Paper Industry M&A — The Consolidation Craze

"It has brought a focus on cost reduction and competition. This provides a significant cost savings to printers," he says.

It's a characterization with which Robert Collins, director of strategic sourcing for R.R. Donnelley & Sons, agrees. "From our perspective, we see consolidation as very beneficial. The reason: Obviously, we're dealing with single business units now versus multiple business units. There is a reconciliation of grades and services being offered from the suppliers. Everyone is going to benefit from that because they are going to focus and improve their sheets and their service levels. We'll know what these mills are now, and we really didn't know before," reports Collins.