At the time of the take over Davidson’s had capital plans to expand the production on No.4 machine and the paper mill and converting departments. Through capital release from BPB it was now possible to speed up these developments, and the 1950’s was a time for mill expansion and increased profits, despite trading difficulties brought on by world conditions after the Second World War and the Korean War. There were over 1000 employees at the mill, working on three shifts on PM2, PM3 and PM4, Finishing Department, Bag Making, Landor Cartons and Abertay Paper Sacks. In Aberdeen were local offices of the Northern Waste Paper Company and Davidsons Paper Sales. Further waste paper offices were also in operation in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Newcastle-on-Tyne. Outside Scotland were paperboard converting companies making cartons, solid fibreboard and rigid boxes, and a further six branches of Davidsons Paper Sales. The mill in Umtali, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was making newsprint, carton board and plasterboard liner for the company’s gypsum plants in southern Africa. No.4 coal fired boiler was installed in 1953, and a new Water Treatment Plant – the Paterson Plant - was installed in the mid 1950’s, while between 1959 and 1962 the Wet End of PM4 was replaced with 8 new vats, a new press section and a new drying hood. At the start of the 1960’s there was a growing requirement for uncoated waste based carton board, with a bleached white liner layer, and at the same time the volume requirement for plasterboard liner was steadily rising in UK, France and Belgium. Plans to meet these growing requirements resulted in the installation of a state of the art Inverform machine – PM5. This design was based on the prototype machine developed at St. Anne’s Board Mill by Walmsleys of Bury, while the second such design was installed in 1963/4 at Thames Board Mill, Purfleet. The machine house was designed for the installation of a mirror image machine but this never materialised. (In hindsight – the best of all vision – we should have installed a much wider machine at the time and we could possibly have survived in today’s climate!). The machine cost of £850,000 brought the project total to £2.25 million including the machine house, stock prep (HP5 & 6), the Krofta plant, and one heavy fuel oil fired boiler and No.2 AEI 6MW Turbo alternator set. Not a lot of money by today’s standards but none the less a very large and ambitious project, which was well publicised in national and industry press at the time. The machine, as installed was rated at 40,000 tonnes per annum, raising the mill output to in excess of 100,000 tonnes per annum, a huge stride forward. Many of the contracting companies used in the original construction were local and along with well-known industry suppliers made the project a huge success. A complete brochure entitled “Scotland’s 1st Inverform Machine in Full Production” and dated July 29th 1965 marked the high regard for this project in the industry. At the time of start up of PM5 plasterboard liner was the equivalent of 390 gsm and 650 microns caliper. (0.026” thickness and 160 pounds double crown per 480 sheets in “old money”!). The design speed for the machine was up to 1000 ft/minute (305 m/min) The demand for plasterboard liner was such that the “Bucksboard” white lined chipboard production lasted a relatively short time in the history of the mill, with a short introduction again in the late 1980’s. Also in 1965 the Davison Radcliffe Group Ltd was formed – originally as DRG but later changed to DRL to avoid industry confusion with the Dickenson Robinson Group. In 1969 Mr Harold Pearson was appointed Managing Director and along with Peter Davidson these two provided stability for the company through the turbulent early 1970’s, with high energy prices and rising inflation following the Arab/Israeli War. This lead to three-day week working for a spell, and rigorous cost saving measures were implemented. In the face of this pressure on the business another brave decision was made to expand PM5 in 1970, including and extension to the dryer part to 102 cylinders from 75, a totally enclosed high dew point hood, steam and condensate uplift, and production uplift to 10 tonnes per hour. This brought the machine output to the highest production per foot width for any such machine, a record we held for a number of years to come. Other work in this £1.6 million project included the pulp shed as an addition to the machine house, a new Black Clawson 16ft Pulper (HP7) with Flote Purge module, a Sunds Drum Thickener, extension to the Tar Dispersal Plant, a new compressor house with a Joy compressor, and most significantly the New Boiler House (now termed West Power Plant) incorporating the current No.5 boiler albeit operating solely on heavy fuel oil at the time) and the Allen Steam Turbine and Alternator set. This was the introduction of 11kV for the site with the old distribution retained at 3.3kV. Also at this time the current Primary Effluent Treatment (PET) plant building was erected with the polydisc PD1. This linked with the Krofta plant to provide a capacity of 220,000 gallons per hour (19,000 m3/day)! The mill capacity was then put at 125,000 tonnes per annum. You got a lot for your money in those days! Peter Davidson retired from “active service” in the early 1974 spending his time at the family home at Caskiben near Blackburn until his untimely death in tragic circumstances in 1986. Harold Pearson continued as DRL Group Chairman, with Eric Warburton as General Manager until his retirement in the early 1970’s. Bert Scudder then took over the mill operations while Chris Bushell joined in 1976 to deputise for Harold Pearson. PM5 again received an uplift in 1974, with another dryer section extension to 132 cylinders, an upgrade to the press section, a new Black Clawson winder located in the basement, an upgrade of the Inverform stations to short wedge configuration, which