Sofidel has confirmed a major expansion project in the United States, with a total investment of $775 million to further strengthen its production capacity in the North American tissue market.
The investment will be carried out at the company’s integrated production site in Inola, Oklahoma, where a new industrial building will be constructed to house a 75,000 tonnes-per-year Through-Air-Drying (TAD) tissue machine supplied by Valmet. The project also includes the installation of converting lines with corresponding capacity for the production of finished tissue products.
Alongside the new paper machine, the expansion plan includes the enlargement of the pulp and parent reel storage areas and the construction of a fully automated finished-goods warehouse based on E80 technology, with a capacity of 100,000 pallet positions. The new facilities will cover a total area of approximately 1,000,000 square feet (around 90,000 square metres). The start-up of the new TAD machine is scheduled for the second quarter of 2028.
Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO of Sofidel Group, explained that the investment represents a strategic step in strengthening the company’s position in the United States: “The new TAD machine we will install at our Inola, Oklahoma facility will further strengthen our production footprint and expand the availability of premium tissue products in the United States, enhancing our ability to meet growing customer demand, particularly in the South.”
The new facility will also feature advanced internal logistics systems. Laser Guided Vehicles (LGVs) will automatically transport parent reels from the paper machine to the warehouse, while an automated loading system will connect directly with the finished-goods warehouse.
The adoption of TAD technology reflects the growing demand in North America for premium tissue products, a segment that continues to expand, including in the private label market.
This investment follows several other strategic initiatives carried out by Sofidel in the United States in recent years. Among them are the acquisition of the tissue business of Clearwater Paper Corporation – which included facilities in North Carolina, Idaho, Nevada and Illinois – as well as the acquisition of four plants from Royal Paper in Arizona and South Carolina and the expansion of the Duluth, Minnesota site.
A further recent project was completed in Circleville, Ohio, where a 70,000-tonne-per-year Valmet DCT 200 tissue machine started up in September 2025.
Today Sofidel operates 14 production sites across 11 U.S. states, including Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Illinois, Mississippi, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina and North Carolina, in addition to its North American headquarters in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
Over the past decade, the company has grown rapidly in the region and has become the fourth-largest tissue producer in North America, with the market now accounting for around 50% of Sofidel’s total revenues and with a strong position in the private label segment.
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