Its primacy in the industry is clearly shown as Wisconsin accounts for nearly one-third of the value of product shipments and a similar proportion of value added by manufacture. Wisconsin's share of product shipments and value added are three times that of number two producer Massachusetts. The Wisconsin Paper Council, based in Neenah, is a trade association representing both papermakers and paper machinery builders in Wisconsin. Massachusetts ranks second with 11 percent in number of establishments. The state's 29 establishments account for approximately 11 percent of all product shipments attributed to SIC 3554. Pennsylvania, with 10 percent of product shipments; New York, with 9 percent; and New Jersey, with 6 percent round out the top five producing states. The Ohio segment of the industry is concentrated in the Miami River Valley. Although accounting for only about 4 percent of product shipments, its producers largely concentrate on pulp-making machinery and are hence much more significant in that industry sector. 4 The major U.S. producers of paper machinery have long located operations outside the United States and Canada. Table 1 highlights U.S. firms' overseas facilities. Foreign operations are most widespread in the United Kingdom, which has approximately 15 U.S.-based firms (some not shown in Table 1). The United Kingdom was a traditional beachhead for foreign operations and has become more significant since the United Kingdom entered the European Community. As noted in Table 1, there are also continental operations, primarily in West Germany and France. Except for Brazil, where domestic operations have been required to serve its own market and financing has made exporting attractive, there are relatively few U.S.-owned manufacturing facilities outside Europe and North America. U.S. production in Japan has been through licensees such as Beloit-Mitsubishi and Johnson-Nippon Joint, and only Perry Engineering, also a Beloit licensee, is of substantial size in Australia. A more detailed listing of foreign and U.S.-based firms in major markets is given in Appendix A. From Headbox to Reel: A Guide to U.S.-Based Producers The United States maintains a leading position as a supplier of pulp and paper machinery to mills worldwide, a position dating from the 19th century. Domestically based competitors offer a range of machinery to meet the paper industries' needs, ranging from woodyard equipment to paper converting machinery. The industry is 4 Geographic data are largely drawn from the 1982 Census of Manufactures, MC-82-1-35D, Special Industry Machinery, Except Metalworking Machinery, Table 2, pp. 35D9-11. But see also County Business Patterns, 1986 and previous years, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC 20233. SOURCE: Company annual reports and other communications. This listing is not intended to be definitive or complete and does not include some manufacturing plants operated by licensees. characterized by a preponderance of privately held corporations. Many Until some 10 years ago, the industry structure remained as it had for generations. Since then, however, the industry has undergone rapid change, with several major mergers and the development of a very substantial foreign-owned presence among U.S. domestic producers. The large number of closely held firms in the industry generally precludes a complete ranking of producers by sales or assets. At the time of its purchase in 1986 by Harnischfeger Corporation, the Beloit Corporation announced that its 1985 sales were $483 million. Beloit is generally recognized as the largest U.S.-based producer of paper machinery with the Black Clawson Company generally regarded as second in paper machinery product shipments among U.S.-based competitors. The following section offers a brief profile of six representative U.S.-based producers. Information was drawn from a variety of sources, including annual and quarterly reports, news releases, and discussions with officials of these firms. The selection of particular firms is not intended to indicate any endorsement by the U.S. Government of products or firms, nor should the presence or absence of any firm from these descriptions be taken to represent any such endorsement. Subsequent sections of this study will also contain discussion of these and other U.S.-based and foreign suppliers. Beloit Corporation Based in its namesake town of Beloit, Wisconsin, the Beloit Corporation is the largest U.S.-based producer of paper machinery. Founded in 1858 as the Merrill Machine Company, the firm manufactured its first£paper machine 4 years later. The firm became Beloit Iron Works in 1885 and adopted its present name in 1961. The Beloit Corporation, long family held, became a subsidiary of the Milwaukee-based Harnischfeger Corporation during 1986. At the time of the merger, Beloit announced 1985 sales of $483 million, a figure equal in size to its new parent firm, Harnischfeger Corporation. 