NewPage Mill Closure Costs 475 Jobs

KIMBERLY, WI—NewPage Corp. will close its coated freesheet paper mill here at the end of August. The move will result in the loss of 475 jobs, in addition to the 125 employees impacted by the shutdown of its No. 95 paper machine last May. The mill, which has two paper machines left, produced roughly 500,000 tons of coated freesheet per year for a variety of commercial printing and specialty applications.

According to Mark Suwyn, chairman and CEO of NewPage, the move was in response to a slowdown in demand for coated paper, as the weak economy has taken a bite out of print advertising. Also, the Kimberly mill did not have a pulp mill to support the paper operations.