Weyerhaeuser Co. has named Shaker Chandrasekaran, 55, as vice president of its cellulose fibers manufacturing operations, replacing James E. Watson, 56, who will retire in August.

Chandrasekaran will be responsible for operations at the company’s 12 North American pulp mills and for coordinating manufacturing with the product development, scheduling and sales efforts of the company’s cellulose fibers business. Chandrasekaran started his career in the timber industry in 1972. He worked through a variety of technical and management roles, with several forest products companies in India and in the United States and came to Weyerhaeuser with the 2002 acquisition of Willamette Industries. He was most recently vice president, mill manager of the company’s Kamloops, British Columbia pulp mill.

J. Eric Ashby, 38, currently operations manager at Weyerhaeuser’s Dryden, Ontario, mill succeeds Chandrasekaran as vice president, mill manager at Kamloops.