Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business
We are a global leader in the production of cellulose specialties, a natural polymer used in the manufacturing of various specialty chemical products, including liquid crystal displays, filters, textiles and performance additives for pharmaceutical, food and other industrial applications. Building upon nearly 100 years of experience in cellulose chemistry, we provide some of the highest quality high-purity cellulose pulp products that make up the essential building blocks for our customers’ products while providing exceptional service and value. RYAM’s specialized assets also produce bioelectricity, biomaterials, including biofuels, lignin and tall oil soap, and commodity fluff, viscose and paper pulp.
Additionally, we produce a unique, lightweight multi-ply paperboard product and a bulky, high-yield pulp product. Our paperboard is used for production in the commercial printing, lottery ticket and high-end packaging sectors. Our high-yield pulp is used by paperboard producers as well as in traditional printing, writing and specialty paper manufacturing.
Our Sustainability Profile
Sustainability is at the core of our business model and guides every aspect of our strategy and operations.
Operations
We operate four production facilities strategically located in the U.S., Canada and France.
The manufacturing of all of our products begins with trees sourced from working forests. Working forests are instrumental to maintaining environmental health, including the crucial role they play in carbon sequestration. All of our production facilities adhere to the EPA’s Best Management Practices and hold certification in both the Forest Stewardship Council and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Chain of Custody standards. We believe this dual certification reinforces our dedication to responsible forestry practices throughout our manufacturing processes.
Our Fernandina Beach and Tartas facilities are ISCC PLUS and ISCC EU certified, respectively, underscoring our commitment to independently audited sustainability standards and processes within our supply chain.
Our fluff pulp, produced at our Jesup facility, carries the distinction of being certified as an “Inspected Raw Material” by Nordic Swan Ecolabeling. This label signifies adherence to environmental requirements at every stage of manufacturing.
We frequently monitor and pursue additional opportunities for sustainability in our manufacturing processes. We have achieved several key advancements in our processes with the aim of reducing chemical usage, improving energy efficiency and minimizing our CO 2 emissions and environmental footprint. Examples include the optimization of acid usage, transitioning to rail delivery for H 2 O 2 and refinements of product formulations. In addition, in our ongoing efforts to reduce chemical usage we have also introduced Maple 80, a new product manufactured without EDTA, a common chelating agent, which served to decrease our chemical reliance.
In 2021, we set an ambitious goal of achieving at least a 40 percent reduction in overall Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions, on both an absolute and intensity basis, by 2030, using 2020 as a baseline. We are on track to meet this objective, with external verification confirming total reductions of 21 percent and 14 percent in absolute and intensity emissions, respectively, through 2023. Our 2024 results are pending confirmation.
Energy
Our facilities are energy intensive; however, nearly 78 percent of the energy consumed by them is derived from renewable sources, primarily biomass. We do not harvest living trees directly for energy production, but rather use production process biomass residuals or waste to generate energy in our facilities. The remaining energy consumed is primarily sourced from natural gas.
Water
Water is utilized during various stages of our production cycle, including wood chip digestion, pulp washing and screening and fiber handling and transportation. Water is also necessary for steam and on-site power generation, air emissions control, process cooling and equipment cleaning. Each gallon of water consumed at our facilities is reused multiple times in our process. Over 90 percent of the total water withdrawn at our facilities is returned to natural water sources after undergoing rigorous treatment, in keeping with stringent government-issued permit limitations. The remaining amounts are either captured in the final product or evaporated during manufacturing.
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Waste
Our facilities are designed to minimize waste. We recycle our pulping chemicals, produce environmentally friendly co-products from tree material, and generate energy from biomass residuals. We also take special care to limit our generation of hazardous or dangerous wastes through source reduction, reuse and recycling. We seek to meet or exceed all waste management standards and expectations of each country in which we operate. Each facility has ongoing relationships with local recyclers, and we strive to reuse or recycle as much as possible. Certified waste handlers dispose of any hazardous waste.
Product Safety
We prioritize safety and regulatory compliance in our product development. Our high purity cellulose is derived from the treatment of wood fiber with aqueous solutions of pulping and bleaching chemicals. This process yields materials such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and other extractives. Pulp cellulose has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a Green Circle chemical with a low safety concern based on experimental and modeled data, and it is considered non-hazardous according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Hazard Communication Standard. We proactively ensure compliance with stringent international safety regulations, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for food contact materials, European Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals standards and the European Union's genetically modified organisms directive.
