Newark Group closes namesake N.J. mill

Pulp & Paper, Sep 2003

RECYCLED PAPERBOARD

The Newark Group has permanently closed its namesake 47,000-tpy Newark Boxboard mill in Newark, NJ. The boxboard mill operated continuously since 1912 and was the first mill to be acquired by the present owners of The Newark Group.

The mill had the distinction of holding one of the original patents for using old newspapers to manufacture boxboard. The mill produced a limited range of plain chip grades on a single machine used primarily in book or game boards manufactured by the company's BCI division plant in Newark. The BCI plant will continue to operate.

Newark's von Zuben said employees made every effort to diversify the mill's product mix and increase productivity, but real progress would have required a major capital investment from the parent company. The graphic arts industry (including the book, loose-leaf, and game board segments) is primarily served by the BCI division using NewEx, a new lightweight graphic board manufactured at the Newark America mill in Fitchburg, Mass. The mill was retrofitted at a cost of $100 million during 2001-2002. It is now fully operational producing 55,000 tpy of graphic boards.