Metsä Board – part of the Metsa Group will establish a Paperboard and Packaging Excellence Centre in Äänekoski, Finland. The new centre will combine packaging design and R&D excellence under the same roof to be able to boost the development of new paperboard and packaging solutions of the future. Source: Timberbiz
“The new Excellence Centre will enable a wide variety of collaboration, especially in the area of holistic packaging design, throughout the value chain. We will be able to organise packaging design workshops and innovation days together with our customers and partners in order to demonstrate the full potential of our lightweight, fresh fibre paperboards,” Sari Pajari, SVP Sales and Marketing, Metsä Board said.
The centre is perfectly situated in a bioeconomy ecosystem which is unique in the world. The site is shared with many businesses including Metsä Group’s next-generation bioproduct mill, Metsä Board’s board mill, the Pro Nemus visitor centre and a demo plant for Metsä Spring and Japanese Itochu Corporation that will start the production of textile fibres at the end of 2019.
The Excellence Centre will include offices, a laboratory, R&D facilities and a packaging design studio with modern technology, as well as the customer feedback centre. The project will proceed with construction planning starting in the summer with the aim for the centre to be operational in 2020.
