Clearwater Paper manufactures quality consumer tissue, away-from-home, or AFH,
tissue, parent roll tissue, bleached paperboard and pulp at manufacturing facilities
across the nation. The company is a premier supplier of private label tissue
to major retailers and wholesale distributors, including grocery, drug, mass
merchants and discount stores. In addition, the company produces bleached paperboard
used by quality-conscious printers and packaging converters. Clearwater Papers
employees build shareholder value by developing strong customer partnerships
through quality and service.
On December 30, 2014, we sold our specialty business and mills to a private
buyer. The specialty mill’s production consisted predominantly of machine-glazed
tissue and also included parent rolls and other specialty tissue products such
as absorbent materials and dark-hued napkins. The sale included five Clearwater
Paper subsidiaries with facilities located at East Hartford, Connecticut; Menominee,
Michigan; Gouverneur, New York; St. Catharines, Ontario; and Wiggins, Mississippi.
Our businesses are organized into two operating segments: Consumer Products
and Pulp and Paperboard. Additional information relating to the amounts of net
sales, operating income.
Our long-term strategy is to grow the size and scope of our business and optimize
the profitability of both our consumer products business and our paperboard
business. In the near-term, our focus is on optimizing the operating efficiencies
and cost effectiveness of both segments of our company.
Consumer Tissue Products. The U.S. tissue market can be divided into two market
segments: the at-home or consumer retail purchase segment, which represents
approximately two-thirds of U.S. tissue sales; and the AFH segment, which represents
the remaining one-third of U.S. tissue market sales and includes locations such
as airports, restaurants, hotels and office buildings.
The U.S. at-home tissue segment consists of bath, paper towels, facial and napkin
products categories. Each category is further distinguished according to quality
segments: ultra, premium, value and economy. As a result of process improvements
and consumer preferences, the majority of at-home tissue sold in the U.S. is
ultra and premium quality.
At-home tissue producers are comprised of companies that manufacture branded
tissue products, private label tissue products, or both. Branded tissue suppliers
manufacture, market and sell tissue products under their own nationally branded
labels. Private label tissue producers sell tissue products to retailers to
sell as their store brand.
In general, the process of making paperboard begins by chemically cooking wood
fibers to make pulp. The pulp is bleached to provide a white, bright pulp, which
is formed into paperboard. Bleached pulp that is to be used as market pulp is
dried and baled on a pulp drying machine, bypassing the paperboard machines.
The various grades of paperboard are wound into rolls for shipment to customers
for converting to final end uses. Liquid packaging and cup stock grades are
often coated with polyethylene, a plastic coating, in a separate operation to
create a resistant and durable liquid barrier.
