If you are in your thirties or forties, you may not have previously seen the kinds of turmoil going on in the pulp and paper industry now. Today, demand is soft and thus prices are soft, thus squeezing profits and cashflow. This has not happened in the surviving grades for a long time (we have nearly stopped producing any grades that were designed for their communicating ability, today the industry is composed largely of those grades demanded for their physical properties).

We have been remarking for the last few weeks that the containerboard segment is undergoing unprecedented turmoil.

Now this turmoil has hit the board rooms. Like all vital components of the pulp and paper industry, Paperitalo Publications tracks board room changes (see People in the News on Nip Impressions).

This turmoil is not confined to producers; suppliers are experiencing their own share of directors going and coming. As of this writing, there are thirty-two board changes on this list worldwide. This is an unusually large number.

What can one draw from this? Boards, as corporate units, may be struggling with the performance issues alluded to in the first paragraph. Some individuals, voluntarily resigning, likely fall into two camps. Those being asked to volunteer to leave and those who are out of ideas to improve performance of the companies. New additions are then sought to fill gaps boards perceive in their expertise.

This all may seem self-evident, but it is the overall churn that is interesting to me. I have often said this industry sometimes appears to march lock step, despite a composition of many different companies of many different sizes and objectives. This is another example of this phenomenon.

If this follows the course I have seen many times, in the not-too-distant future (12 - 24 months), there will be a spate of expansion announcements. They will seem to happen simultaneously, e.g., lock step just like the current experience.

Jim Thompson is CEO of Paperitalo Publications.