MeadWestvaco Corp., Stamford, Conn., plans to indefinitely idle the No. 1 paper machine at the company’s Evadale, Texas, paperboard mill. The shutdown will take effect during the first quarter of 2006. This action is a result of substantial cost increases, and the company said it will eliminate  excess capacity while improving efficiency across the bleached board operations. The company anticipates that 50 to 75 positions will be affected and is working on plans to reassign the employees to other parts of the mill.

Ecolab, St. Paul, celebrated the grand opening of its 200,000- square-foot Global Research and Development Center on the new Ecolab Allan L. Schuman Campus in Eagan, Minn. Joining Ecolab at the grand opening event were Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, local executives from Minnesota companies, and community and civic leaders. Ecolab completed the move to the new campus in August 2005 to accommodate its growing research and development operations.

Linde Lift Truck Corp., Summerville, S.C., is in the process of introducing a new corporate identity program that will include a new name, a new look, and a new Web site at lmh-na.com. The corporate name has been changed to Linde Material Handling-North America to reinforce the new Linde Material Handling name being promoted worldwide by the parent organization. It also better reflects the company’s role as a complete supplier of a full range of material-handling equipment and a variety of services such as consultancy, training and after-sales support.

LXE Inc., Atlanta, has received the Mobile Star Award from MobileVillage for best customer service in the mobile hardware category. This is the fourth year in a row that LXE has won the award.

ID Technology Corp., a division of Pro Mach, in Fort Worth, Texas, has opened a northwest regional office in the Sacramento, Calif., area. ID Technology – Northwest will service the northern portions of California and Nevada and all of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The new regional office will be a regional service and stocking facility with sales and service personnel operating out of the facility.

Ryder System Inc., Miami, said that Ryder Brazil was honored with the AutoData Award as the “Best Logistics Provider in the Automotive Industry” by AutoData magazine.