Weyerhaeuser Names New Mill Managers at Valliant and Cedar Rapids

Weyerhaeuser has named new mill managers for its Valliant, OK, containerboard mill and Cedar River Paper Co. (CRPC), a Weyerhaeuser subsidiary joint venture in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. All changes are effective Jan. 4.

Elgie Harrison will return to Weyerhaeuser as VP and mill manager at Valliant. He has worked as business team leader of CRPC since its formation in 1993. During this time, he led the mill through design, construction, staffing, and the startup of its two paper machines. It is the largest recycled fiber-based mill in the world.

During the past 40 years, Harrison has worked in a variety of positions in the paper industry, including paperboard production manager at Weyerhaeuser's mill in Longview, WA, and production manager in North Bend, OR, prior to Weyerhaeuser acquiring the mill from Menasha in 1982.

"Elgie's leadership in productivity and mill efficiency along with his dedication and passion for work systems improvement will build upon the Valliant team's achievements and bring renewed energy to their work," said Paul Kiffe, VP of manufacturing for pulp and paper. "Elgie will drive the change needed to move the Valliant mill to the next level of operational excellence."

Mike Citty, current VP and mill manager, will join the pulp, paper, and packaging sector mill manufacturing organization as VP of special projects and will support all sector mills in a number of areas including safety, machine optimization, and support realignment. In the near term, he will work from Oklahoma and will continue his responsibility as chairman of Weyerhaeuser's external affairs council for Oklahoma.

At Cedar River Paper, Jack Bray will become the new business team leader. He has served as manufacturing team leader since 1994, and led the mill's production excellence through a work system focused on safety and continuous improvement. Bray began his career 18 years ago with Westvaco Corp. in Covington, VA, where he worked in both pulping and papermaking operations. Before joining CRPC, he served as production manager for Menasha Corp. in Otsego, MI.

"These changes will help us accelerate the rate of improvement in the mill manufacturing system in order to drive a sustainable, competitive advantage for the businesses of the sector," Kiffe said.

Weyerhaeuser, one of the world's largest integrated forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 1997, it had sales of $11.2 billion and has offices or operations in 12 countries with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber, the manufacture, distribution, and sale of forest products, and real estate construction, development. and related activities.