required IMERYS to reduce fixed costs in its Deepstep Road
manufacturing operation in Sandersville in 2008 and 2009. It was
apparent that the operation needed to be restructured in order to
remain sustainable. Reductions in force were undertaken in two
stages that resulted in a headcount reduction of about 50% in the
second half of 2008 and first half of 2009. During the process of
downsizing, natural work groups were defined, for example blunge
/degrit operators, resulting in minimal retraining requirements and
optimising the efficiency of the labour force.
General labour jobs such as railcar washing and packing and shipping
were logical targets as the labour demands for these positions
fluctuates widely over time depending on volume and product mix.
Outsourcing allows us to flex our labour costs with demand. Other
key areas that were outsourced included maintenance and project
engineering. This was somewhat more risky in that these are skilled
and, in some cases critical, highly specialised jobs. The groundwork
for this decision and its implementation was laid down over a
period of years and involved upgrading the skill sets of the salaried
maintenance work force by shifting engineers from project
engineering into maintenance as vacancies arose. This core group
of professionals is now tasked with overseeing an outsourced
maintenance workforce and this model is working well.
across the operations. Quality, crude lab and process improvement
technician groups were consolidated into a smaller, highly skilled
"Operation Technicians" group that can perform any of the functions
of the prior groups, depending on demand.
the most important factor in the successful implementation of
these initiatives undertaken over the past two years. Restructuring
is never easy or comfortable, but the affected employees deserve
to hear directly from management what is being done and why, as
well as what options are available to them. The employees that
remain with Middle Georgia Kaolin (MGK) have quickly been
refocused on the issues that are most important to achieving a
sustainable operation. This proved to be an effective strategy.
IMERYS Pigments for Paper North America has transitioned the
kaolin product portfolio to a value-added platform of products.
The new platform is based on our leading technology and capability
to bring a vast range of platy to hyper-platy clays to the market.
IMERYS' in-house proprietary 'shape factor` measurement technique
and fundamental understanding of our platy deposits allow us to
differentiate our product line from the competition. The two main
product lines included in the platform transition include
thin crystal thickness which is covered under patented technology.
Both product lines have been launched to the market in the last
two years.
factors. Their extreme shapes allow them to interact more
effectively with blockier particles such as calcium carbonates in
order to provide: bulkier structures with optically effective pore
sizes, improved coating hold out, and better coverage from the
larger plate diameters, (see graph opposite).
low gloss, or rotogravure coating applications. They work especially
well when blended with blocky co-pigments such as GCC. The
improved coverage can allow papermakers to reduce calendering
and thus improve sheet bulk, or apply lower top coat weight.
or can also be used in pre-coat applications when blended with
blocky co-pigments.
and sustainable packaging is driving the trend for water-based
barrier coatings to replace fluorocarbons, wax and extruded
polymer barrier coatings. Platy kaolins incorporated with the
appropriate polymers can provide effective barrier performance
against water, grease and gases. The use of
coatings and provide the papermaker with an eco-friendly solution.
tortuous coating structure that inherently resists penetration.
THOUSANDS
GE