PORT ANGELES — The Nippon paper mill on Marine Drive will furlough 150 workers beginning Monday in a two-week shutdown that will run through Christmas.
The hiatus, a response to decreased demand for paper products, is the third at the Nippon Paper Industries USA Co. this year.
“Normally, in the good years, we would be running through Christmas,” said mill Manager Harold Norlund.
“It’s a fairly expensive time to operate,” he added, referring to the holiday pay for workers, which they will not receive during the shutdown.
The mill employs about 220 people. The employees who will be furloughed work directly in the paper mill. Seventy people will continue working in offices during the mill shutdown.
The mill will resume production Dec. 28.
Norlund, who has worked at the mill for eight years, could not recall the last time the mill stopped production during the holiday season.
This year, the mill shut down for two weeks in June and for 16 days last spring.
The spring shutdown was an extension of an annual five-day maintenance closure.
Norlund said orders are down 16 percent for the mill when compared with last year.
The mill makes lightweight paper for phone books and other publications.
Demand is down for those products because fewer businesses are willing to advertise in them during a recession, Norlund said.
“It really doesn’t matter what grade of paper you make today,” he said. “Everybody is slow.”
Norlund said he expects orders to increase a bit in 2010, and hopes that Nippon can avoid furloughs in the future.
He said the mill is reducing its staff through attrition — such as 10 retirements that occurred this year — and is not considering job cuts.
The mill employed about 60 more people eight years ago than it does now.
Norlund said workers will prepare for the shutdown this weekend by using the last of the pulp material to ensure that it doesn’t freeze in the tanks.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
