Orchids Paper Products (NYSE: TIS) recently announced that its board of directors has approved plans to build an integrated manufacturing site in Barnwell.
The project will include a tissue-paper machine with paper-making capacity between 35,000 and 40,000 tons per year and two converting lines with converting capacity between 30,000 and 32,000 tons per year, which are capable of producing value through ultrapremium grades of tissue products.
"This project furthers our vision to become a national supplier of high-quality consumer tissue products," said Jeff Schoen, the president and chief executive officer. "Our June 2014 partnership with Fabrica provided the first step toward that goal by expanding our reach to the West Coast, beyond our original Oklahoma manufacturing site. The next step is our planned Barnwell facility, which is being built specifically to expand our geographic reach to best serve existing and new customers on the East Coast and to be world class in our capabilities to design and manufacture high quality products with a competitive cost advantage,"
Orchids expects that the total cost of the facility will be approximately $110 million to $127 million, which will be deployed over the next two years, with approximately 40 percent occurring in 2015 and the remainder in 2016 and early 2017.
The Barnwell facility will include a paper machine, a recycling facility, two converting lines, buildings to house the paper machine and converting lines and land. The company intends to break ground during the second quarter of this year. Build-out and startups of the converting lines will come in phases, with the first line expected to become operational at the end of 2015 and the second line to become operational in the second quarter of 2016. Engineering and construction of the paper machine are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2015 and it is expected to become operational in early 2017.
"We anticipate that the Barnwell facility will employ approximately 130 full-time employees," Schoen said.