We maintain stringent safety measures to manage chemical usage responsibly throughout our manufacturing processes. Our ISO 9001-certified quality management system is used to analyze and improve our operations. We maintain a rigorous chemical approval process to ensure safety and regulatory compliance.
Strategic Growth Investments
We focus our strategic investments on projects that optimize and align our assets to meet the ever-growing demand for renewable products. Our portfolio is aligned with sustainability drivers, including the European Union Green Deal for the Renewable Energy Directive II. Our ongoing projects include:
• Production of 2G bioethanol fuel at our France facility, intended to help meet the demand for Europe’s fast-growing biofuels market and further improve the sustainability of our operating model. With production commencing in the first quarter of 2024, we are among the first in France to produce wood-based 2G bioethanol, a renewable fuel made from non-food-based biomass that is not competitive to the human food supply and that reduces GHG emissions by up to 90 percent compared to traditional fossil fuels.
• Production of 2G bioethanol fuel at our Fernandina facility, a multi-year project expected to deliver carbon benefits comparable to our France bioethanol facility, with potential applications in additional market segments, including as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel.
• Involvement in AGE, a start-up entity that aims to utilize renewable forestry waste and other biomass generally discarded as waste to generate green electricity for the state of Georgia from a new facility to be constructed adjacent to our Jesup plant. While still in the development phase, the project achieved a significant milestone when AGE was recently awarded a Purchase Power Agreement to sell electricity to Georgia Power Company, which allows AGE to continue evaluating the construction and financing requirements. The multi-year project offers significant potential long-term benefits to RYAM.
• Development of a prebiotic for poultry and swine at our Jesup facility, which is expected to support sustainable poultry and swine farming and provide a healthy alternative nutrient to enhance gut health. We have submitted notice of our Generally Recognized as Safe self-certification for our prebiotics product to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Our strategic investment approach unlocks the capabilities of our facilities and capitalizes on the sustainably harvested trees that we use as our primary feedstock.
Our Business
Before June 27, 2014, we consisted of Rayonier Inc.’s wholly-owned performance fibers business, which was primarily engaged in producing cellulose specialties. On that date, we separated from Rayonier Inc. and started our business as an independent, publicly traded company. In November 2017, we acquired Tembec Inc., a manufacturer of cellulose specialties, lumber, paperboard, newsprint and high-yield pulp.
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In August 2021, we sold the lumber and newsprint assets acquired in the Tembec acquisition. As a result of this sale, the operating results of the lumber and newsprint operations are presented as discontinued operations in our Financial Statements. See Note 4—Discontinued Operations to our Financial Statements for further information.
For the years presented in this 2024 Form 10-K, we operated the following operating segments:
• High Purity Cellulose
• Paperboard
• High-Yield Pulp
See Note 21—Segment and Geographical Information to our Financial Statements for further information on this operating segment structure in place as of December 31, 2024.
Beginning in January 2025, we reorganized our High Purity Cellulose operating segment as a result of changes in our internal operating model, significant developments in our Biomaterials strategy (see Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies and Recent Accounting Developments— Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest and Note 10—Debt and Finance Leases to our Financial Statements for information regarding our newly-formed subsidiary, BioNova, and important financing milestones reached) and a successful enterprise reporting system launch that significantly enhances our financial reporting capabilities. Specifically, we determined, in light of these new developments and capabilities, that the performance and outlook of the High Purity Cellulose business will be better managed as three separate businesses: Cellulose Specialties, Cellulose Commodities and a new Biomaterials business. No changes were made to the composition of the Paperboard and High-Yield Pulp operating segments.
In July 2024, we indefinitely suspended operations at our Temiscaming High Purity Cellulose plant. This plan is expected to mitigate high capital needs and operating losses related to exposure to commodity viscose products and improve our consolidated free cash flow. Our Temiscaming paperboard and high-yield pulp plants that support our Paperboard and High-Yield Pulp operating segments will continue to operate at full capacity while we continue to explore a potential sale of the Paperboard and High-Yield Pulp assets. We remain committed to pursuing a sale of these assets at a fair price. See Note 3—Indefinite Suspension of Operations to our Financial Statements for further information.
