Oji Paper Co., Ltd. has decided to invest ¥50 billion in the construction of new production facilities for lightweight coated paper at its Tomioka Mill in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture. The new facilities will have an annual production capacity of 350,000 tons, and are scheduled for completion in late 2008. As soon as the new facilities become operational, the six existing paper machines at the Tomioka Mill (annual production capacity: 300,000 tons) will be scrapped.

This scrap-and-build plan will allow Oji Paper to achieve one of its goals, which is to reduce structural costs by installing the most advanced equipment. Oji has also decided to expand used paper recycling capacity and install a new-energy boiler at the Tomioka Mill prior to the installation of the new coated paper production equipment. These investments in plant and equipment will make the Tomioka Mill one of the most cost-competitive coated paper manufacturing plants in Japan.