Metsä Board is a leading European producer of premium fresh fibre paperboards. A part of Metsä Group, the Finnish company employed 2,400 people and sales totalled 1.9 billion euros in 2020. The investment at the Husum mill in Sweden supports the growing demand for sustainably produced packaging materials and will increase the board machine annual capacity by 50% to 600,000 tonnes.
According to Ari Kiviranta, SVP Technology at Metsä Board, there is a clear need for Metsä Board’s paperboards particularly with the rise of the circular economy. “We are not just increasing capacity and hoping that one day someone will want it. There is demand and the additional capacity will be used for growth in our main European markets and in North America.”
Metsä Board's folding boxboard is used in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics packaging, and food service packaging and the investment is expected to increase annual sales by approximately 200 million euros.
Structuring the project has been a primary challenge, says Kiviranta, but simpler on the technical side, he adds. “The technical work is quite straightforward and we know the solutions. But in other aspects this is a demanding project. We needed a common view of what should be done in sales, in logistics, in marketing, and with sustainability and product safety.”
By turning to Trailmaker, the Metsä Board management team were hoping to achieve a single view of project execution and the capabilities that were required. “It saved valuable time”, he says, because “we got the important people to participate from the start".
“It forced us to show what a 200,000-tonne increase in capacity means in practice. What should we do now and what will happen in 6 months? The process was very compact and we kept the focus and discussed just the points that needed to be discussed,” says Kiviranta.
“Not only will capacity be increased, but also the mill's production efficiency and environmental performance will improve.”
TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
• Concrete common view and commitment
• Identified capability needs
• Visibility
Metsä Tissue’s annual turnover is 1 billion euros and the company employs 2,500 people. Metsä Tissue’s brands are Lambi, Serla, Mola, Tento, Katrin and SAGA. The company is a part of Metsä Group, a Finnish forest industry group that operates in international markets.
“We have a unique value chain from forest fibers to tissue production. We are the only producer who has a direct link to the raw material source, sustainably managed Northern forests”, says Mariusz Jedrzejewski, Senior Vice President at Metsä Tissue.
Metsä Tissue has nine mills in five countries, Finland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden, which makes it a major local operator. The local manufacturing makes the logistics efficient and helps Metsä Tissue to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and transportation needs.
The five regions of Metsä Tissue are responsible for putting the strategy to practice.
The success of Metsä Tissue strategy execution is highly dependent on the strong common view within the regions and the head office. Trailmaker was invited to ensure a concrete common view and make the implementation of the strategy fast and smooth.
“Thanks to their very structured approach we were able to align our strategy execution activity in a very short time. We could slice this big elephant into pieces which are truly manageable and understandable for everyone. I think by using Trailmaker we saved at least half a year”, says Jedrzejewski.
All the milestones and actions can be easily followed up in the Trailmaker Management View.
“The web-based tool we are using now is very useful and simple. We can really follow up the execution of the strategy in all levels of the company”, Jedrzejewski concludes.
TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
• Concrete common view and commitment
• Identified capability needs
• Visibility
Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring started to construct a 3D fibre product pilot plant in Äänekoski, Finland, in December 2020. The 20 million € investment is made together with Valmet. The plant is scheduled to start operations in late 2021.
“We have an ambitious goal to build a significant new business based on the top competence of Metsä Group, Valmet and several other companies. We will use sustainable wood fibre as our raw material and produce first-class packages while minimizing the total environmental impact of the manufacturing and maximizing the positive effects in the use and end-of-life”, says Jarkko Tuominen, Project Lead at Metsä Spring.
“Having a strong internal support for the project is vital. During the Trailmaker process, we formed a common view of the goals, implementation steps and resource needs”, says Tuominen.
Metsä’s top management, project management and key people from a current core business participated in the Trailmaker process. During the intensive process, the project, its objectives and progress were reviewed together from many perspectives.
“We can now refer to the jointly discussed plan, and everyone can see that the project is progressing systematically and as agreed."
TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
• Concrete common view and commitment
• Identified capability needs
• Visibility
Vuonna 2016 perustettu Woodio on design- ja materiaaliteknologiayhtiö, jonka patentoimasta materiaalista valmistettuja pesualtaita ja tasoja löytyy useista hotelleista ja ravintoloista, sekä yksityisten kuluttajien kylpyhuoneista ja keittiöistä.
"Kumppanuus Metsä Groupin kanssa avaa meille uuden vaiheen matkalla kansainvälisille markkinoille. Yhteistyö mahdollistaa tuotekehityksen ja tuotannon uudessa mittakaavassa. Kumppanuuden myötä voimme kehittää myös toimitusketjua edelleen", Woodion toimitusjohtaja ja perustaja Petro Lahtinen sanoo.
Woodion materiaali antaa uuden elämän Metsä -konserinissa sivuvirraksi jäävälle puuhakkeelle – Metsä Groupin tehtaissa syntyy pientä haketta, jota voidaan käyttää uuden materiaalin pääraaka-aineena.
Metsä Spring varmisti Trailmaker-prosessilla, että Woodiolla on realistinen suunnitelma tuleville vuosille ja kykenevä tiimi suunnitelman toteuttamiseen.
"Ison yhtiön ja startupin yhteistyö ei ole aina suoraviivaista. Trailmaker auttoi meitä muodostamaan yhteisen näkemyksen ja kielen, ja saimme tehokkaasti dokumentoitua lopullisen suunnitelman. Trailmaker auttoi meitä selvittämään päätöksentekijöille, mitä Woodio aikoo tehdä uuden sijoituksen myötä", sanoo von Weymarn.
TRAILMAKER on konsepti strategian toteutukseen ja execution due diligence:
· Testaa ja konkretisoi strategian kaikilla liiketoiminnan osa-alueilla
· Testaa ja konkretisoi toteutukseen tarvittavat resurssit ja kyvykkyyden
· Yhdistää johdon ja omistajien näkemykset kolmessa päivässä
· Muodostaa pysyvän johtamiskäytännön muutoksen läpiviemiseksi
