Weyerhaeuser announces mill sales and closures in U.S. and Canada

The Weyerhaeuser Co. has announced plans to close or sell containerboard, packaging, bag and papermaking operations in eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, the latest in a series of cutbacks since a steep drop in third-quarter profits.

The cutbacks announced Friday will result in a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $115 million to 135 million, according to a news release.

At least 1,000 workers will lose their jobs in the cutbacks. The announcement was made before the opening of Weyerhaeuser offices and a spokesman could not immediately be reached to give the total.

"We recognize that this news and its timing are hard on our people, but it is essential to make these changes to improve the competitiveness and lagging financial performance of these businesses," said Weyerhaeuser chief executive Steven R. Rogel said in the statement.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_WEYERHAEUS_IDOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-16-09-59-40

It's marching right the fuck out of this country.

Will he make any sacrifices, like take a pay cut for his shit performance? Doubt it!

Per Forbes:

Cash Compensation (FY December 2004)
Salary $1,224,038
Bonus $2,000,000
Latest FY other short-term comp. $0
Latest FY other long-term comp. $12,475
Latest FY long-term incentive payout $0
Total $3,236,513

Stock Options (FY December 2004)
Number of options Market value
exercised 132,000 $1,608,412
unexercised 687,500 $9,162,915
unexercisable 487,500 $4,771,375
Total 1,307,000 $15,542,702

http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=224199

Couldn't wait two fucking weeks???????????????????????????

You should see their headquarters in Federal Way, a multi million dollar sprawl. If you drive around through the forests (what's left of them) near the Oregon/Washington border on the west.. you'll see that they own most everything, and have dessimated everything they can get their hands one.

The economy is worse than people think.

The demand for pulp and paper is going up -- so something must be wrong with the expense of harvesting them and/or processing them -- which tends to support the argument of many economists and foresters that something is seriously out of whack with the way in which we manage our forests. (And not, as the White House's supporters say, the fault of the environmentalists for not letting the industry take all the trees it wants.)

Trees are supposed to be a renewable resource, and one would think that we could build a sustainable forest economy in this day and age.

more products packaged overseas that do not use wood pulp and recycled paper products here in the states. alot of recycled paper is shipped overseas..
just another sign that we are losing our middle class manufacturing jobs to cheap labor

You have to make something real to need a box to ship it in. Our manufacturing base is going away, ergo the need for cartons goes with it. Smurfit-Stone and Weyer are building plants in the far east (China), but there is a big shortage of quality fiber there. We are shipping tons of fiber there now. Since the freight cans going to Asia are mostly empty, freight there is not very expensive. The shippers will take any backhaul they can get, beats shipping back an empty can.

One thing that is out of whack is the cost of natural gas. Prices have jumped from $3/DT to $13/DT.

The paper mills that are closing these days are machines that are less than 200 inch wide and some machines over that size that are poorly automated, poorly maintained, and labor intensive.

Most new paper machines are being built in China and India and are the biggest, fastest, highest automation built to date. The US paper industry is dying. The US used to be the leading innovators in paper manufacture but it has devolved into a stagnant dinosaur.

You make a excellent point about the effects of the international markets (and the manufacturing sector) on packaging demands, but they sell all kinds of paper besides -- I was addressing the broader picture.

From what I recall, a lot of Weyerhauser's operations here in BC rely on harvested wood (rather than recycled paper and cardboard). Their own website states that they use less than 40% recycled pulp, on average, in their products -- so the rest has to come from somewhere.
http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/pulppaperpckging/recycling/education/recyclingfacts.asp

Admittedly they are better than some other companies when it comes to promoting recycling and working that into their products, but not to the extent that they don't have to worry about finding (relatively) cheap trees to use in order to remain competitive. They -- along with the other forest companies -- are always worried about labour costs, having access to enough large (especially old-growth) trees to make harvesting economical, stumpage rates imposed by the government, etc. (some people say the rates are too low, while the industry says they are too high). There was some debate about that surrounding their Vancouver Island operations recently. And an ongoing dispute with the Haida Nation, up north. And then there's the whole softwood lumber issue.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/69692_haida09.shtml

I do buy their 100% recycled paper whenever I can, even though it costs more than their regular type.

"They -- along with the other forest companies -- are always worried about labour costs, having access to enough large (especially old-growth) trees to make harvesting economical, stumpage rates imposed by the government, etc. (some people say the rates are too low, while the industry says they are too high)."

Paper companies do not use "Old Growth" trees for paper. The core wood is too tough.

Another Closure.

DUNCAN, BC, Dec. 16, 2005 (Press Release) - Western Forest Products today announced the closure of its pulp mill located in Squamish, BC effective March 9, 2006.

Georgia Pacific no longer exists
Mead Paper no longer exists
Menasha Paper closed their last corrugated mill
Cascades is closing it's Thunder Bay Operations
etc...

So I do not think it's the MAN screwing all these people over. All these CEO's aren't all imcompetant deamons. The market just sucks and the older mills are no longer competitive.

in business.

Didn't think so.

Weyerhaueser used to be one of the best employers in the NW. They paid good wages and good benefits.

Merry Xmas.