In this edition, we discuss with Minttu-Maria Eloranta, Project Manager for technical product development at our Oulu Mill in Finland. Minttu-Maria crafts and refines product recipes and quality standards, developing new and existing fiber-based packaging materials to meet evolving customer needs.
One of Stora Enso’s objectives is to accelerate the transition to circular bioeconomy. How do you define circular bioeconomy, and how can technical product development contribute?
Circular bioeconomy combines the principles of circularity with renewable resources. It aims to replace fossil-based packaging solutions with renewable raw materials, minimise waste, and support the regeneration of natural systems. Product development contributes to these goals by enhancing recyclability and improving overall performance through increased resource efficiency and sustainability.
What does technical product development look like in practice?
Different packaging materials have unique features and strengths, influenced by their composition. We develop and refine product recipes, selecting the right fibers and ingredients for each product and using materials wisely to do more with less. Already in the product development phase, we can develop products that are cost-competitive, efficient to produce, and hopefully top-performers in the market.
This involves close collaboration with production to ensure our board recipes meet both production capabilities and customer expectations. For instance, our new advanced board line in Oulu, Europe’s largest, uses patented FiberLight Tec to lightweight the board and produces a range of quality products, each with quite different features. Achieving this level of variety and consistency required close collaboration between technical product development and production teams to ensure quality and meet diverse market needs.
What are the elements of quality, high-performance packaging – and how can packaging be innovative?
High-quality packaging protects the product inside, attracts with its design and material choices, and minimises resource use, for example by lightweighting. Performing well in converting, it also supports essential packaging features like perforation, meaning the tear strips in packaging. Good perforation requires even quality. Consistent, high-quality perforation requires innovation in both materials and production processes. Thus, producing stability and evenness can also be innovative.
But high-performance packaging is more than protection and practicality – it leverages advanced materials for superior strength and sustainability. It must excel in demanding applications: from cold foiling and digital printing to high-speed packing lines and contact with food – up to very niche applications. Our quality standards are designed to ensure all this.
How do we ensure quality and reliability throughout the product lifecycle, from product development to production and beyond?
Quality is engineered from the very beginning. It starts with a deep understanding of customer needs and machinery capabilities. Packaging materials need to withstand diverse conditions, all of which we need to anticipate already in production. Thus, we need uniform quality standards to ensure that the materials function in all applications.
Product development works at the intersection of customers, products, and production. This enables us to translate customer needs into measurable, actionable standards and quality controls, and ultimately competitive quality products. Consistency and repeatability are key: customers rely on packaging that performs flawlessly, every time.
How do we collaborate with customers to meet market needs?
Customers need stable quality and reliable products that run well on their converting lines, with no surprises. To ensure this, we listen to, understand, and anticipate customer needs. We work closely with some customers and trial partners with whom we test that our products perform in real-world conditions and fit the intended purpose.
Quality doesn’t stop at the mill door: technical customer support serves customers and listens to feedback. We work a lot with these teams, training them on product features, answering questions, and getting valuable customer input. With trials, proactive testing, and open communication, we gain insights that drive fit-for-purpose materials.
How can the environmental impacts of packaging be optimised with technical product development – such as recyclability or the climate impact?
In Product Development, we use the Product Lifecycle Operating Model (PLOM) to develop new products and make changes in existing products. As a part of this work, we always consider environmental aspects, like recyclability and climate impact. Wise resource use, standardised and efficient processes, continuous improvement, and a closed system where we utilise side-streams – these are all ways we impact the environmental footprint of our materials. With material choices, we can achieve more with less and develop products that are not only cost-competitive but also resource-efficient.
Stora Enso provides customers with renewable material alternatives. From your perspective, what does it mean to be the renewable materials company?
It’s about making the most of our materials and constantly developing towards a more renewable world with packaging materials. We lead the way in creating advanced, alternative material choices that are both functional and designed to be energy- and resource-efficient. The patented FiberLight Tec is a good example of advanced material innovation, allowing us to lightweight our products while increasing strength.
How do you see technical product development evolving in the future?
Product development will continue to be shaped by continuous improvement for circularity, functionality, and material innovation to meet a range of needs. As expectations for material sustainability and performance evolve, technical product development enables us to create lighter, stronger, and more efficient materials.