High Purity Cellulose
Our High Purity Cellulose operating segment, particularly cellulose specialties products, is the primary driver of our profitability. Cellulose specialties are natural polymers that are used as raw materials to manufacture a broad range of consumer-oriented products such as liquid crystal displays, impact-resistant plastics, thickeners for food products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, cigarette filters, high-tenacity rayon tire cords and industrial hoses, food casings, paints and lacquers. We manufacture products tailored to our customers’ precise and demanding chemical and physical specifications, achieving industry-leading purity and product functionality. Our ability to consistently manufacture high-quality cellulose specialties products results from our proprietary production processes, intellectual property and nearly 100 years of technical expertise and knowledge of cellulosic chemistry. We believe our end-use market diversity reduces our exposure to a potential global recession.
In addition to cellulose specialties, a significant portion of our production capacity is dedicated to manufacturing high-purity commodity products for absorbent materials and viscose applications. Absorbent materials, typically referred to as fluff, are used as an absorbent medium in products such as disposable baby diapers, feminine hygiene products, incontinence pads, convalescent bed pads, industrial towels and wipes and non-woven fabrics. Commodity viscose is a raw material required for the manufacture of viscose staple fibers which are used in woven applications, such as rayon textiles for clothing and other fabrics, and in non-woven applications, such as baby wipes, cosmetic and personal wipes, industrial wipes and mattress ticking. Cellulose specialties typically contain over 95 percent cellulose, while commodity products usually contain less than 95 percent cellulose.
Our specialized assets, capable of creating the world’s leading high purity cellulose products, also produce bioelectricity and biomaterials, including biofuels, lignin and tall oil soap. Our 2G bioethanol facility in France, operational in the first quarter of 2024, for example, captures residual sugars from our existing pulp process, which we then use in the production of wood-based 2G bioethanol fuel.
Our three operating production facilities have a combined annual production capacity of 895,000 MTs of cellulose specialties and commodity products, excluding the 150,000 MTs capacity of the Temiscaming plant whose operations were indefinitely suspended in July 2024. Of our total annual capacity, we dedicate 270,000 MTs of annual production to commodity products, primarily fluff.
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Key input costs — wood, chemicals and energy — represent approximately 50 percent of our per MT cost of sales. Transportation, depreciation, labor, maintenance and other manufacturing fixed costs represent our remaining cost of sales.
Products
Cellulose Specialties
Cellulose specialties are a natural polymer primarily derived from either wood or cotton and are used as a principal raw material to manufacture a broad range of products. Cellulose specialties generally command a price premium and earn higher margins relative to other commodity wood pulp products. Cellulose specialties are a dissolving wood pulp product which target a combination of high purity and high viscosity. Unlike other wood pulps used for their physical properties, cellulose specialties are sought after for the unique chemical properties and reactivity they impart to downstream products.
Our cellulose specialties, derived from wood, require high levels of purity, consistency and process knowledge. Our products play a significant role in our customers’ manufacturing processes, which require cellulose specialties of high purity and uniformity for efficient production. As such, our customers demand products of the highest quality. To meet this demand, our products are custom-engineered and manufactured to each customer’s unique specifications and undergo a stringent qualification process, resulting in quality and consistency that allow our customers to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively.
One of our key competitive advantages is our unique ability to leverage our global manufacturing asset base to provide our customers greater supply chain security for cellulose specialties fibers. With four facilities and five manufacturing lines capable of producing cellulose specialties, we are the only cellulose specialties producer in the world with the flexibility to use both hardwood and softwood fibers, kraft and sulfite cooking processes and various proprietary chemical treatments to provide customized product functionality. Additionally, we possess significant knowledge of wood fiber properties and their modification under a sequence of chemical processes, which we have accumulated and developed over nearly 100 years of practical application to satisfy various customer needs. This process knowledge, combined with our manufacturing scale and flexibility and knowledge of customer applications and specifications, makes us the industry’s most adaptable modifier of cellulose fibers.
Commodity Products
We can shift our High Purity Cellulose operating segment manufacturing assets from cellulose specialties production to commodity fluff and viscose production. Our operating lines fluctuate the production of cellulose specialties and commodity products based on market conditions and to generate the most attractive margins.