5 Numerous industry leaders, including Beloit, Sandy Hill, Bird Machine, and Rice Barton, still operate in the towns where they began in the 19th century. In the first 7 months of its operation under Harnischfeger, Beloit reported sales of $345,917,000 and operating income of $40,937,000, substantially greater than any other Harnischfeger segment.This represents a return on sales of nearly 12 percent, substantially greater than the most recent industry performance. For 1985, the most recently available year, return on sales averaged 7.1 percent for the upper quartile of 45 paper machinery firms surveyed by Dun & Bradstreet. With approximately 6,200 employees (October 1987) in 18 facilities worldwide, Beloit is the largest employer in the U.S. paper machinery industry. Adjustments since the Harnischfeger merger have reduced total Beloit employment by approximately 500 primarily through consolidation of production at 3 major plants. Currently, Beloit maintains foreign plants at Bolton, United Kingdom; Sorel, Quebec, Canada; and in Turin, Italy and Campinas, Brazil. The firm maintains licensing agreements in such markets as Australia, India, Japan, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Major U.S. Major U.S. operations are located in greater Beloit, Wisconsin and Dalton and Lenox, Massachusetts. Other U.S. facilities are located at Portland, Oregon (Rader Companies), Kalamazoo, Michigan (Beloit Wheeler), and Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania (Beloit Manhattan). Beloit produces most major components of pulping and papermaking systems, including papermaking and paperboard-making machines, pulp manufacturing equipment and systems, pulpstock preparation equipment and systems, including refiners, and paper finishing equipment and systems including winders, sheeters, and calenders. Black Clawson Company Founded in 1893, the Black Clawson Company has evolved into a major supplier of pulp and paper mill systems. The firm is closely held. Sales for fiscal 1987 were estimated at $170 million. With executive offices in New York City, Black Clawson operates five facilities in the United States, three in Canada, and one each in France and the United üingdom. Its Brazilian plant was sold earlier in the decade. Black Clawson has licensing agreements with West German and Japanese suppliers. Black Clawson operates manufacturing plants in Watertown and Fulton, New York. Pulp mill equipment is produced by the Shartle Division at Middletown, Ohio. Major research and development facilities are located in Fulton & Watertown, New York and also in the United Kingdom. Black Olawson recently built a $4 million converting laboratory at Fulton. Black Clawson is a leading worldwide supplier of equipment for brownstock washing, part of the process of bleaching or whitening pulp. Currently, 18 Black Clawson Chemi-WashersTM (11 in North America) are in operation. The major competitor in this area, Sunds Defibrator of Sweden, has five of its ultra-washers in operation with several on order. Black Clawson recently announced the sale of three Chemi-WashersTM to China, all to be manufactured at its U.K. plant. In an unusual cross licensing agreement, Black and Sunds will offer a technology exchange for potential buyers. Black Clawson Ultra-washers will be modified to accept Sunds' perforated steel band instead of a woven textile fabric customarily offered. Black Clawson has gradually transferred some manufacturing activities from its U.S. facilities to its Black Clawson-Kennedy Ltd. office in Montreal, Quebec, and to its manufacturing plant at Owen Sound, Ontario. A non-paper machinery division, BC Hydrotile Machinery Company, which produces equipment for manufacture of concrete pipe, is based at Nashua, Iowa. BC Hydrotile also has a Canadian facility at Woodstock, Ontario. This division accounts for less than 10 percent of Black Clawson's shipments. Sandy Hill Corporation The Sandy Hill Corporation, founded in upper New York State in 1858, is one of the oldest firms in the paper machinery industry. Originally founded as Bakers Falls Iron Machine Works, the name was changed in 1882 to Sandy Hill Iron & Brass Works, the name deriving from the village in which the firm was located. The municipality is now called Hudson Falls, New York but the firm remains at its 27 Allen Street address. The company has had the same owner since 1936. firm is closely held with sales of approximately $25 million-$35 million per year and employs 300 people. The principal manufacturing facility and corporate offices are at Hudson Falls, New York with a major service facility at Pell City, Alabama. Hill Canada serves the Canadian market from Monteal, Quebec. other subsidiaries, Sandy Hill International Corporation, Insta-Tech Services, Inc., and Rondac Machine Corporation, have been established to serve specific market segments. Sandy Three Sandy Hill paper machinery products include headboxes, presses, dryer sections, calenders, and reels, with particular emphasis on machine rebuilding. With an on-site foundry, Sandy Hill is one of the principal suppliers of cast iron dryers to the North American market. In the paper machinery line, Sandy Hill is a primary supplier of machinery for producing non-wovens, including fiberglass roofing mat, utilizing the wet-laid process. The firm also maintains its own on-site research and development laboratory. Sandy Hill has maintained licensing and manufacturing arrangements with Kamyr, the Swedish-based supplier of pulp equipment, for over 50 years, and also has an investment interest in the U.S. entity Kamyr, Inc. Thermo-Electron Corporation Thermo-Electron Corporation is a large, publicly traded firm, which through its Web-Process Systems Division has carved for itself a significant place in the paper machinery industry. Thermo-Electron |