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Sappi North America’s paper mills in Westbrook and Skowhegan are integral contributors to the company’s industry-leading sustainability performance, which received a “gold recognition level” rating from the independent rating agency EcoVadis.
That's the conclusion of Jennifer Miller, chief business sustainability officer for Boston-based Sappi North America, who cites a number of sustainability goals the two mills have achieved that were noted in the company's 2017 sustainability report
The EcoVadis rating, which is based on 21 metrics involving environmental, fair labor, fair business, supply chain and ethical practices, puts Sappi among the top 4% of roughly 30,000 companies surveyed annually.
“To us it’s a very solid report card on our world-class business plan,” said Miller.
Miller said EcoVadis’ evidence-based rating process is aligned with international standards, including the United Nations Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 26000.
In a telephone interview with Mainebiz, Miller said sustainability is at the core of Sappi’s business strategy, both in the United States and globally. In her role as chief sustainability officer for Sappi North America, Miller said she makes sure the company’s business practices are “doing right” in relation to the environment, employees and customers.
She also looks closely at the Sappi North America’s business model — which includes deep dives into earnings reports and closely following market trends and global economics with an eye toward identifying growth opportunities for its three mills that employ 2,100 workers in the U.S. — to make sure it advances goals laid out in the 2020 Vision established in 2015 that is structured around concrete, measurable initiatives with clear baselines for performance.
“I don’t get stuck in the past,” Miller said, noting that she works closely with Sappi North America President and CEO Mark Gardner, a colleague from Maine who she’s worked with for more than 20 years.
“We know our strength is in our diversification strategies” involving pulp, coated fine paper, release papers and packaging, she added. “We are a global player in all four of those businesses.”
Miller said Sappi’s mills in Westbrook and Skowhegan play a big role in that diversification strategy, which is borne out in the company’s recently released 2017 sustainability report. Among the overall highlights:
Specific sustainability milestones cited for the Sappi mills in Westbrook and Skowhegan and its shared service center in South Portland include:
Miller said Sappi’s investments at the Somerset Mill are driven by the recognition that diversification is essential to complement the mill’s core product of coated fine papers used in premium magazines, catalogs, books and high-end print advertising.
“We are constantly looking at how to refresh our product lines and innovate,” she said, noting that the $165 million investment in Paper Machine No. 1 gives it the capability of making both high-end papers as well as paper-based packaging. That dual capability, she said, enables Sappi to pursue growth opportunities in the packaging sector while continuing to maintain strong market share in its legacy high-end papers.
“It’s a significant investment,” she said.
Innovation plays a similarly key role at the Westbrook mill, which focuses on manufacturing release papers for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries, including synthetic fabrics used in footwear, clothing, upholstery and accessories, as well as the textures for decorative laminates found in kitchens, baths, flooring and other decorative surfaces for a broad array of end-users.
“We are constantly innovating,” she said. “We have a substantial R&D center in Westbrook” that includes an “Exciter” program focused on the development of “breakthrough technology” products such as Neoterix ST.
More than 25% of Sappi’s R&D spending worldwide focuses on those “Exciter” breakthroughs, she said.
“We’ve been proud of our success,” Miller said. “You have to be smart and savvy and keep refining what you do. That’s why we invest in our Exciter technologies.”
Looking ahead, Miller said the Maine mills are important contributors to their parent company’s overall success, which beat second quarter 2018 expectations in reporting EBITDA excluding special items of $211 million U.S. (compared to $208 million U.S. for the prior year) and profit for the period of $102 million (compared to $88 million in Q2 2017).
“We appreciate the skilled workforce in Maine, the competitive sites, the resource of Maine’s forestland,” Miller said. “We’re continuing to develop a blueprint for further growth, leveraging investments we’ve made at our mills in Maine. It helps keep our costs competitive.”
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