was quickly reverted to the old IVB’s, and a completely new 6th former added in the shape of the Tampella Arcu –Forma. This was added as the No.1 station as the bond ply for gypsum. This former proved a very worthwhile addition to the development of PM5, and provided a building platform for the machine for the next 14 years until it was removed. In its latter years it was proved to be unstable at higher line speeds, much like the Inverform units and its derivatives, for those that remember the runnability issues! In 1978 Davidson mill again was at the forefront of technology when the Accuray process control system was firstly installed on PM5 along with two new Inverform headboxes, press section changes, complete new steam system and the installation of the modern control systems from Foxboro. The industry was moving more towards the controllable science rather than the traditional craft! Orders were placed for similar equipment for PM4, which was scheduled to receive a major uplift that same year. However, when detailed survey work was carried out on the dry end foundations it was found that the civil work carried out in the early 1950’s was resulting in the machine slowly sinking towards the river. As a result the rebuild was postponed until further funding was made available to demolish the old “Paster Bay” (the laminator was relocated into the end of PM5 reel store in the intervening period) and construct a new machine house for PM4, and install all the new parts for the rebuilt machine. This included a new wet end with BRDA formers and new style cylinder moulds, a brand new press section, new dryer framing for the existing cylinders in roller bearings (gone were the cylinder brasses!) a new machine drive and new vacuum system. In the end, the machine was closed for 3 months while the remaining parts were modified and transferred across. The machine was started up on 8th May 1980. All in this entire project along with the work on PM5 and Stock Prep (TD3 and HP9 Selected Waste System) cost £12.25 million. The project was managed by John Goodall who was to later become Mill Manager and Managing Director. In 1979 a new office block surrounding the original Davidson Mill House was opened to accommodate the growing requirements of the mill and DRL Group activities. This complex was opened by HRH Duke of Edinburgh, and heralded the end to the old green huts, which proliferated around the garden grounds of the house for many years. At the end of the 1970’s the industry was going through a period of consolidation, and Mugiemoss was no exception. This resulted in closure of less productive plant and the Ibeco production from PM2 was transferred to PM3, while No.2 machine was closed in 1978 and dismantled, to be later sold to Pakistan. The requirements for a grade such as Ibeco was declining in favour of plastic alternatives, and the running of PM3 progressively became less tenable resulting in its closure in March 1981. This was a significant step in mill history, bringing to an end the manufacture of paper at Mugiemoss after something like 185 years. PM3 was sold but later scrapped when the financial deal fell through. The focus was now therefore on paperboard manufacture. Through the early part of the 1980’s the mill consolidated the work achieved from the project carried out at PM4 and PM5. The boundaries were pushed in terms of production and quality. New grades were sought and developed for both machines. There was also growing demand for lighter weight plasterboard liners and this began to highlight the deficiencies with the Arcu Forma and Inverform stations on PM5. An ambitious programme to replace the wet end in strategic stages was drawn up following trial work on multi-fourdrinier forming. The first stage was to extend the bottom wire to accommodate a base ply fourdrinier and this was carried out in 1985. At one stage there were in fact seven formers on the wet end! The next phase of PM5 wet end development was scheduled for the following year but this was put on hold pending another strategic Group decision that was the purchase of Purfleet Board Mill from the Thames Group. The extended Group name was changed to Davidson Limited. Much needed expenditure was directed at the Purfleet Mill, but this did not deter developments at Mugiemoss as in 1986 state of the art projects were commissioned at HP10 pulping system with a unique Soaking Drum, and a new Anaerobic and Aerobic Effluent Treatment Plant was installed to meet increasingly stringent environmental requirements. The 2nd phase of PM5 uplift was completed early in 1989 with the replacement of the Arcu Forma and two Inverform stations with the Voith DuoK former. At the same time a new Duo Centri Press was installed to replace the old vacuum presses, a new Vacuum System in a shiny new building, a new Allen Bradley drive to replace the Harland drive. The wet end roof was replaced with the machine running later that same year, and already the 3rd phase was in planning for the end of the year. This phase included a new Size Press, a Liner fourdrinier station (No.4 former) and extensive improvements of the Middles and Liner stock prep systems. A 4th phase rebuild again added new dimensions to PM5. The machine was shortened (yes shortened!) on the installation of a shoe press and complete dryer rebuild. The drive speed was again uplifted, this time to a capacity of 750m/min (from the original design speed of 300 m/min in 1965) PM4 was not without improvements through the “boom” years of the 1980’s, with new Black Clawson Bristol formers and fan pumps installed in stages, a new Calender Stack new Reel Up, Refiner upgrade, Broke and Rejects system upgrade, 4th Stock system and a new Jagenberg winder and reel handling system in 1988. Product development and quality improvements were made possible through these strategic capital investments, and exports became a much larger part of the product portfolio. A visit by HRH Duke of Kent in his capacity as vice-chairman