Tour of Valmet’s Norcross Facility
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WOW, this has been a busy and enlightening summer! Our team continued member visits with the most recent at Valmet’s North American headquarters, located at 3720 Davinci Court, Suite 300 Norcross, GA 30092, right around the corner from TAPPI’s International Headquarters.
Our Senior Strategy Team (SST), Leeza Klimetz, Ashley Westbrook, Simona Bethea, Mary Beth Cornell, Lawton Roberts, and I, were invited to tour their new facility, give an update on TAPPI, and find out more about the many successes of Valmet. Our thanks go out to Brianna Johnson who provided details for our visit and a nice little personalized surprise when we arrived.
We had a great group of people in the meeting including Jukka Tiitinen- President of NA, Kari Lindberg-Senior Advisor of NA, Rob Turner-Director of Legal Counsel for NA, Mikko Iitti-Director Projects for NA, Mike Gray-VP of Paper, Board and Tissue for NA, and David Eapen-Director of Automation Services for NA.
Valmet has one of the most modern corporate offices I have seen in the U.S. They have an open concept, yet they provide private spaces for their employees to get away, to think and clear their minds.
One of the most impressive spaces, to me was a mockup of a control room for a paper mill. It was extremely authentic. We understand the future might be where you could run a mill from a remote location away from the mill site.
Valmet’s progress began over 225 years ago with a diverse industrial history. From cloth making to high-tech processes these folks go back to 1797 with Jokioisten Verkatehdas. Then, the mergers and acquisitions began; 1841-1868. They picked back up from 1942-1951 and 1999. There were more acquisitions from 2000-2009. At the end of 2013, there was a merger with Valmet and Metso.
You may recall some of the other company names: Gotaverken, Tampella, Beloit, KMW, Sunds Defibrator, Rauma-Raahe, Valmet, Wartsila, Tampella Papertech, Kvaerner, Tamfelt, PMP Group, GL&V, J&L Fiber, Coldwater Seals, EWK Umwelttechink, ECP Group, Novatech Automation’s Process Solutions business, Korber’s Business Area Tissue, Siemen’s Gas Chromatography Business, and Demuth wood handing technology and services.
Valmet continued their growth from 2015-2024 with approximately 11 acquisitions since, becoming an independent company in 2013. The total investment in acquisitions and in the merger of Neles into Valmet was EUR 2 billion. All acquisitions have been based on clear industrial logic and synergies.
This is Valmet today: Market’s widest offering combining process technologies, services, and automation, consisting of automation systems and flow control solutions. The R&D spend EUR 114 million in 2023.
Valmet has an extraordinarily strong market position. They hold the number 1-2 positions in Pulp, Energy, Board, Tissue, Paper, Services, Automation Systems and Flow Control.
Valmet’s strong global presence is backed up with more than 19,0000 professionals, approximately 140 service centers, 60 production units, and 32 R&D centers.
In addition, Valmet is a leader in sustainability.
They have a 360⁰ Sustainability Agenda.
- Ten consecutive years in Dow Jones Sustainability index
- Highest ranking in Ecovadis sustainability assessment.
- Highest AAA ranking IN MSCI ESG rating.
Valmet has defined three megatrends that they carefully consider when making strategic choices:
- Climate change, environmental awareness and resource scarcity are driving the need to improve resource efficiency and reduce emissions.
- Digitalization, automatization, and new high-impact technologies are driving efficiency and new business models.
- Urbanization, rising living standards, changing demographics and globalization that are driving changes in customer behavior and customer demand.
So, what are they doing about this? It’s all in their mission, vision and strategy.
Mission: We create sustainable results by converting renewable resources and making industrial processes reliable and efficient.
Strategy: Valmet develops and supplies competitive and reliable process technologies, services and automation to pulp, paper, and energy industries.
Our automation business covers a wide base of global process industries. We are committed to moving our customers’ performance forward with our unique offering and way to serve.
Continuous improvement and renewal: Must-Win in customer excellence, leader in technology and innovation, excellence in processes and a winning team.
Vision: To become the global champion in serving our customers and in moving the industries forward.
Well folks it must be working because orders for Valmet globally in 2023 totaled approximately EUR 5 billion.
We happened to be there the same day Valmet’s Board of Directors announced Thomas Hinnerskov as the new appointed President and CEO of Valmet. He started his position on August 12, 2024.
Thanks to Valmet for allowing us the time.
Remember, there are two types of people in this industry, TAPPI members and those who should be. Why not join today www.tappi.org/join?
Until next time…………………Larry
