Dodson
plywood, others close Weyerhaeuser Company announced on March 10 that it will indefinitely close its iLevel(r) veneer and engineered wood mills in Evergreen, Ala., and Dodson and Simsboro, La., and its TimberStrand(r) mill in Chavies, Ky. The company also announced the permanent closure of iLevel service centers in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; and Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. The announcement will affect approximately 480 employees at nine locations. The closures will result in the loss of 138 positions at the Dodson facility and 47 positions at the Simsboro facility. After these positions are eliminated, approximately 200 associates will remain employed with Weyerhaeuser in the Dodson complex at the sawmill operation and the Timberlands regional office, the company said. Mike Wolff, Weyerhaeuser spokesman at the Natchitoches regional office told The Piney Woods Journal that all the manufacturing plants in the North Louisiana region and elsewhere are experiencing intermittent downtime during the continuing decline in demand for lumber and wood products. He said specifically in reponse to a question concering the Zwolle plywood mill that there are no plans affecting it other than the company-wide intermittent downtime schedules. The Dodson manufacturing center discontinued making plywood at the end of 2007, and continued making veneer only, for shipment to other plants for conversion to plywood. Tom Gideon, executive vice president, Forest Products, said "As a result of challenging market conditions, the four manufacturing mills will close for an indefinite period of time to balance supply with our demand." The company will continue to operate its 26 other building materials distribution sites. These service centers sell products including lumber, plywood, OSB, engineered wood products, exterior siding, cedar and appearance wood products, insulation and other specialty building products to dealers and home improvement retailers. Weyerhaeuser Company continues to employ approximately 970 employees in Louisiana at manufacturing facilities in Arcadia, Dodson, Holden, Natchitoches, Taylor and Zwolle; Tree Improvement Centers at Isabel and Taylor; Timberlands offices at Bogalusa, Dodson, Livingston, Natchitoches and Taylor; and WREDCO land development offices in Denham Springs, Mandeville and Ruston. Weyerhaeuser owns and sustainably manages more than one million acres of timber in Louisiana. • Pine Hill AL Weyerhaeuser announced in February that it has indefinitely closed its iLevel veneer and lumber mills in Pine Hill, Ala. The closure affects approximately 300 employees at the site. The company said "Demand for wood products continues to decline due to a slowdown in the housing market. As a result of these challenging market conditions, the Pine Hill facilities will close for an indefinite period of time while we continue to balance supply with demand." Weyerhaeuser continues to employ approximately 350 in Alabama at facilities in Evergreen, Tuscumbia, Millport, Marion, Sweet Water, and Camden. Additionally, Weyerhaeuser owns and sustainably manages more than 580,000 acres of timber in the state. Smurfit-Stone Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, has granted final approval of its $750 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) credit facility, which provides the company with access to the full amount of the facility. The court had previously granted the company interim authority to access $550 million of the DIP facility. The court also granted final approval to various other interim orders that had been entered at the commencement of the bankruptcy case. Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation announced that it received notification from Nasdaq that its equity securities will be delisted from The Nasdaq Stock Market. Trading of the company's common stock and 7% Series A Cumulative Exchangeable Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock were suspended at the opening of business on February 4, 2009. |