International Paper has outage time

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Saturday, July 19, 2008

Dallas County’s largest employer has shut down machines.

International Paper’s Riverdale Mill is holding the annual International Paper Annual Maintenance Outage through this week.

Two paper machines and other equipment will be temporarily shut down. The machines and equipment require maintenance yearly that cannot be done while the machines are operating.

“Riverdale Mill’s Annual Outage is a huge undertaking, both for making repairs and putting into place capital improvements,” Russell Harris, Mill Manager, said. “During this time we conduct safety inspections of equipment, make needed repairs and tie in new equipment related to capital projects.”

During the outage safety is given even more consideration.

About 1,500 additional contractor employees will be onsite during the next two weeks. They will be conducting mainly atypical work at the mill.

The influx of contractors provides a boost to Selma’s economy every year. The contractors lodge in hotels, eat in local restaurants, and purchases items from Selma’s stores.

“The contractors coming in are not the typical tourist, but Selma sees the benefits from lodging, sales, and gas taxes,” Laurie Cothran, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism & Convention Bureau, said. “I.P. benefits Selma year around, but this is an economical strong increase for the year. Hotels are already booked in the summer and this just adds to the growth. ”

International Paper set four main goals for this year’s outage.

They are to “complete all work safely, meet the identified timeline, meet budgeted costs and end the outage with equipment in a repaired and reliable state,” Pam Fraiser, Mill communications manager, said.

International Paper’s Riverdale Mill employs 763 people. It manufactures about 1,865 tons of copy paper and offset printing paper daily.

International Paper is a global paper and packaging company.

The company’s headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee and has factories in North America, Europe, Latin America, North Africa, Russia, and Asia.

They employ more than 50,000 people in 20 countries.

International Paper’s net profit for 2007 is estimated at $22 billion.