Cascades Closes Paper Machine

 Cascades announced plans to streamline activities at its Fine Papers Group operations in Thunder Bay Inc., Ontario. The plan involves the closing of No. 5 paper machine and the converting operations. Along with the machine closing, the mill will be laying off around 150 employees by the end of this year. In order to minimize the impact on customers some of the converting activities as well as the manufacture of certain grades of paper will be transferred to other facilities within the Fine Papers Group.

"The measures that we are announcing today are unavoidable given the economic context. We know how much this decision will affect our employees and we will make the efforts required to reduce the impact. However, these measures will enable Cascades Fine Papers Group to restructure its Thunder Bay operations, to improve mill economics by more than $10 million annually and to enhance the future of the remaining 375 employees," said Gino Lévesque, vice president, Operations, Cascades Fine Papers Group.