North Central PIMA Fall Meeting.

On November 4, 2003 North Central held their Fall Meeting at Riverview Country Club in Appleton, Wisconsin. The theme of the Meeting was The State of the Paper Industry in the Midwest. The meeting was attended by approximately 70 members of the industry including a number of students from University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

The meeting began with former National President and a Board Member of the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame discussing the history of the Hall, its current status and PIMA's relationship with the Hall. PIMA started in Appleton in 1919 as a superintendents association and PIMA is trying to have their Hall of Fame in the same location. The Hall of Fame is the only one for the paper industry in the world.

Diane Murdock the current National Affiliate Chair next gave an excellent talk on the new PIMA initiatives in the training area. Webcast and local presentations were discussed and garnered much interest from the attendees.

The featured speaker was Pat Schillinger President of the Wisconsin Paper Council. He gave an overview of the initiatives that are being worked on by the paper industry and the state. The major areas are taxation, permitting rules and regulations and energy. Progress is being made in these areas and they are vital to the continued health of the paper industry, which is a large economic player in Wisconsin especially in the Fox and Wisconsin River valleys.

The next part of the meeting was a roundtable discussion during which four members of the industry gave their views on the industry past, present and future. The participants were: Mark Swenson mill manager of Stora Enso Kimberly, Wisconsin, Larry Graham immediate past chair of UWSP paper science program, Mark McDermid of the Wisconsin DNR and Doug Dugal Paper Industry Hall of Fame board member.

After opening remarks by the panelists, the floor was open for questions and a lively and informative session took place. Strong opinions and feelings were expressed about conditions in the industry both concerning the Midwest and nationally. Some of the major topics were regulations and relationship between the paper industry and DNR, education at the professional level and at the mill floor level, the technology disconnect between U.S. industry and Europe, the overall state of the industry and that the industry must change to be viable.

The last part of the formal program was the presentation of scholarships to the two universities in the North Central Division. $3000 was given to UWSP and $1500 to the University of Minnesota. North Central is proud to be able to support these two excellent programs.

The meeting then adjourned to the Hall of Fame to view the progress being made and discuss the plans for the Hall Mr. Randy Stadtmueller who is the developer of the entire complex of which the Hall is a part gave a brief outline of the all that has transpired to get permitting, funding, etc and the time table for completion of the renovation. The Hall is part of the remaining structures of the old Kimberly Clark Atlas Mill.

All-in all it was a very successful meeting.

BY ART RANKIN, 1ST VICE CHAIR