re: Paper Mill in Port Hudson partially shutting down

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From what I heard from the workers last night, the big shift was the company being bought out by the Koch brothers and then bringing in a manager to run things whose attitude was “I’m going to change the whole culture here.”

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In my opinion, this had a lot to do with it going downhill for sure, but this was well after Koch purchased GP. The manager almost did the same thing at a GP facility in West AL before he was "moved" to Port Hudson...

At one time not very long ago, this was the flagship mill of the GP fleet and the 2 fine paper machines were some of the most efficient (low cost producers) producing this grade in the industry prior to his arrival. It is surprising to me however that the mill could not be repurposed to make an unbleached board grade, although it would require a significant investment/rebuild of existing assets or new machine. I'm sure it was investigated but $$$ invested vs return and POV market conditions could have said it was a no go. The fine paper business (printing/writing papers) is and has been a steady decline for many years, but as of a few years ago, I figured these machines may be a couple of the few left in US still running to maintain the basement level demand of that grade of paper. As a result of the machine shutdowns, the mill can purchase pulp cheaper than it can make it in house to support the minimal draw for the tissue/towel business.

It definitely sucks for the 700 employees, but I know they are highly skilled and hopefully will be able to find a landing spot with all the industry within the Baton Rouge area.