating paper mills in North America.
Its tissue machine, imported from Europe, began operation in 2012 and produces 30,000 tons of product annually for the North American tissue market. It produces parent rolls of tissue that are shipped to outside converting locations and turned into premium retail quality bath tissue, kitchen towels, napkins and facial tissue.
The Behrens Investment Group, a New York-based investment firm, bought the asset in bankruptcy court and has operated it for less than a year.
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