ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – An international company is making progress on its investments in the Upper Peninsula.
On Tuesday, Billerud’s leadership team from Sweden visited the Escanaba mill, where a modernization project of the woodyard is nearly complete.
“It’s been the biggest operate we’ve done at the mill in 40 years,” said President and CEO Ivar Vatne. “It was about time. It was kind of out of life. This is another great sign of our sentiment of this mill and being a big part of the company going forward.”
The woodyard update is part of a more than $125 million investment into the Esanaba and Quinnesec mills, following Billerud’s acquisition of the former Verso Corporation three years ago.
“It’s been a fantastic journey,” Billerud Chairman of the Board Jan Svensson said. “We’re so much better now than we were, and there’s so much more confidence. Everything is great.”
In that time, Billerud has gradually been shifting its focus to the production of packaging materials.
“It has historically been a graphic paper mill,” Vatne said. Graphic paper is in decline, and hence we need to do something else.”
Svensson says that transition allows the company to strengthen its presence in the United States and expand its line of products.
“Things that we normally would have had to import from Europe,” he said. “As you know, with the tariff situation and everything, that would probably not work. This is really to counterbalance and makes us a more viable supplier in the American market.”
With those changes, Billerud is also working to improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability, which Vatne calls “the DNA” of the company.
“We have very good credentials in Europe,” he said. “We’re looking to do some of the same stuff here as well.”
“To be very honest, you started from a worse position than we were in Europe,” Svensson added, “but now when we look at the commitment we made to a science-based target, the improvements that we make here in Escanaba and in Quinnesec is contributing a lot to the total overall goals.”
The woodyard is on track to be completed by the end of the year—possibly as soon as mid-October. In addition to being a major economic investment, Vatne says the update is an investment in the community. He hopes it will be a sign to Escanaba, as well as the U.P., that Billerud is here to stay.
“This marriage that we started three years ago is beyond our imagination, and we look forward,” he said. “We want to grow, we want to invest, and we’re going to stick around. This is really exciting times.”
Vatne and Svensson congratulate the team in Escanaba for their efforts to keep the mill moving into the future.