Commodity fluff is typically used in consumer products such as baby diapers. These fibers provide a medium for fluid acquisition, distribution and retention in the products in which they are incorporated.
Commodity viscose is primarily sold to producers of viscose staple fibers, which in turn are used to manufacture rayon fibers, which are widely used in the clothing and textile industries. Shifts in fashion styles and textile fiber blending have increased demand for viscose staple fibers. Additionally, variability in cotton linter supply and growing environmental concerns about cotton production have resulted in viscose staple producers shifting volume away from cotton linter pulp to wood-based dissolving pulp, absent other pricing factors.
Biomaterials
We are uniquely positioned to meet the rapidly growing demand for renewable materials and sustainable products. Fully unlocking the capabilities of our plants and the sustainably harvested trees that we use as our primary feedstock is a core mission. Generally, a tree’s mass is comprised of 50 percent water and 50 percent “dry solids.” Dry solids are comprised of roughly 40 percent cellulose and 60 percent other chemical compounds, including hemicellulose, lignin, sugars and other extractives. These chemical compounds can be utilized to produce sustainable bioelectricity and biomaterials, including lignosulfonates, biofuels, prebiotics, tall oil soap and turpentine.
We currently generate and sell lignosulfonates and tall oil soap using these compounds. Lignosulfonates are used to produce various products, including construction materials, dispersants, plant nutrients, leather tanning and fungicides, and tall oil soap, which is used as feedstock for producing crude tall oil. We also produce bio-generated electricity utilizing renewable biomass. Our France bioethanol facility produces 2G bioethanol, a non-food-based ethanol utilized as an environmentally friendly fuel blend supporting transport decarbonization. Commercial sales of this 2G bioethanol began in April 2024 under a long-term offtake agreement with a large international petrochemicals company. We are currently moving forward with plans for a similar bioethanol facility at our Fernandina facility.
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Competition
Cellulose Specialties
Significant intellectual property, capital investment and technical expertise are needed to design and manufacture customized cellulose specialties fibers to exacting customer specifications. The product must be formulated to achieve the desired characteristics, including parameters for purity, viscosity, brightness, reactivity and other physical properties. Product qualification time can be lengthy, extending from six to 24 months. Customer relationships are typically long-term and are based on an understanding of the customer’s production processes and on our technical expertise, which we utilize to help solve our customers’ production challenges and support new product development. Establishing a production line and obtaining the necessary production technologies requires substantial capital and ongoing maintenance expenditures.
Product performance and customization, technical service and price are principal methods of competition in cellulose specialties. Product performance is primarily determined by the chemical attributes of the pulp, including purity, viscosity and uniformity of the cellulose specialties. Our processes, which are a key element of our intellectual property, are capable of generating cellulose specialties purity levels in excess of 98 percent, as well as the highest levels of viscosity derived from wood pulp. Typically, product pricing is set annually in the fourth quarter for the following year based on discussions with customers and the terms of contractual arrangements.
We compete with both domestic and foreign producers in cellulose specialties. Our major competitors include Bracell and Borregaard. Our multiple manufacturing lines, processes and intellectual property allow us to compete in more segments of the cellulose specialties market than any of our competitors.
Commodity Products
The principal method of competition in commodity products is price, as purity and uniformity are less critical differentiators. Pricing for commodity products is typically referenced to published indices or based on publicly available spot market prices. We compete with both domestic and foreign producers of commodity products.
Many competitors derive commodity viscose from either wood or cotton. However, in recent years, commodity viscose from wood has supplanted cotton as the preferred raw material input for viscose staple fiber production. Although cellulose specialties can generally be sold to meet commodity viscose demand, the reverse is not typically true. Our major competitors for commodity viscose include Bracell, Sappi, Lenzing, Aditya Birla Group and Sun Paper.
Our major competitors in commodity fluff include International Paper, GP Cellulose, Domtar, Klabin and Stora Enso.
Biomaterials
Each biomaterial product has its own unique market drivers. For example, the primary global market driver for bioethanol is the regulatory agenda towards production of bioethanol with an active participation of GHG emission reduction and the positive impact on climate change. Key growth drivers for lignosulfonates include increasing usage of lignosulfonates in all the market segments where fossil petrochemicals can be replaced by sustainable bioproducts. Pricing for biomaterials that we currently produce is based on the market dynamics of supply and demand.
