The idling of the No. 3 paper machine will result in the layoff of about 190 employees at the Androscoggin Mill.
November 1, 2016
Verso Corporation announced plans to temporarily idle the No. 3 paper machine at its Androscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine, reducing annual coated paper production capacity by approximately 200,000 tons. Verso intends to implement this capacity reduction beginning in the first quarter of 2017. The mill also will idle a digester and recovery boiler that support the No. 3 paper machine. Most products currently produced on the No. 3 paper machine will be transitioned to other machines in Verso’s highly flexible manufacturing system with no expected disruption to customer orders.
“It’s critical to Verso’s long-term success that we balance the supply of our products with our customers’ demand for them, and we currently have more coated paper capacity in our mill system than we can fill,” said Michael A. Weinhold, Verso Senior Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Product Development.
The idling of the No. 3 paper machine will result in the layoff of about 190 employees at the Androscoggin Mill. Verso anticipates that if the machine is not restarted, the capacity reduction will result in the elimination of those jobs. “Challenging market conditions have made these types of actions far too frequent in recent years, and they are never easy,” Weinhold said.
Verso will continue to evaluate market conditions to determine if and when the No. 3 paper machine at the Androscoggin Mill will be restarted.
