Displaying items by tag: upm

The continuing challenges in European economy have significantly impacted the consumption of  paper, exacerbating the effect of structural changes in paper end-uses and resulting in further decline in the demand of graphic papers in Europe. High costs and significant overcapacity continue to challenge the industry operators in Europe.

UPM is planning to permanently reduce paper capacity in Europe  by a further 580,000 tonnes. The capacity reductions are planned to take place in Finland, Germany and France. The business environment also makes evident the need for streamlining of the Paper Business Group and UPM’s global functions to remain cost competitive in the new business scale.

In early January, UPM finalized the employee consultation process in UPM Stracel, France, implying reduction of 270,000 tonnes of coated magazine paper capacity. With UPM Stracel and today’s plans, UPM would reduce a total of approximately 850,000 tonnes of graphic paper capacity in 2013.

 UPM plans: 

• - a permanent closure of paper machine 3 at UPM Rauma mill in Finland, 
• - a permanent closure of paper machine 4 at UPM Ettringen in Germany, 
• - a sale or other exit of UPM Docelles mill in France, and
• - subject to further analysis, streamlining in the Paper Business and UPM’s global functions.

If all plans will be implemented, UPM’s personnel would be reduced by approximately 860 persons. The plans would affect several countries.

According to the plan the Rauma and Ettringen machine lines would be permanently closed by the end of first half of 2013. Both machines are producing uncoated magazine paper, in total 420,000 tonnes annually.

The employee information and consultation processes will start in line with the local legislation.  In case of Ettringen and Rauma the process will start immediately.

The process for selling the UPM Docelles mill will start immediately. The process will be given maximum six months. Docelles is producing uncoated woodfree papers, 160,000 tonnes annually.

As for Paper Business Group and global functions streamlining, the process will start after further analysis as of the beginning of February 2013.

Including UPM Stracel, the plans are estimated to result in annual fixed cost savings of EUR 90 million, and one-time cash costs of EUR 100 million.  

 “The target of the planned actions is to ensure the efficient use of UPM’s remaining capacity. The paper machines targeted for closure are either at the end of their technical age, have limited product flexibility or poor profitability. The situation is very regrettable for the personnel, however, in the overcapacity situation, we need to adjust our capacity to the level of profitable customer demand,” says Jyrki Ovaska, President of the UPM Paper Business Group.

“Healthy cash flow is critical for UPM and its employees. Therefore UPM must take action to secure it. Under these circumstances only the most efficient and the most flexible production lines and organizations are competitive,” says Ovaska.

Marko Koskela has been appointed Senior Vice President, UPM Energy, starting from 1 February 2013. He will transfer to the new position from his current post in UPM as Vice President, Business Controlling, Energy and Pulp Business Group.

Current Head of UPM Energy, Anja Silvennoinen, has decided to leave UPM after nine years in the company. She will continue to support Marko Koskela during the next couple of months before moving to new challenges.  “I want to express my warmest thanks to Anja for the great work she has done in building up the Energy Business Area to the current performance level,” says Heikki Vappula, President for Energy and pulp Business Group.

UPM announces a production curtailment at its Pestovo sawmill in Novgorod region and begins negotiations with employees. The negotiations will affect all of the approximately 180 sawmill employees. Starting today, production at the mill will be curtailed to the level necessary to fulfil the on-going contracts. At the same time UPM announces a search for a buyer for the Pestovo mill production area for restructuring or reorientation of production.

The measures taken in Pestovo follow UPM’s renewed Timber business strategy announced in April 2012. UPM concentrates on the development of sawmills closely integrated with the company’s pulp and paper mills. Sawmills have a central role in UPM’s wood sourcing supply chain as their by-products are used in the production of pulp, paper and energy.

“The profitability of the sawmills and further processing units located furthest from our integrated mills has been weak for a long time, and Pestovo sawmill is no exception”, says Anssi Klinga, Senior Vice President, UPM Timber.

UPM’s decision to curtail production and put the Pestovo sawmill on sale have no effect on current customer commitments or other valid contracts.

After completion of this sale, UPM will still own several capacities in Russia, namely a plywood mill in Chudovo (Novgorod region) and two UPM Raflatac terminals. “There are no plans to divest the plywood mill, as UPM’s restructuring strategy deals only with lumber business”, UPM Corporate Communications Russia director Natalia Malashenko told WhatWood.

The Pestovo mill was launched in 2004. Its rated capacity is 260,000 cu m of lumber annually.

Companies like Montes Del Plata and Forestal Oriental replaced the plastic pots by degradable paper Ellepot

The production of young plants in South America has won a great ally: the Ellepot. The technology consolidated in Europe consists in production of degradable paper pots that ensures better quality of young plants and allows automation of nurseries more efficiently.

