
Tembec Industries Inc., known as Tembec, was a
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
company in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, founded by Frank Dottori. In 2011, Tembec had approximately 3000 employees,
["Tembec's U.S. subsidiary to liquidate four years after closing Louisiana mill"]
Ross Marowits, ''The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...
'', 25 April 2011 with locations in Canada,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Tembec's operating divisions included Forest Products, Pulp, Paper & Paperboard, and Chemicals.
History
Tembec was founded in 1973 by Frank Dottori in the town of
Témiscaming,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, following efforts by former employees and Temiscaming residents to save their jobs and save their town's economy. They organized to create a company through an unprecedented relationship among entrepreneurs, unionized employees, the community and several levels of government. In 1973, the newly-founded company purchased the shuttered mill and Tembec was founded. A documentary covering the efforts of workers to form Tembec and reopen the mill, ''Témiskaming, Quebec'', was created by
Martin Duckworth and released by the National Film Board in 1975.
In May 2017, it was announced that Tembec had agreed to a takeover offer by
Rayonier Advanced Materials for CAD $320 million.
In July, Rayonier's offer was raised to CAD $475 million.
The deal closed in November.
On 8 January 2020, the company was fined $250,000 for the 25 May 2018 death of a worker in Chapleau, to which it had pled guilty. The accident had occurred six days prior to when, according to court proceedings, "Rayonier acquired the mill from Tembec Industries Inc., which operated the mill under the name Ryam Lumber, on May 31, 2018."
Operations
Tembec's Forest Products Group comprised 31 manufacturing operations producing softwood lumber, engineered wood products, and specialty wood products. The Pulp, Paper & Paperboard Group consisted of 9 pulp manufacturing plants, 5 paper manufacturing plants and 1 paperboard plant. The Chemicals group produced
resins
A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Comm ...
,
ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
lignin
Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidit ...
from the pulping discharge in five of its pulping plants.
In popular culture
The town gained national attention and its efforts to save itself were chronicled in the documentary, ''A Town that Wouldn’t Die.''
References
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Companies based in Montreal
Pulp and paper companies of Canada
Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange