Metsä Tissue, a leading baking and cooking paper supplier, is to publish a development plan for the Polish market. The plan aims to strengthen the company's position in Poland, increase its production capacity and enhance its product, brand and service offering. The company plans to optimize its capacity through the consolidation of its Polish paper production at the company's Krapkowice mill in southern Poland. As a result, the paper machine at the Konstancin-Jeziorna mill will be shut down by the end of 2012 at the latest.
Metsä Tissue employs around 430 people in Poland. The Konstancin-Jeziorna mill site has 190 employees in total, around 40 of whom - employed mainly in paper making - will be influenced by the relocation of paper production. Metsä Tissue currently produces around 600,000 tonnes of tissue paper in Europe, with the Konstancin-Jeziorna mill accounting for three per cent of this total.
"Different scenarios for the future of the mill site are still under development," comments Lars Warvne, SVP, 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," he adds.
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 standardisation 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 paper making 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.
The company's decision to discontinue paper production supports the city's own development plans. Konstancin-Jeziorna is an elegant Warsaw suburb with ambitions to establish a leading health resort, the only one in the Mazovia region.