Similarly, each biomaterial product has its own competitive considerations, with potential barriers to entry including capital investment, technical expertise and the lack of sustainable feedstock needed to produce the given product. Our major biomaterials competitors in the lignosulfonates market include Borregaard and Domsjö Aditya Birla and in the bioethanol market include Borregaard and AustroCel Hallein.
Paperboard
We manufacture paperboard in the Temiscaming plant in Quebec, Canada. Our production facility has an annual production capacity of 180,000 MTs of paperboard.
Key input costs — wood, chemicals and energy — represent approximately 75 percent of our per MT cost of sales. Transportation, depreciation, labor, maintenance and other manufacturing fixed costs represent our remaining cost of sales.
Products
Products in the Paperboard business include packaging, printing documents, brochures, promotional materials, paperback book and catalog covers, file folders, tags and lottery tickets. We are the only multi-ply paperboard producer in North America, with our competition producing single ply solid bleached sulfite paperboard.
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Competition
The principal method of competition in our Paperboard business is price and product performance. Pricing is typically based on published indices and marketed through our internal sales team and is impacted by the balance between supply and demand, as affected by global economic conditions, changes in consumption and capacity, the level of customer and producer inventories and fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Product performance is determined based on the physical attributes of the products in a customer’s manufacturing processes. To a lesser extent, quality and service are also competitive determinants.
Our major paperboard competitors include Smurfit Westrock, Graphic Packaging, Clearwater Paper, Sappi, Metsa Group, Stora Enso, CMPC and Billerud.
High-Yield Pulp
We manufacture and market high-yield pulp produced in our Temiscaming plant in Quebec, Canada. Our Temiscaming plant has an annual production capacity of 290,000 MTs of high-yield pulp, approximately 60,000 MTs of which are used internally to produce paperboard.
Key input costs — wood, chemicals and energy — represent approximately 40 percent of our per MT cost of sales. Transportation, depreciation, labor, maintenance and other manufacturing fixed costs represent our remaining cost of sales.
Products
We produce our high-yield pulp primarily from hardwood aspen, maple and birch species. This unique fiber supply produces a highly sought-after bulky high-yield pulp product. With nearly double the yield of traditional market pulps, our high-yield pulp requires fewer trees to make the same amount of paper and its superior bulk allows paper and paperboard manufacturers to use less fiber for the same surface area. Typical applications of our high-yield pulp include paperboard, packaging, coated and uncoated printing and writing paper, specialty papers and various other paper products.
Competition
The principal method of competition in the High-Yield Pulp operating segment is price. However, better quality (i.e., higher bulk) can sometimes command a premium price. Pricing for high-yield pulp is typically referenced to published indices marketed through our internal sales team and is impacted by the balance between supply and demand, as affected by global economic conditions, changes in consumption and capacity, the level of customer and producer inventories and fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
Our major high-yield pulp competitors include Sappi, Millar Western, West Fraser, Domtar, SCA, Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd and Estonia Cell.
Raw Materials and Input Costs
All of our manufacturing operations require significant amounts of wood fiber, in the form of logs or wood chips, as a raw material and energy to produce our products. Additionally, our High Purity Cellulose and High-Yield Pulp operating segments’ manufacturing processes require significant amounts of chemicals. These raw materials and input costs are subject to significant changes in price as a result of weather conditions, supply and demand. To control cost, we continually pursue reductions in usage and cost of key supplies, services and raw materials.
Wood
We procure wood chips for our high purity cellulose and high-yield pulp plants through the purchase of chips from lumber producers or the production of chips from roundwood at our own wood chipping facilities. The price for wood is impacted by various factors, including supply and demand, weather events, transportation costs for delivery and overall economic conditions.
Chemicals
Chemicals, which include caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), sulfuric acid, ammonia, sodium chlorate and various specialty chemicals, are purchased under negotiated supply agreements with third parties. The price for these chemicals is impacted by various factors, including supply and demand, environmental regulation, energy prices and overall economic conditions.
