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, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

company in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, 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; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

'', 25 April 2011 with locations in Canada,

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, and

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. 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 Témiscaming is a city located at the south end of Lac Témiscamingue on the upper Ottawa River in the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. Also nearby is Lake Kipawa. It is the administrative headquarters o ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, 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 Martin Duckworth (born March 8, 1933) is a Canadian documentary director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 20 ...

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 In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

lignin 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

{{Authority control Companies based in Montreal Pulp and paper companies of Canada Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange