U.S. Alliance, Coosa Pines, Ala., is using a Filtrex backwashable filtration system to remove the lime mud from the weak wash before it goes into the scrubber tower, thus stopping the scrubber packing from plating out.

Michigan Paperboard has contracted with the Lawton Co. to supply new gearing for the No. 1 paper machine at its Battle Creek, Mich., mill.

Boise-Cascade Corp. has ordered equipment from Andritz-Ahlstrom to modernize an existing B&W recovery boiler at its International Falls, Minn., mill. Andritz-Ahlstrom will provide a new economizer, screen, secondary superheater, boiler generating bank, and a modified air system.

Stora Enso North America has ordered a gas infrared drying system from Marsden Inc. for its Kimberly, Wis., mill. The system will be supplied through Voith Paper of Appleton, Wis. Two 31.5 in. MD-by-249 in. CD rows of Marsden IR will be installed following a Speedsizer.

Mead Paper has ordered new spare nylon rings from the Lawton Co. for the gearing on the No. 10 paper machine at its Chillicothe, Ohio, mill.

Willamette Industries Inc. has ordered a new fiberline from Andritz-Ahlstrom for its Albany, Ore., mill. The fiberline includes a single-vessel hydraulic continuous digester with chip feeding system, blowline refining, a drum displacer washing system, and Andritz deshive refining.

Rock-Tenn Corp. has selected Panther Systems Inc. to modernize the recycled paper machine at its Eaton, Ind., mill. The order will include two operator stations, a scanner, a basis weight sensor, a micro-wave moisture sensor, and a caliper sensor.

Georgia-Pacific (G-P) has begun working with MediaBin, an image content management developer for e-business. G-P has licensed MediaBin's platform to manage product images and logos by creating a central repository in which all images are stored and can be accessed by authorized G-P employees and partners.

APC Paper Co. has ordered 26-in. tri-disc fabricated refiner plates from the Lawton Co. for the Pilao RTD tri-disc refiner at its Claremont, N.H., mill.

Andritz-Ahlstrom Inc.'s service business has acquired the assets of Paper Inc. This will permit Andritz-Ahlstrom to include the rebuild, modernization, and replacement of drum washers and precoat filters in its service portfolio.

Eka Chemicals, supplier of performance chemicals, has acquired Hopton Technologies Inc. (HTI), of Albany, Ore. HTI is primarily focused on specialty chemicals for surface enhancements, such as surface size and coating chemicals for paper and board.

Parkson Corp., supplier of water and wastewater industry solutions, has acquired the separations division of Waterlink Inc., Canton, Ohio. The separations division manufactures liquid/solids separation equipment.

SAP has announced plans to acquire privately-held TopTier Software as the first step in its efforts to strengthen its position as a leading vendor of integrated enterprise portal solutions.

Thermo LabSystems has acquired Gal-actic Industries Corp., a spectroscopy software solutions company. Galactic Industries has been renamed Thermo Galactic and joins Thermo LabSystems as part of the informatics division of Thermo Electron's life sciences sector.

The BF Goodrich Co. has acquired Air Science Engineering Inc., a supplier of compressed air auditing services and systems products.

The Avenue Group, a training solutions firm based in Charlotte, N.C., has merged with Training Systems Inc., out of Wilmington, N.C. The newly-merged company will be called The Avenue Group. The new Avenue Group offers multiple channels for delivering training solutions, from instructor-led classroom training to e-learning.

Jacobs-Sirrine Consultants, a division of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., has developed a benchmarking service for the North American pulp and paper industry. The new service is a result of Jacobs-Sirrine's strategic alliance with Star LLC, the developer of a proprietary data gathering survey process called RAPIDSurvey. Jacobs-Sirrine will utilize its partner's survey technology and expertise to track customer satisfaction and loyalty ratings for paper producers participating in specific end-use paper seg-ments and will attempt to build upon the company's other service offerings. Jacobs-Sirrine calls the new service the JSC Customer Loyalty Benchmark Program.