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Energy
Our energy is primarily produced through the burning of lignin and other residual biomass in recovery and power boilers located at our plants. In addition, our manufacturing facilities utilize significant amounts of fuel oil, natural gas and purchased electricity to supplement their energy requirements. Our energy costs are also impacted by emission allowances purchased or sold at market prices during any given period. In addition, energy prices impact our transportation costs for delivery of raw materials to our manufacturing facilities and delivery of our finished products to customers.
Intellectual Property
Substantially all of our intellectual property relates to our High Purity Cellulose operating segment. We own patents, trademarks and trade secrets, and have developed significant expertise, particularly in the production of high purity cellulose, which we deem vital to our operations, and also in the production of paperboard. We intend to protect our intellectual property, including, when appropriate, through the filing of patent applications for inventions that we deem important to our business and operations. Our U.S. patents generally have a duration of 20 years from the date of filing. We also require key employees to enter into non-compete agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements as appropriate.
Seasonality
Our operating results may be materially affected by seasonal changes and the related impact on energy prices.
Customers
No single customer accounted for 10 percent or more of total sales during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2022. One customer in the High Purity Cellulose operating segment represented 10 percent of total sales for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Research and Development
Our R&D capabilities and activities are primarily focused on our High Purity Cellulose operating segment. The quality and consistency of our cellulose specialties, together with our R&D capabilities, are important factors in achieving an optimal value for our cellulose specialties products and create a material competitive advantage. Our R&D efforts are directed at further developing products and technologies, improving the quality of cellulose fiber grades, improving manufacturing efficiency and environmental controls and reducing fossil fuel consumption. We also focus our R&D activities on the development and marketing of new products and applications. During the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, our R&D spend totaled $5 million, $6 million and $7 million, respectively.
Environmental Matters
Our manufacturing operations are subject to stringent federal, state, provincial and local environmental laws and regulations concerning air emissions, wastewater discharges, waste handling and disposal and assessment and remediation of environmental contamination, which impact our current ongoing operations and approximately 20 former operating facilities and third party-owned sites classified as disposed operations. These laws and regulations include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the RCRA, the CERCLA and similar state laws and regulations impacting U.S. facilities, as well as requirements relating to ancillary matters such as financial assurance of our legal obligations for facility closure and post-closure care. Similar laws and legal requirements also impact current and former operating sites in Canada and France, respectively. In addition to ongoing compliance with laws and regulations, our facilities operate in accordance with various permits, which are issued by state and federal environmental agencies. Many of these permits impose operating conditions which require significant expenditures to ensure compliance. Upon renewal and renegotiation of these permits, the issuing agencies often seek to impose new or additional conditions in response to new environmental laws and regulations or more stringent interpretations of existing laws and regulations. In addition, under many federal environmental laws, private citizens and organizations, such as environmental advocacy groups, have the right to legally challenge permitting and other decisions made by regulatory agencies.
Our operations are subject to constantly changing environmental requirements, and interpretations of existing requirements, which are often impacted by new policy initiatives, new and amended legislation and regulation, negotiations involving state and federal governmental agencies and various other stakeholders, as well as, at times, litigation. Our future spending requirements in the area of environmental compliance could change significantly based on the passage of new environmental laws and regulations. Management closely monitors our environmental responsibilities and believes we are in material compliance with current requirements.
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See Item 1A—Risk Factors for a discussion of the potential impact of environmental risks on our business, as well as Note 11—Environmental Liabilities and Note 22—Commitments and Contingencies to our Financial Statements for further discussion of our estimated environmental liabilities and any environmental-related litigation.
Human Capital
We have production facilities in the U.S., Canada and France and sales offices in the U.S., Canada, France, United Kingdom, Japan and China. Of our approximately 2,350 employees, 69 percent belong to labor unions, as all of our manufacturing sites are represented by various local and national unions. We believe our relationships with the union employee representatives are strong.
Safety
The safety of our employees is our highest priority. We are committed to our vision of every employee returning home every day injury-free and we continue to make progress each year. While no injury is acceptable, our company-wide injury rate decreased 30 percent in 2024 and 49 percent since 2020. All work-related incidents are investigated and recorded in our incident management system. We conduct internal corporate safety audits throughout the year and external audit reviews every three years to verify compliance and the use of best practices. Our Safety Values Exchange process, one of our most important safety programs, requires that leaders talk to their employees about safety to encourage and reinforce desired safe behaviors.