With customers over 60 countries the Danish Ellegaard landed in Brazil in 2004 believing in the great potential of the forestry sector. Since then it has conquered the market and the admiration of clients.

The beauty of the entire system is the simplicity. The Ellepot machine fills a degradable paper tube with substrate. Then the tube is cut into "Ellepots" which will be ready for propagation of seeds and cuttings.

The main advantages of the Ellepot System are faster and healthy root development, reduction of transplant shock, up to 40% faster transplanting, improved crop timing, streamlined and uniform production among others.

Today more than 60% of the costs of growing young plants are labor costs. The Ellepot System is designed to reduce these costs and offer more competitiveness to forest nurseries.

CONSOLIDATED MARKET
Ellegaard’s solutions are definitely conquering the market and that is the result of more than 20 years tradition of the brand and the benefits for the forest nurseries.

Uruguay got the first forest nursery of the world 100% projected with degradable pots.

Montes Del Plata in Uruguay produces approximately 20 million eucalyptus young plants /year. The company which belongs to the groups Stora Enso and Arauco is a pioneer in the adoption of the Ellepot technology.

"We are preparing our nursery for the next 20 years. Therefore we have invested in an innovative system, which has long-term projection as the degradable pots, "says Francisco Ferreira, assistant manager of the company's research and nursery. “Before joining the product, the company tested other alternatives, but chose Ellepot for its quality and flexibility", he complements.

Another Uruguayan company Forestal Oriental (UPM) built up a nursery based on the automated Ellepot system and produces about 15 million young plants / year.

In Brazil forestry companies already working with the Ellepot technology are Tecnoplanta, Angicos, Camará, Eucapinus, Eucalipto do Brasil, Verde Novo Landebo among others. In Chile, Arauco Group has already adopted the Ellepot System.

AUTOMATION OF NURSERIES

Elleggard offers customized solutions for production and selection of young plants from small to large producers. Automatic and semi-automatic Ellepot machines can produce up to 40.000 degradable pots per hour in different heights and diameters.

FSC CERTIFICATION

The degradable paper used in Ellepots has FSC certification, Rainforest Alliance and Veriflora.

Click and watch the videos with the automation system of nurseries:

http://ellepot.dk/equipment/ellepot-machinery/fully-automatic-machines/flexline.html

For further information please contact:

Darcy Werneck
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+4521155570

UPM and Taaleritehdas have agreed today on the sale of 6,000 hectares of forest land. The estates are located in Central and Eastern Finland in Pyhäntä, Utajärvi, Kiuruvesi and Ilomantsi. At the same time the parties have signed an agreement on wood trade and forest services. It has been agreed by the parties not to disclose the purchase price.

Wealth Management Company Taaleritehdas’ new fund “Taaleritehtaan Metsä” is a totally new way to own forest. It offers the investors an easy and effortless way to buy a piece of forest land and enjoy regular income from forest ownership. Professional forestry as well as sales and purchase improve return. The forest specialist with the fund together with the UPM forest professionals are responsible for the timely forest management on the estates now purchased by Taaleritehdas.

The estates acquired today from UPM are the first forest properties within the fund. It will acquire more forest land during the next two years when suitable estates are available. Investors in the fund are private Finnish investors as well as institutional investors and organisations.

“As an investment, forest is suitable for Finnish investors. It is a concrete ownership which spreads the risk in the portfolio as well. The earnings from forest ownership have not correlated with the other investments like shares and interest rates. Additionally forest ownership offers an inflation hedge as the wood price has traditionally followed the inflation rate,” says Juhani Elomaa, Managing Director of Taaleritehdas.

“Taaleritehtaan Metsä is a new and interesting way to increase the interest in the forests, forest ownership and sustainable use of the forests. UPM shares this aim and therefore we are pleased to act as an enabler in this process,” says Sauli Brander, Vice President, Forestry Business, UPM.

The operations at UPM Aureskoski further processing mill in Parkano, Finland will cease this month. UPM has produced interior wood panels at the mill. UPM announced in June 2012 the decision to close down the mill by the end of the year.

UPM has started the “From Job to Job” programme in Aureskoski in order to alleviate the effects caused by staff reductions in relation to the closing of the mill. The programme, which UPM implements in co-operation with the authorities and partner companies, includes active measures that promote employment and re-training.

Aureskoski further processing mill employs 33 people. The closure announced today is part of the decision published on 29 June 2012, including restructuring of UPM’s sawmill and further processing operations and renewal of business strategy in Finland.

UPM has donated more than 1,500 copies of a special edition of Donald Duck comic magazine titled ‘Design!’. The magazines were distributed to 8th grade school children from the neighbourhoods of UPM’s paper mills in Rauma, Kouvola, Valkeakoski, Jämsä, and Lappeenranta.

