Logout
Click here for Pulp & Paper Radio International
The Paperitalo Library
Free Downloads
Search
My Profile
Login
Mitsubishi Paper Mills Reports on Business Effects of Earthquake
Comment Print

Dusseldorf, Germany 22 March 2011 -- Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March 2011, Mitsubishi Paper Mills Ltd. (MPM) established the Disaster Management Headquarters at its Tokyo head office under Kunio Suzuki, president and CEO of the company. Since then, MPM has worked to identify damage affecting bnusiness operations. Now MPM has an overview of the damage and established the Revival Management Headquarters,  headed by Suzuki, as of 22 March. Kazuo Nakase, senior executive director, and Fukumi Kanehama, head of Hachinohe mill, were assigned as the deputy heads.

MPM appreciates the understanding of customers,  suppliers, and other stakeholders for the situation and inconvenience.

1. Human injuries and loss

As noted in the an announcement on 14 March, six subsidiary employees were injutred. No other casualties of MPM employees and group company employees were reported.

2. Status of production sites

Hachinohe mill (Hachinohe city, Aomori prefecture)

  • Operation has been stopped.
  • The tsunami flooded the ground floor of the plant and electrical system was severely
    damaged. Damage to the buildings and the paper machines were rather mild.
  • Based on the above situation, resumption of operations are planned as follows:
    o From the end of April: one-by-one startup of power plants (recovery of utility generation facility);
    o From mid-May: one-by-one startup of paper machines and coaters (seven paper machines and three coaters);
  • To contribute to a nationwide power shortage, MPM is negotiating with the relevant ministries, Aomori prefecture, Tohoku Electric Power to supply some power to Tohoku Electric Power from the Hachinohe mill power plant as soon as it resumes.

Kitakami Division (Kitakami HiTech Paper Co., Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture)

  • The damage is relatively minor, and operations of hygienic paper production facilities have already restarted since 21 March. Despite some concern about the shortage of certain raw materials, from the beginning of April on, the pulp plant, the paper machine, and the resin coaters are planned to resume stepwise.

Shirakawa plant (Nishigou, Nishishirakawa County, Fukushima Prefecture)

  • The damage is minimal and the stock finishing process has been in operation since 18 March. From 23 March on, it is expected to recover fully including two paper machines. (It might take more time to reach full capacity production because of the shortage of heavy oil.)

3. Status of product inventory

Product inventory at Hachinohe mill was flooded by the tsunami and damaged by the earthquake. The total damage of the inventory is still under investigation. Inventory in warehouses in the Kitakami, Sendai, and Kanto areas also suffered from the earthquake; however, the damage was minor and limited.

4. Impact on earnings

Damage by the earthquake is still under investigation. If the forecasts need to be modified, MPM will disclose it separately.

5. Impact on German operations

MPM’s damage situation is not immediately affecting Mitsubishi Paper Holding (Europe) GmbH and its related companies (Mitsubishi HiTec Paper Europe GmbH, Bielefeld, and Mitsubishi Paper GmbH, Düsseldorf). In case the companies’ performance is affected, a further announcement will be released.

 


Powered by Bondware
News Publishing Software

The browser you are using is outdated!

You may not be getting all you can out of your browsing experience
and may be open to security risks!

Consider upgrading to the latest version of your browser or choose on below: