RockTenn Hopes for Full Hodge Mill Ramp in 12 Months

摘要

RockTenn (RT) hopes to fully ramp up its refocused Hodge, La., lightweight linerboard mill over the next year after a difficult restart this summer following a major mill modernization. The company told investors that it still hopes to realize $550 million in synergy and improvement savings from the former Smurfit-Stone Container mills acquired last spring, and it will take another three to six months to achieve them. Chairman and CEO James Rubright told a Bank of America Merrill Lynch investment conference two weeks ago that Hodge is currendy "locked into" the 1,900 tons per day production range, which he said was a "disappointment" based on the mill's previously projected startup curve.