Paper and Packaging
With three paper mills and more than 20 other paper and packaging companies, Norrköping is undoubtedly on the international map of Paper and Packaging. The total turnover of the three paper mills is about 6,2 billlion SEK (about 800 million USD). The city of Norrköping has the highest paper and board production capacity of all Swedish municipalities. More than 80% of the production is exported under heavy international competition. There are about 6 400 employees connected to the paper industry in the Norrköping and greater East Sweden region. This is certainly a local world-class cluster.
Paper mills
The mills, Holmen Paper, Billerud and Graphic Packaging, all have an extensive knowledge in the treatment of wooden fibres and chemical processes involved in the paper production processes. The unique, extra long softwood fibres of Northern Europe are especially good for making high quality printing paper and packaging paper.
Holmen Paper is a strong world-class operator in printing papers. The mill, one of the most modern plants in the world, has a total capacity of 750 000 tons a year of mechanical printing papers produced from both virgin fibre and recycled fibre.
Billerud is one of the biggest actors in kraft paper in Europe. Graphic Packaging is the only producer of recycled carton board in Sweden and is also among the leading producers in this segment in Europe.
The research company Acreo is involved in different projects concerning paper and electronics. One of the projects, “COIN – Centre for Organic Informatics”, has found possibilities for printing electronics on paper and it is established in the region thanks to the outstanding research in organic and polymer electronics.
The industry’s focus on environment-friendly products and paper recycling has given competitive advantage to the region.
Packaging
Packaging represents a very wide sector in Norrköping, including paper, board and plastic packaging. All kinds of packaging are produced; corrugated boxes, various types of consumer packaging including food packaging, displays, paper cores etc. Examples of local companies in the packaging industry are:
Smurfit Munksjö Packaging, Å & R Carton, Ahlström Cores and SCA Packaging.
Machinery Consultants, paper and packaging
Noss develops and manufactures processing systems and equipment for the pulp and paper industry. Ahlström Cores manufacture and sell paper cores for paper reels. Jaakko Pöyry is a global market leader, providing engineering and project implementation services for pulp and paper industry projects worldwide, maintenance engineering and other local services to the mills. They also consult on forest industry strategies and operations and investment banking. ÅF Pulp & Paper Group is a leading consulting and engineering company for the forest industry.
Recycling
Graphic Packaging is focused on production of carton board for consumer packaging purposes, mainly for the food industry. All board at Graphic Packaging is based on recycled fibre, delivered by IL Recycling, who also handles plastics. The other mills also use recycled material in their production. As an example, the Holmen Paper mill at Braviken annually uses about 350.000 tons of recycled paper, such as magazines and old newspapers. This makes them the overall second biggest user of recycled paper in Sweden. The city of Norrköping is the town in Sweden where most recycled fibres are used – about 550.000 tons a year!
Econova utilises and processes by-products and waste products from the forest and energy industries. By adding natural raw materials to these processed waste products new energy and garden products are made.
Not only the paper industry use recycled material, but also the plastic and aluminium packaging industry. Returpack in Norrköping collects all kinds of bottles and cans in Sweden.
Swedish Tissue, located south of Norrköping in Kisa, has a long tradition in the region and is today a part of the British LPC Group. Swedish Tissue manufactures and markets high quality tissue made from selected virgin pulp from this regions forests to assure softness and excellent strength. The tissue is used in a variety of hygienic products including baby diapers, incontinence products, and medical draping. With 145 employees, Swedish Tissue has an annual turnover of more than 400 million SEK and ships product throughout Europe and to Australia.
Status of the area
What is interesting about the Paper & Packaging industry in Norrköping is that the whole value chain is present, from pulp or plastic to packaging for demanding customers and then back again via recycled fibres or plastics.
The Paper & Packaging cluster in East Sweden is world-class. We also see many operators on different levels (suppliers, packaging paper and board producers, consumer and transport packaging producers, customers and recycling companies), which is a very strong indicator of a healthy cluster. Even the International Times Herald prints its papers here for its distribution throughout the whole of Europe.
No doubt, it is a great advantage for companies producing for example consumer products to have packaging partners at close range.
This is a cluster in constant need of advanced input such as information technology, logistics and environmental products because of the fierce international competition.