Fisher-Rosemount, the process management business of Emerson, has formed a strategic alliance with PSDI (now doing business as MRO Software), provider of maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials solutions.

MSS Inc., a manufacturer of automated sorting equipment for the materials recovery industry, and Weyerhaeuser Co. have formed a joint venture called Automated Sorting Technology LLC. Automated Sorting Technology will design and build PaperSort systems-high-speed optical sorting systems.

GE Fanuc Automation, supplier of industrial control systems, has announced an agreement with Marathon Technologies Corp., developer and supplier of Assured Availability solutions for Microsoft Windows environments. The agreement enables GE Fanuc to offer Marathon Endurance products, which provide users of mission-critical factory automation applications with continuous server availability needs.

MRO Software, provider of maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials solutions; and Syclo, a leader in mobile computing solutions, have reached an agreement in which MRO Software will become a global reseller of Syclo's Smart solution. Smart is a handheld solution for the maintenance and field service industries, and it interfaces with MRO Software's Maximo work and materials management software.

Krohne Inc., a level and flow company, and Drexelbrook, provider of level and open channel flow measurement solutions, have teamed together to provide radar and TDR level measurement solutions to the process industries.

vertacross inc., parent company of vertacross.com, has partnered with Global-Spec, a b2b Web-based resource that connects engineers and other technical buyers with the products and manufacturers they need based on engineering specifications.

WoodFuel.com, a b2b e-commerce company that buys and sells wood material for renewable, beneficial, and alternative energy uses; and IFCO Systems, a major wood pallet recycler and manufacturer; are working together to establish a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible program to manage WoodFuel.com's wood byproduct stream.

The board of directors of Metso Corp. has decided to use the Metso name for each of the corporation's business divisions. Neles Automation, a division of Metso Corp., is being renamed Metso Automation; Neles Automation Can-ada Ltd. is now Metso Automation Can-ada Ltd.; and Neles Automation USA Inc. is now Metso Automation USA Inc.

PSDI, provider of maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials solutions, has changed its name to MRO Software Inc.

Nalco Chemical Co.'s parent company, Suez, has announced the creation of ONDEO, a water solutions group comprised of Suez' water-related companies. As a result, Nalco has changed its name to ONDEO Nalco.

BASF has announced a reorganization of its North American dispersions and paper chemicals business group. These changes include the closure of its Polymin manufacturing plant at the Freeport, Texas, site by mid-2001.

Alfa Laval, provider of specialized products and engineering solutions, has introduced a new corporate logo designed to symbolize the changes the company is making to its organization and corporate philosophy. As part of the organizational change, Alfa Laval is centralizing its operations through a single-service approach to key areas, including purchasing, production, logistics, support, and IT/IS.

Interroll Corp., manufacturer and supplier of material handling components and systems, has announced a capital improvement plan that will coincide with the realignment of its organization into strategic business units. The substantial investment in capital improvements includes new machinery for the Wilmington, N.C., plant and the construction of a new facility in Toronto, Ont.

Solvay Interox Inc. will add a US$0.036/lb (100% basis) temporary surcharge to all deliveries of hydrogen peroxide. The surcharge for Canadian customers will be C$120/mton. The company states the surcharge is an attempt to offset high natural gas prices. The surcharge will be adjusted quarterly and will be removed when natural gas prices mitigate.

The paper chemicals group of Georgia-Pacific Resins Inc. announced a 5% price increase relating to its line of wet strength resins. The company states that the price increase, which is effective immediately, is due to significant increases in key petrochemical-based raw materials and utility costs.

Bayer Corp.'s paper colorants and chemicals business unit announced a price increase for its Paramel wet strength resins. The increase amounts to U.S. two cents/wet lb. The price increase is due mostly to increases in raw material and energy costs, according to the company.

Harris Group Inc., a Seattle, Wash.-based engineering and consulting firm, has opened an office in Atlanta, Ga.