We drive towards our vision of injury-free operations by focusing on five leading safety metrics: housekeeping, leadership engagement, corrective action closure, gas emissions and life safety programs. We continuously track and measure our progress against these metrics at the individual plant level, with each plant accountable for its respective metrics and reporting to the RYAM Leadership Team, headed by our CEO. Additionally, our performance against these metrics is a factor in our executive compensation, underlining our belief that ownership of improvements in safety performance starts at the top of our organization.
Employee Engagement
Attracting, retaining and developing employees is vital to our success. We partner with colleges and universities to develop a robust pipeline of prospective employees and provide scholarships and internships to students whose academic pursuits align with career opportunities in chemical, electrical, mechanical and process control engineering. We strive to ensure that all of our employees have the mentorship, training and support they need to develop lasting and rewarding careers, as we believe that engaged employees are happier, safer and more productive. Some of our key programs include:
• Our ECD five-year rotational program provides recent graduates and new hires with structured onboarding, on-the-job training and leadership experiences to support the ongoing development of the technical and leadership skills required to support and sustain our operations. The ECD program covers engineering, supply chain, accounting, information technology and human resources.
• Our Achievement in Motion mentoring program pairs new employees with peer mentors during their first three months to provide guidance throughout the orientation and onboarding process and help them integrate into the organization.
• Our Educational Assistance Program provides partial reimbursement for the successful completion of job-related degree programs and courses taken on personal time.
• Comprehensive technical training programs across all of our plants and roundtable workshops throughout the year for employees to share technical knowledge and insights.
In addition, we provide our employees with training and education opportunities such as leadership development, financial services and retirement planning workshops.
We are committed to fostering an environment where every employee feels a strong sense of belonging and has the opportunity to maximize their potential. Our success is driven by a workplace culture that values individual contributions, encourages innovation and rewards performance based on merit. We prioritize an inclusive environment where all employees—regardless of race, gender, background or any other characteristic—are empowered to contribute, grow and succeed.
Our approach is guided by the principle that diverse perspectives, skills and experiences drive better decision-making and stronger business outcomes. We strive to ensure that every employee has access to meaningful career development, training and leadership opportunities based on their talents, performance and dedication. Through open communication, mentorship and continuous learning, we reinforce a culture where all individuals can thrive and reach their full potential.
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Commitment to Human Rights
To reinforce and strengthen our commitment to socially responsible business practices, we have a Corporate Human Rights Policy that specifically addresses the following fundamental human rights principles:
• Safe and healthy workplaces
• Environmentally responsible operations
• No forced or child labor
• Anti-corruption and bribery compliance
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining if legally elected
• Fair compensation and working hours
• Harassment and discrimination-free workplace
• Community and stakeholder engagement
Our Corporate Human Rights Policy is overseen by the Sustainability Committee of the Board of Directors. We align our policies with various international human rights declarations and principles, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. These principles are reflected in our Code of Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct, Safety Policy, Environmental Policy and other corporate practices. Through comprehensive training, stringent compliance and a robust ethical framework, we seek to ensure that human rights are respected and upheld across all aspects of our operations.
Code of Conduct
Within the framework of our core values of Integrity, Accountability, Quality and People, the Rayonier Advanced Materials Standard of Ethics and Code of Corporate Conduct guide the lawful and ethical performance of our duties. Adherence to the Code is intended to ensure that we fulfill our obligation to observe the law, both in letter and spirit, in all countries where we do business, and to deal fairly with our stockholders, employees, customers, suppliers, regulators and communities. We publish and communicate these expectations and values for all new hires and employees several times each year, including through various trainings.
Availability of Reports and Other Information
Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 14 of the Exchange Act are made available to the public free of charge in the Investor Relations section of our website www.ryam.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish them to, the SEC.
All reports we file with or furnish to the SEC are also available free of charge on the SEC’s website http://www.sec.gov . Our corporate governance guidelines, including the Standard of Ethics and Code of Corporate Conduct, and charters of all standing committees of our Board of Directors are also available on our website. Our website and the information posted thereon are not incorporated into this 2024 Form 10-K or any current or other periodic report that we file with or furnish to the SEC.