The new 350,000 tpy PM N-1 light-weight coated paper production line will be constructed at Oji Paper's Tomioka mill located in Anan City on Shikoku island. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008.

The OptiConcept paper machine will have a wire width of 10.2 m and a design speed of 2,000 m/min. It is an all on-line machine, featuring the first on-line multinip calender in Japan. The delivery also includes two winders, various auxiliaries, process systems, air systems and site services.

The Japanese paper and board industry, which currently ranks number three in the world with its 31 million annual tonnes, has recently made major investments in new capacity. Within the past eight months, four new, large papermaking lines have been announced in the country, with Metso Paper selected as the main supplier for three of them: Nippon Paper's Ishinomaki mill PM 6, Hokuetsu Paper Mills' Niigata PM 9, and Oji Paper's Tomioka PM 1.