By Fox23.com News Staff
INOLA, Okla. — Sofidel has finalized the details of a $775 million expansion plan for its facility in Inola.
Sofidel is one of the world’s largest leading paper manufactures, producing tissue for hygienic and household use. The company is known in Italy for its Regina brand.
The plans to strengthen the company’s production capacity in the United States was announced last October.
The plan at the integrated facility in Inola includes the construction of a new building to house the previously announced 75,000 tonnes per year Valmet Through-Air-Drying (TAD) tissue machine, along with the installation of converting lines with matching capacity for the production of finished goods.
The project also include the expansion of the pulp and parent reel warehouse, and the construction of a fully automated finished goods warehouse, developed using E80 technology, with 100,000 pallet positions.
The new buildings will cover a total area of around 1 million square feet. Sofidel said the total investment amounts to $775 million, and the machine start up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2028.
“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,” said Luigi Lazzareschi, Sofidel Group CEO. “Once again in Inola, thanks to the collaboration of our stakeholders, we have found the right conditions to invest and continue to grow. This is a significant investment, an important way to ‘open’ the year of our 60th anniversary with a determined industrial outlook toward the future.”
The new facility will also feature state of the art internal logistic.
An automatic system using Laser Guided Vehicles (LGVs), will transport parent reels from the paper machine, to the warehouse, and an automated loading system will be connected directly to the finished goods automated warehouse.
Sofidel said the choice of TAD technology directly addresses the growing demand in a dynamic North American market that is increasingly oriented, also in the Private Label segment, toward premium products.
This operation adds to Sofidel’s recent investments in the United States, including the acquisition of the tissue division of Clearwater Paper Corporation (four facilities in North Carolina, Idaho, Nevada and Illinois), the acquisition of four Royal Paper facilities in Arizona and South Carolina and the expansion of the Duluth, Minnesota facility.
It also mirrors a recent project in Circleville, Ohio, where a new building was constructed to house a 70,000 tonnes per year Valmet DCT 200 tissue machine, which started up in September 2025.
Today, Sofidel Group operates 14 production sites across 11 states including Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Illinois, Mississippi, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina and North Carolina. The company also maintains a corporate office in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
In just over 10 years, Sofidel Group has become the fourth largest tissue producer in the North American market, which today accounts for 50 percent of Sofidel’s total revenue, and where it holds a leadership position in the Private Label segment.
You can learn more about Sofidel by clicking here.