of the British Overseas Trade board was further emphasised with the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement first in 1989 and again in 1992. Also in 1989 the mill was the first UK board mill and first Scottish mill to achieve BS 5750 Part II (later changed to ISO 9001) During the period through the late 1970’s to early 1990’s rapid change was taking place in all business aspects. Management changes saw John Goodall heading up and pioneering the rapid development programme for the mill as mill Manager while a new General Manager was appointed in George Kellie. George moved on after several years and John Goodall took over as Director and General Manager and later, Paperboard Managing Director. At mill level Chris Blackford was appointed as Managing Director and a new Mill Manager, James Herbert was appointed late in 1980’s. Chris’ term as MD was short lived and John Kirby as Operations Director succeeded him. James’s successor after a few years was Bill Gordon who was promoted from Manufacturing Manager. Anyone who knew Bill also knew his inimitable style and character, and it is very sad that Bill died in service early in 1996 just at the time of the 200-year celebrations. In recognition of the tremendous achievements made by both PM4 and PM5, and by those who worked and managed them, at the 200-year celebrations in May 1996, commemorative plaques were presented by Chris Bushell, at PM5, naming it The Gordon Highlander, and by Harold Pearson to Donald Innes, at PM4, naming it Colonel Davidson. Bill Gordon’s successor as Mill Manager was Murdo Macdonald, for a short spell, ahead of his move to Radcliffe Mill. On a subsequent Paperboard restructure, the director status at mill level was removed, and John Kirby became Mill Manager, reporting to Fred Lunn at Group level. John was succeeded by Murray Shearer who had returned after some years at the Purfleet Mill. Doug McConnachie succeeded him at Purfleet. David Anderson later succeeded Fred at Group level. Murray became Mill Manager in 1998 and is the last ever Mill Manager of the Mugiemoss Mill operations. The Davidson Limited group continued to grow through the 1980’s and so it was that in 1989 a decision was made to move the Group Head Office to Northwich in Cheshire. Since the centre of gravity was moving away from the previous Davidson family the group name was again changed to BPB Paper & Packaging Ltd in 1989 and the mill became known as BPB Davidson to reflect its membership of BPB. This was later changed to BPB Paperboard in 1996, with the mill at Mugiemoss changed to the current name of BPB Paperboard, Davidson Mill. During the 1990’s and into the new millennium the mill capital investment was very much curtailed, although strategic projects were carried out at PM5 in the form of the final phase of the wet end rebuild in 1995 with a new underliner former which was to become the main liner station and later the backs former when reverse Ivory became the norm. A new headbox was added to the DuoK former and the original headbox transferred No.1 former to give more capacity. Three years later a new winder was installed along with a purpose built reel handling system and reel store. At PM4 developments included a steam system rebuild, further enhancements of the Foxboro I.A. system and a vacuum system replacement to compliment changes to the making fabric run. At Stock Prep T.D. system enhancements were installed with the Krima plant, while the Effluent Treatment plant received improvements with a new DAF and in year 2000 a new Anaerobic Reactor. In the End…. Capital developments since the mid 1990’s were restricted primarily to essential maintenance and legislative requirements. Changes in business strategy led to shrinkage of the BPB Paperboard Group with DeEendracht Mill being sold and Radcliffe Mill later closed, along with disposal or closure of many of the converting companies. A new Technical Division headed up by Doug McConnachie was created in 2001 with hopes of a capital revival, but alas this was not to be. Sadly in December 2003, the Purfleet mill was closed, followed by sale of Abertay Paper Sacks to the Mondi Group and sale of BPB Recycling to Severnside Recycling. The announcement in March 2005 of possible closure of Mugiemoss Mill is now a reality and PM5 closed on 27th June, followed by PM4 on 29th June 2005. What started out as the first manufacturing company within what was to become BPB Paperboard Ltd is now sadly closed, as the last manufacturing company in that Group. In the end we were somewhat the victims of our own success. Over the last 20 to 30 years we persevered with two paperboard machines, developed almost to the ultimate within their design capabilities. There was nowhere else to go except to a new much wider machine, but the capital required for that was never going to be - not from BPB and not at Mugiemoss. Everyone has mixed emotions at the final outcome for this fine establishment, but it was ultimately the width of our machines that beat us, not the technology, and certainly not the will to succeed. The mill that has been the life-blood for generations of families in the Bucksburn and Aberdeen areas has now closed its doors, bringing to an end a remarkable story of courage growth, progress, recognition, pride, and finally sorrow. There are many people who have spent most of their working life with just one company; Mugiemoss Mill. The last person to complete 50 years service was Derek Robertson, PM4 machineman, in 2004, a tremendous achievement. The last person to officially retire from the mill at 65 years was Brian Porter, Electrician, in June 2005 with 37 years service, and the longest serving person in the mill at closure date on 30th June was Ron Grant, Project Engineer, with 43 years 7 months service. The list of long service personnel is long, testament to the lure and variety of the place and the “family feel” the mill has held for generations.
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