The purpose of this donation is to encourage school children to read printed magazines, to think about design as part of our everyday life, and to learn new languages in an easy way. “We are starting to learn more about the benefits of paper for concentration and learning. We want students to enjoy good and relaxing reading moments with Donald Duck ‘Design!’ magazine,” commented Ulla-Riitta Unkuri, Communications Director, UPM Paper Business Group.

The magazine was produced in cooperation with Sanoma Magazines as part of the ‘World’s Design Capital - Helsinki 2012’ initiative.

Well-known Finnish designers such as Alvar Aalto, Vuokko Nurmesniemi, Stefan Lindfors and Paola Suhonen are featured in the Donald Duck Design! edition. The designers explore, along with the famous characters from Donald Duck’s cartoons, the possibilities that unfold when a creative mind focuses on design and innovation, and how these can impact society.

The comic magazine of the temperamental, but well-intentioned Donald Duck is intended for readers of all ages and encourages them to consider the essence of design. The magazine was edited in four languages: Finnish, Swedish, English and German.

To honour the festivity of the World Design Capital event, the high quality UPM Finesse was selected for the cover paper. The inside pages are printed on UPM Star matt, which brings out the comic magazine’s bright colours and graphic details. The end result is a magazine that creates a relaxing experience that inspires and facilitates learning new languages.

At the New Generation Plantation Project (NGPP) conference organised this week in the capital of Uruguay in Montevideo, UPM showcased how it manages sustainable forestry plantations. The international conference was attended by forestry, plantation and sustainability experts from all over the world as well as global companies and representatives of the Uruguayan government.

Opening the conference Tabare Aguerre, the Uruguayan Minister for Agriculture, highlighted the fact that Uruguay is the only country in South America that had actually increased its area of native forest in the last twenty years.

Minister Aguerre said: “Plantation forestry has helped develop and diversify the Uruguayan economy and continues to attract investments”.

“Well-managed plantations can have a positive role to play in economic, social and environmental development when they are managed in accordance with the concepts of the New Generation Plantation Project”, said Luis Neves Silva of WWF, Manager of the NGPP.

“Our approach to plantation management is aligned with the New Generation Plantation Principles. Wherever we operate, we respect the rights of local communities and protect ecosystems and natural forests. All of our eucalyptus plantations in Uruguay are FSC and PEFC certified,” says Javier Solari, Vice President of UPM’s Plantation Operations.

The Montevideo conference concluded with a four day study tour of Uruguay sharing best practices in sustainable plantation management.

Plantation Life website tells more about UPM’s sustainable plantation forestry

UPM’s eucalyptus plantation forestry company in Uruguay, Forestal Oriental, is the centre of expertise for UPM plantation operations worldwide. Approximately 60% of the land owned by the company is planted for eucalyptus. The rest of the land is used for cattle grazing and forestry-related infrastructure or is protected and not used for plantation operations. The long term annual harvest of pulp wood in these areas covers currently 70% of the demand for wood raw material for UPM’s Fray Bentos pulp mill. The remaining 30% is purchased from independent suppliers. In co-operation with local private landowners, the company’s FOMENTO programme works to encourage the suppliers to diversify the use of their farmland using sustainable plantation forestry.

More information on UPM’s plantation operations is available online at www.upmplantationlife.com. On the website the visitor will find videos with UPM employees working in the plantation operations, people who live in the communities close to the plantations, and many other people UPM works with discussing issues relevant to plantation operations. Facts and cases provide additional information on UPM’s operations.

The glue lam panel production at UPM Heinola further processing mill in Finland will cease by mid-December. UPM announced in June 2012 the decision to close down the mill by the end of the year.

UPM has started the “From Job to Job” programme in Heinola in order to alleviate the effects caused by staff reductions in relation to the closing of the mill. The programme, which UPM implements in co-operation with the authorities and partner companies, includes active measures that promote employment and re-training.

Heinola further processing mill employs 27 people. The decision announced today is part of the plan published on 29 June 2012, including restructuring of UPM’s sawmill and further processing operations and  renewal of business strategy in Finland.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has successfully started up equipment for a fiberline modernization at UPMʼs Kymi mill in Kouvola, Finland. This project is part of the mill’s program to minimize effluents and upgrade production capacity. ANDRITZ’s scope of supply included a chip feeding system (TurboFeed) for the continuous digester, an oxygen delignification stage with Drum Displacer washer and knot separation, screening modernization, and modification of the A-stage bleaching process.

UPM’s Kymi mill stands for environmentally-friendly integrated pulp and paper production with a high rate of energy self-sufficiency and biofuel usage. The mill produces bleached softwood and hardwood kraft pulp (total capacity 570,000 t/a), as well as coated and uncoated fine paper (830,000 t/a).