LANSING (MI) – WIELAND, a general contracting and construction management firm, has been awarded the contract for the new Graphic Packaging mill project in Kalamazoo, MI.
Graphic Packaging International (GPI) is a leading provider of packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. GPI announced on September 24th, 2019 that it would invest $600 million on the new mill, which will include a new coated recycled board (CRB) machine which is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 500,000 tons.
WIELAND, founded in 1958 and headquartered in Lansing, MI, is an ENR Top-400 contractor that is among the leaders nationally in providing construction services to the paper industry. WIELAND completed a plant conversion for GPI in West Monroe, LA in 2017, where it removed and replaced equipment during a brief plant shutdown. Based on the success of that project and based on WIELAND’s completion of three brand new paper mills in the United States in the last decade, GPI selected WIELAND to be its Construction Manager for the new project.
According to Ed Lorenz, a Principal and Project Executive for WIELAND who will oversee the project, WIELAND began mobilizing in August and actually broke ground in late September.
“The new GPI mill will total approximately 350,000 SF over four buildings, including the mill, the cardboard area, the boiler house, and the finished goods warehouse,” said Lorenz. “By September of 2020, we will be at full capacity with approximately 32 WIELAND employees on site. We anticipate project completion to be October of 2021.” The entire project cost, including construction and equipment, is estimated at $600M.
About WIELAND
WIELAND is a privately held construction management firm founded in 1958 and headquartered in Lansing, MI. WIELAND has five additional offices nationwide (FL, LA, NC, TX, CA). The company regularly competes in multiple building sectors, including industrial, manufacturing and warehousing. WIELAND was listed as #276 on the ENR’s Top-400 List in 2019. For more information visit www.wielandbuilds.com or contact Kevin Shaw at 517-749-1543.
About Graphic Packaging Holding Company
Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is committed to providing consumer packaging that makes a world of difference. The Company is a leading provider of paper-based packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. Additional information about Graphic Packaging, its business and its products is available on the Company’s web site at www.graphicpkg.com