Metsä Board opens an innovation centre to conduct R&D into paperboard products, raw materials and printing technologies in Finland

Feb 09, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. M-real Corporation, which Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting to be convened on 28 March 2012 a change of the company’s name to Metsä Board Corporation, has established a new R&D centre in Äänekoski, Finland. Its aim is to support customers in the packaging industry with R&D in product innovation; introduce applications of new raw materials from forest fibres; and study how its products can match rapidly-evolving printing and converting technologies, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network. The centre draws on experience from within Metsä Board and the whole Metsä Group. It will also collaborate closely with research institutes, universities and Forestcluster Ltd. “We have relentlessly developed our paperboards, production processes and service to support customers in their business,” says CEO Mikko Helander. “At the same time, our work has achieved benefits in sustainability, for example, in the design of light but stiff boards and in production energy efficiency. Now we want to strengthen our R&D further and drive business forward based on new ideas, customer demand and feedback.” The new R&D centre is commencing operations from February 2012, with the first research projects coming to fruition within two–three years. It is based at Äänekoski, a well-known forest industry locality in Finland, where Metsä Board has an existing cartonboard mill. It will use an established laboratory and employs a highly-experienced team of experts headed by Lauri Verkasalo, Director for Strategic Research. M-real Corporation is Europe’s leading fresh forest fibre paperboard producer.