Stora Enso Wood Products is continuing to develop its business operations and investing over EUR 5 million in further developing the value-added product range in its mills at Uimaharju in Finland, Bad St. Leonhard in Austria and Ala in Sweden.
"These investments are the concrete next steps in our continuing efforts to improve the value of our offering to our key customers and will help in considerably strengthening these sites and their long-term competitiveness," says Hannu Kasurinen, EVP, Stora Enso Wood Products.
Uimaharju Sawmill investing in ThermoWood business With the ThermoWood investment Uimaharju Sawmill will add a new product to its portfolio. The ongoing investment at Uimaharju includes moving two existing ThermoWood kiln chambers and a boiler from Stora Enso's Kotka Sawmill to Uimaharju. The kilns and the boiler were dismantled at Kotka in late January 2010 and taken to Uimaharju in mid-february. The kilns are currently being installed and are expected to be ready for test runs by mid-May.
"Uimaharju has already taken over the ThermoWood sales, and is serving our customer base from the existing buffer stocks at Kotka and contracted supplies from other producers until the new unit is operational," explains Jukka Kilpeläinen, Product Line Manager, ThermoWood.
The relocation of the ThermoWood business will open up interesting potential for development involving the joinery component mill at Uimaharju, and will facilitate Stora Enso's entry into the pine hermoWood business. The manufacturing process has also been upgraded in several ways to improve the overall ThermoWood process at Uimaharju. Significant changes have been made to the grading plant, packaging and sticking units, and the renovated and modernised units are now in operation.
