THE PAPER MILL

About us

NOVILLARS: 135 YEARS OF PAPER MAKING AND ALWAYS UP TO DATE

The GEMDOUBS Paper Mill is located in the municipality of Novillars, 10km to the Northeast of the city of Besançon (France) and has a total surface area of 13.6 hectares. It employs almost 70 people. GEMDOUBS' industrial process consists of producing recycled paper from used paper and card. GEMDOUBS produces around 85,000 tons of C.B.P (corrugated base paper) per year, mainly for manufacturers of corrugated boxes for mass distribution, industrial packaging or e-commerce.

Our papers

GEMDOUBS makes C.B.P. (Corrugated Base Paper) whose characteristics can vary depending on customer requirements. Its main application is manufacture by our box plant customers of corrugated cardboard, which can be shaped and printed to produce all kinds of packaging: mass distribution and agri-food, industrial, e-commerce...
Different papers can therefore be produced: Testliner, Cannelure...

Sizes and grammages available:

Width: any within the limit of our 3.35 m machine.
Grammage: from 115 g/m² to 200 g/m².

Our certifications

Our management system is certified:

ISO 9001 : 2015 - Quality management systems,
ISO 14001 : 2015 -Environmental management systems,
ISO 50001 : 2011 - Energy management systems.

Our products are ISEGA certified (products for the use in the food sector).

HISTORY

Key dates

1883 :

Founding of Papeteries J.B. WEIBEL. At the time paper was produced from wood. The site would be the first in France to manufacture paper by extracting the cellulose by the procedure using calcium bisulphite. Several paper machines and hundreds of employees would work at Novillars. In collaboration with Count Hilaire of Chardonnet, inventor of pulp-based artificial silk (also called viscose or rayon), development of the site associated with the Prés de Caux, the Chardonnet silk company founded in 1889, which later became La Rohdiaceta, today a brownfield site that Besançon city council is planning to redevelop.

1952 :

Takeover by CENPA, which in 1960 became "la Rochette CENPA". The site became the specialist in sulfphurised paper for the packaging of greasy foodstuffs (butter, ham, etc.). The advent of plastic packaging led to the decline of this activity during the 1980s. In 1982 the company became S.I.P.N. (Société Industrielle et Papetière de Novillars), then the site was taken over by NOVIPAP in 1987.

1989 :

Founding of the Papeterie du Doubs paper mill by the Cartonneries Associées (Associated Box Makers) (OTOR Group). The site became one of this consolidated group's paper mills. Transformation of the existing machine to produce C.B.P. (Corrugated Base Paper), paper recycled from packaging paper and cardboard (circular economy).

2004 :

Prize Winner: 2 regional prizes awarded by the Mouvement Français de la Qualité.

2005 :

The company became a Bird Sanctuary approved by the L.P.O. (Society for the Protection of Birds).

2012 :

Soenen retires: bankruptcy petition and judicial liquidation..

2013 :

Founding of the company GEMDOUBS S.A.S. by Messrs Fady and Nabil Gemayel, takeover of the site; restarting of industrial operation.

2014 :

ISEGA Food-Grade Certification.

2015 :

Production of 80,000 tons of recycled paper.
Prix Trophée des Entreprises de Franche-Comté 2015 (prize winner),"Economic hopes" category.

ISO 9001 : 2015 - Quality management systems
ISO 14001 : 2015 -Environmental management systems

2017 :

In September 2017, Gemdoubs obtained a new ISO 50001 : 2011 - Energy Management Systems certification.

This certification means that Gemdoubs aims to reduce energy consumption by implementing an energy management system (EMS).

Early 2019 :

Official launch of the CBN biomass cogeneration plant, which supplies steam to the paper mill.