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Investment
Rebuild leads to an even better Invercote
All that was needed was €74 million, 1,400 contractors and an unyielding desire to improve the quality of one of the world’s best paperboards – Invercote. In September Iggesund Paperboard implemented an extensive rebuild of the wet end of its board machine number 2 at Iggesund, Sweden. The project also included improving water treatment at the mill and installing a new lime kiln. The aim was not to increase production but rather to improve quality.“Invercote has many advantages,” explains mill director Staffan Jonsson. “But in the eyes of our customers the most important benefit is that we maintain high and consistent quality – that they can trust that the next pallet of paperboard will behave precisely like the last one when it ends up in the printing press. This rebuild has given us excellent opportunities to further develop Invercote in that direction.”
The rebuild started on 3 September and the board machine was successfully restarted in early October. Visitors in September to Iggesund, a small village 300 kilometres north of Stockholm, had the chance to study a gathering of industrial forces. Within the space of a month Iggesund’s most important board machine, 270 metres long, had its wet end rebuilt as a further quality improvement measure. In addition to the almost 1,000 employees at the mill, another 1,400 contractors from 120 specialist companies were on the spot.
The work went on day and night at a total cost of €74 million, and anyone hoping for a hotel room in the area that month would have been out of luck. Everything was booked, and in some hotels the guests even slept in shifts. To make the meal service function and ease the pressure for parking spots, Iggesund set up its own bus route between the mill and the various eating establishments in the area.
“We scoured the area for various accommodation possibilities for everyone who came here to work,” explains Lasse Johansson, who was in charge of accommodation and service for the rebuild. “We also provided services within the mill area such as a hotdog stand and fruit and newspaper deliveries.”
“The rebuild is important for our future competitiveness,” comments Staffan Jonsson, mill director at Iggesunds Bruk. “We prioritise the qualities our customers want – quality consistency and a predictable and preferably stunning end result. We are very happy with what has been achieved and are looking forward to continuing to develop Invercote.”
