Metsä Board, manufacturer of premium fresh fibre paperboard and a Metsä Group company, is planning to build a centre of excellence for paperboard and packaging. The new centre in Äänekoski, Finland, will bring together packaging design and R&D expertise under one roof to drive the development of innovative paperboard and packaging solutions.
„The new centre of excellence opens up a wide range of opportunities for collaboration along the entire value chain, particularly in the area of holistic packaging design. We will be able to hold packaging design workshops and innovation days there together with our customers and partners in order to demonstrate the full potential of our lightweight virgin fibre cartonboard qualities,” explains Sari Pajari, SVP Sales and Marketing, Metsä Board.
Opening planned for 2020
The new centre of excellence offers space for offices, a laboratory, R&D facilities and a Packaging design studio with modern technology and the Customer Feedback Centre. The project will enter the construction planning phase in the summer and the centre of excellence is scheduled to open in 2020.
According to the company, the centre fits into a globally unique bioeconomic ecosystem in. The same site is also home to Metsä Group's next-generation bioproduct mill, Metsä Board's paperboard mill, the Pro Nemus visitor centre and a demo plant where Metsä Spring and the Japanese company Itochu Corporation will produce textile fibres from the end of 2019.
