ND Paper has announced a significant upgrade at its Rumford, Maine mill, scheduled to take place during the facility’s annual outage this May.
The centerpiece of this transformation is a major rebuild of the R15 paper machine — the mill’s flagship asset and a critical driver of its production capacity.
Dubbed *Project Flutie*, the initiative represents the culmination of a comprehensive modernization effort that began in 2018, when ND Paper acquired the facility. Since then, the R15 machine has undergone a series of upgrades spanning the entire line — from the wet end to the winder — all aimed at enhancing performance, efficiency, and product quality.
The latest phase will include the installation of a new size press, an additional calender, and a full upgrade of the machine’s automated controls. These enhancements will enable R15 to deliver even higher-end printing and writing grades, with improved surface quality and consistency, while also supporting the production of bleached kraft and liner products.
Special thanks were extended to Joel Pike, Vice President, and Trevor Varney, Project Manager, for their leadership in bringing Project Flutie to life,commented Ken Liu, CEO of ND Paper.
ND Paper is a leading North American pulp, paper, and packaging manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, the largest paper company in China and one of the largest in the world. ND Paper operates four mills in the United States.
