RUMFORD – The local paper mill is preparing for its planned shutdown of two paper machines and the pulp mill Monday, but has moved back a two-week complete shutdown originally set for early June.

NewPage Corp. spokesman Tony Lyons said Thursday afternoon that a variable market has pushed the scheduled millwide shutdown to mid-June for a period of about two weeks.

“We make paper when orders come in,” he said. “We’re trying to be as flexible as we can.”

Mill management isn’t releasing the number of people who will be affected by the partial and full shutdowns, he said, although many, if not most, of the mill’s 860 hourly and salaried employees will likely be affected for varying amounts of time during the next two months.

Many of the employees who work on the No. 10 and No. 15 machines, and the pulp mill, will be out starting Monday when the machines will go down through May 17. The No. 12 machine, as well as finishing and shipping, will continue running until May 10 when the entire mill is scheduled for a shutdown until May 17.

Lyons said the number of people out of work will vary from week-to-week.

Also, 22 former employees who were among the 100 hourly people who were permanently laid off in January, have been called back to perform a variety of jobs throughout the mill.

The layoffs and downtime is the result of a systemwide goal of reducing production by 150,000 tons during each of the first and second fiscal year quarters.

NewPage also operates mills in Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nova Scotia.