Kadant Receives Order for Stock Approach System for New Linerboard Machine in China
QUEENSBURY, New York, December 5, 2007 – Kadant AES, a division of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI), has received a new order for its Octopus™ stock approach system from Kobayashi Engineering Works Ltd., based in Fuji City, Japan. The Octopus system will include consistency-profiling controls and will be installed at Chinese linerboard producer Lee & Man’s new No. 16 paper machine. The 220-inch wide machine will manufacture linerboard at 800 meters per minute and is scheduled for start up in 2008. Kadant’s Octopus system will be used in place of conventional tapered inlets, to reduce cross machine variation and control overall sheet profile.
First introduced in 1995, the Octopus system has been successfully used to supply vats, hydraulic formers, and both air pad and hydraulic headboxes with uniform flows across the width of the paper machine without the need for recirculation. As a result, dry weight variation and costly paper waste due to uneven profile variation are reduced.
Jeff Bachand, president of Kadant AES, commented, “The Octopus stock approach system provides an innovative solution to improve CD profile, allows for quicker grade changes, lower energy consumption, and improved product quality. These advantages have given us the ability to help papermakers solve forming problems and reduce operating costs.”
Kadant AES, based in Queensbury, New York, is a leading provider of products and technologies primarily applied to the forming of paper in the wet end of the paper machine, the cleaning of forming fabrics and press fabrics, and filtration of process water throughout the papermaking process.
Kadant Inc. is a leading supplier to the global pulp and paper industry, with a range of products and services for improving efficiency and quality in pulp and paper production, including paper machine accessories and systems for stock preparation, fluid handling, and water management. Our fluid-handling products are also used to optimize production in the steel, rubber, plastics, food, and textile industries. In addition, we produce granules from papermaking byproducts for agricultural and lawn and garden applications. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with revenues of $342 million in 2006 and 2,000 employees in 16 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.
The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward-looking statements about our products and technologies. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such statements are set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 29, 2007. These include risks and uncertainties relating to our dependence on the pulp and paper industry; significance of sales and operation of manufacturing facilities in China; international sales and operations; competition; our debt obligations; restrictions in our credit agreement; litigation and warranty costs related to our discontinued operation; our acquisition strategy; future restructurings; factors influencing our fiber-based products; protection of patents and proprietary rights; fluctuations in quarterly operating results; and anti-takeover provisions. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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