Two years after first breaking ground, St. Croix Tissue held a formal grand opening ceremony on August 31 in Baileyville, just outside the facility that now hosts two state‑of‑the‑art automated tissue machines. The event, which was attended by members of the U.S. Congress, commemorated a rare occasion: the manifestation of a significant investment in a Maine mill.
      "The pulp and paper industry doesn't get many opportunities like this," said Marco L'Italien, vice president of International Grand Investment Corporation (IGIC), during the ceremony. IGIC acquired the Baileyville mill from Domtar in 2010. In 2014, the company announced it would make an anticipated investment of $120 million to expand into tissue production by purchasing and installing tissue machines, leading to the full-time employment of approximately 70 workers.
     The process of installing the machines and updating the facilities was not an easy one. Project leader Tom Dorsch provided numerical perspective on what, exactly, was involved. Upwards of 525 construction workers a day labored for over 1 million hours to complete the project, costing as much as $300,000 a day in wages and benefits. More than 1,200 loads of concrete were poured, and 2,300 tons of steel were delivered. "It's really quite phenomenal, especially considering where we are," Dorsch says.
      Not all of the challenges were logistical in nature, however. "You can spend a million hours working, but an injury really puts all of that in a dark shadow," Dorsch says, describing how there had been several injuries early on. A coordinated safety response was made to improve conditions, and Dorsch says the project finished under the national average for construction injuries. "If we hadn't have made those changes it would've been about seven people more going to the hospital."
With the project now finished, Dorsch says that the machines are functioning at a high capacity. "     We're very close to being at our design rate even today, which is a lot faster than many people thought we'd be." Dorsch says that the two machines produce a 5,500‑pound roll of paper every 20 to 30 minutes, or enough to "supply the tissue needs of just about everybody in a 300‑mile radius." According to Scott Beal, communications manager, St. Croix Tissue has the capacity to produce 126,000 tons of tissue each year.
      Unlike the pulp still being produced at Woodland Pulp, which is directly adjacent to St. Croix Tissue, the tissue paper is not being shipped from the Port of Eastport. Instead, it is sold and trucked domestically to complete the end‑production process of turning it into such goods as paper towels or toilet paper. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that shipping tissue from Eastport is not a possibility for the future. "We're frequently evaluating any and all options to gain efficiency and to reduce costs," Beal says. "If shipping out of Eastport is deemed viable, we'll of course give this the consideration it deserves."
     During the ceremony, U.S. Senator Susan Collins spoke on the significance of the occasion. "When the mill does well, when the mill's investing, when the mill's creating and saving jobs, everybody benefits, and that's why today is so exciting," Collins said. She pointed out that the opening would not have been possible without partners in the community such as Washington County Community College, which provided training to the employees of St. Croix Tissue at no cost.
     "This is a who's who of Maine businesses," U.S. Senator Angus King said, regarding the effort toward the project. "Cianbro has made a great contribution in their ability to pull together a complex and important project like this." King praised the individuals involved in planning and coordinating the project and the community members and workers who made it a reality. "This is going to make a difference for another generation."