Metso Paper supplies large paper making line to Oji Paper in Japan

Published Feb 7, 2007 10.00.00 +2 GMT

Metso Paper will supply Oji Paper Co., Ltd. in Japan with a large OptiConcept paper making line. The new 350,000 tpy PM N-1 light-weight coated paper production line will be constructed at Oji Paper’s Tomioka mill located in Anan City on Shikoku island. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008. The total value of the order is more than EUR 100 million.

The OptiConcept paper machine will have a wire width of 10.2 m and a design speed of 2,000 m/min. It is an all on-line machine, featuring the first on-line OptiLoad multinip calender in Japan. The delivery also includes two WinRoll winders, various auxiliaries, process systems, air systems and site services.

Metso Paper (Valmet) has supplied the Tomioka mill with paper making technology since 1979.

Oji has production facilities in Asia, Europe, North America and New Zealand. In 2005 the company had sales of EUR 8 billion and a personnel of close to 20,000.

The Japanese paper and board industry, which currently ranks number three in the world with its 31 million annual tonnes, has recently made major investments in new capacity. Within the past eight months, four new, large papermaking lines have been announced in the country, with Metso Paper selected as the main supplier for three of them: Nippon Paper’s Ishinomaki mill PM N6, Hokuetsu Paper Mills’ Niigata PM 9, and Oji Paper’s Tomioka PM 1.

Metso Paper has been actively present in the Japanese pulp and paper market - widely considered as one of the world's most demanding - for 30 years, first in co-operation with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and since the beginning of 2007 as an independent company, Metso Paper Japan Co., Ltd.

Metso is a global engineering and technology corporation with 2005 net sales of approximately EUR 4.2 billion. Its 25,000 employees in more than 50 countries serve customers in the pulp and paper industry, rock and minerals processing, the energy industry and selected other industries. www.metso.com

For further information, please contact: Risto Hautamäki President, Metso Paper Tel. +358 40 511 7760 risto.hautamaki@metso.com