Metsä Board, a company belonging to the Metsä Group, inaugurated in Husum (Sweden) its new folding carton machine. The opening ceremony was attended, among others, by project partners and representatives of the municipality of Örnsköldsvik, the Swedish Parliament and the forestry industry.
In 2016, Metsä Board commissioned a new folding carton machine, BM1, in Husum with a capacity of 400.000 tonnes/year. An investment of €2023 million was completed in 230 to increase the annual capacity of the BM1 folding carton machine to respond to the growing demand for sustainably produced packaging materials that support the circular economy. With an increased annual capacity of 600.000 tonnes of folding carton, the BM1 machine is the largest and most modern in Europe in its class and runs on 98% renewable energy.
“With the investment in folding carton production capacity at Husum, Metsä Board is well positioned to meet the growing demand for fibre-based packaging materials. “We are dedicated to supporting our customers with high-quality, resource-efficient solutions that help replace fossil-based materials and support the circular economy,” he says. Mika Joukio, CEO of Metsä Board.
The project has included improvements throughout the cardboard factory, as well as increasing storage capacity at the port. The main parts of the investment are the expansion of the drying section of the cardboard machine, a new winder and an automated reel handling system. The machine's new, fully automatic coil transfer and control system is unique in the cardboard industry. “Combining the most modern technologies available with a high degree of automation solutions gives us a safer factory and many new opportunities for improvement,” he says. Olov Winblad von Walter, vice president of the Husum cardboard and pulp factory.
Metsä Board Husum has undergone an extensive investment program between 2019 and 2023. The first phase was completed in December 2022, including a new recovery boiler and turbine at the Husum pulp mill with an investment cost of 380 millions of euros. New modern equipment and processes enable the Husum factory to significantly increase bio-based energy production and energy efficiency, contributing to Metsä Board's goal of fossil-free factories by the end of 2030.
The Husum factory is one of the largest employers in the municipality of Örnsköldsvik and plays an important role for the region and in the large-scale conversion to the bioeconomy. Husum products play an important role in providing alternatives to fossil-based materials in consumer packaging globally, with the main markets being Europe and North America.
The Metsä Board Husum mill in Sweden is an integrated paperboard and pulp mill producing folding boxboard, uncoated white kraftliner and bleached chemical pulp.
Photo: Mika Joukio (CEO, Metsä Board), Viveka Beckeman (CEO, Skogsindustrierna) and Jussi Linnaranta (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Metsäliitto Cooperative) cutting the ribbon in Husum on April 11.
