Metsä Board – part of the Metsä Group, a leading European manufacturer of wood-based materials – has opened a new supply chain support centre in Gdańsk. This is another step in the development of a shared service centre located in Poland.
Metsä Board is the leading producer of solid board and white kraftliners (made from virgin fibres) in Europe and the world’s largest producer of coated white kraftliners. The clean virgin fibres are a renewable resource, sourced from sustainably managed forests in northern Europe. The company, which employs around 2,250 people, has sales of €2.5 billion in 2022.
Growth in Gdańsk
The new branch – Metsä Board – is located in the heart of Gdańsk, in the same building where Metsä Group already had its service centre. The unit, which has existed for more than 10 years, initially provided financial services, and its remit has been expanded to include purchasing and data services. All these functions in one location contribute to better communication and synergy within the company.
– The newly established centre provides customer service and logistics support for the EMEA region. The team of more than 100 people, including 74 customer service specialists and 26 logistics specialists, serves more than 1,000 customers in 36 countries and works with around 150 suppliers. Numerous team members are foreigners and the entire team speaks 13 languages in which the company provides its services – says Eeva Kokkonen, Supply Chain Director EMEA, Metsä Board.
The hub has been established to develop an operational model to further improve collaboration with customers and suppliers and improve process efficiency. The centralised hub allows for further development in supply chain support, digital services and harmonious value creation for international customers.
Why Gdańsk?
The investment potential of Gdańsk and Pomerania is well known, as confirmed, among other things, by its 5th position in the Mid-Sized European Regions of the Future 2023 – FDI Strategy ranking conducted by fDi Intelligence. Metsä decided to expand its operations because the Tricity is a developed centre for business service centres, with a large supply of talented, multilingual employees. In total, Metsä’s Gdańsk service centre employs more than 300 people.
– I am delighted that Metsä is expanding its operations and locating another centre specifically in Gdańsk. This demonstrates the business attractiveness of the region, which provides opportunities for global companies to develop in many areas of activity. The Tricity universities offer the opportunity to learn a wide range of foreign languages, even the most unique ones. As you can see, Pomerania’s educational and human resources assets are an important asset for companies operating on all continents – such as Metsä – says Mieczysław Struk, Marshall of the Pomeranian Voivodship.
Metsä Group cooperates with local universities by organising summer internships in the Gdańsk centre and open days for students. They also aim to initiate cooperation with the University of Gdańsk as part of the new investment, especially with the departments of philology and logistics.
– Our ongoing and planned investments are a response to the growing demand for sustainable packaging materials. In 2023, Metsä Board will increase its production capacity for solid board and white kraftliners following the completion of investments in Husum, Sweden, and Kemi, Finland. We have also started preliminary engineering work for a new solid board plant in Kaskinen, Finland, with an annual production capacity of 800,000 tonnes, and a decision on the investment is not expected until 2024 at the earliest – comments Mika Joukio, CEO of Metsä Board.
