Metsä Tissue Developing Aggressive Marketing Plan for Poland

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Metsä Tissue, Finland, reports that it plans to increase production capacity and enhance its product, brand, and service offering in Poland. The company says it will optimize capacity through consolidation of its Polish paper production at the Krapkowice mill in southern Poland. As a result, the paper machine at the Konstancin-Jeziorna mill will be shutdown by the end of 2012 at the latest.

Metsä Tissue employs about 430 people in Poland. The Konstancin-Jeziorna mill site has 190 employees around 40 of whom, employed mainly in papermaking, will be affected by the relocation of paper production. The company currently produces some 600,000 metric tpy of tissue paper in Europe, with the Konstancin-Jeziorna mill accounting for 3% of this total.

"Different scenarios for the future of the mill site are still under development," says Lars Warvne, senior VP, Technology and Operations. "Considering the overall positive scenario and the planned expansion of our operations in Poland, we feel there are good opportunities to offer relocation to our employees after the paper machine closure in 2012." The development plan includes a sizable capacity increase in the company's Krapkowice mill as well as enhancement of logistics and warehousing operations.

The planned technical standardization of production capacity within Central Eastern Europe will also bring synergies and flexibility between units, further improving the company's supply reliability. "The planned actions will strengthen Metsä Tissue's offering to existing and potential customers, end-users, and consumers. They will contribute to our financial performance in Central Eastern Europe and ensure that we maintain our reputation as a reliable long-term partner for our customers, suppliers, and employees," says Hannu Kottonen, CEO for Metsä Tissue.

"From a business perspective, concentration on the Krapkowice site in Poland is justified. Further investment at the Konstancin-Jeziorna mill and, moreover, in the heavy and out-dated infrastructure required for papermaking would have been unsustainable. The early announcement of our plan, scheduled for rollout in 2012, will enable us and our external stakeholders to prepare ourselves for the coming changes," Kottonen adds.