Transforming to face the future Ahlstrom-Munksjö

transforMing to face the future

As a result of a recent merger, Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj has become a global leader in innovative and sustainable fibre-based materials. Romana Moares spoke to Pekka Helynranta, the Managing Director of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Glassfibre Oy, about recent company developments and plans for the future.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj is a new entity, established as recently as April 2017 as a result of a merger of two large traditional companies. The merger created a global leader in innovative and sustainable fibre-based materials with combined pro forma net sales of approximately €2.15 billion, around 6000 employees, and 41 production and conversion facilities in 14 countries.

“Both companies have a long tradition reaching back to the 19th century and each has been a strong player in its field. The filtration business has always played a major role for Ahlstrom – about 50 per cent of all cars worldwide use the company’s products. Similarly, Munksjö is a well-known international speciality paper company manufacturing products that add value to selected industrial sectors,” says Pekka Helynranta. Therefore it was a natural decision for the owners to join forces in order to further strengthen the position of the company worldwide.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö is a global leader in fibre-based materials, supplying innovative and sustainable solutions to customers worldwide. Its offerings include glassfibre nonwovens, glassfibre fabrics, decor paper, filter media, release liners, abrasive backings, electrotechnical paper, food packaging and labelling, tape, medical fibre materials and solutions for diagnostics.

In 2016, Ahlstrom-Munksjö derived about 60 per cent of its total net sales from Europe, 24 per cent from the Americas and 16 per cent from the Asia-Pacific region. Know-how in fibre-based technology, an efficient manufacturing platform and ability to serve global customers locally helped in forging its strong market position.

Close to customers

One of the group’s subsidiaries is Ahlstrom-Munksjö Glassfibre Oy, which produces glassfibre nonwovens mainly used in building applications such as flooring and glassfibre reinforcements in composite applications, e.g. wind turbine blades.

Pekka Helynranta, Managing Director of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Glassfibre, stresses that the company always works closely with customers and the products are mostly tailor-made. “Product development is a joint effort between our and the customers’ specialists. The newest product, Aceblade, is an excellent product in terms of its mechanical properties. It can significantly improve the performance in comparison with stitched uni-directional products used in wind turbine blades. This is something we have been offering for a few years and it has raised a lot of interest.”

He points out that demand for the Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites (RTC) products that the company has had in its portfolio for

many years seems to be increasing, not only in the automotive sector but other parts of the transportation industry in general. “These products can be easily shaped to suit the customers’ needs.”

expected growth

Ahlstrom-Munksjö Glassfibre Oy operates three plants, two in Finland and one in Russia. One of the plants specialises in the production of reinforcement fabrics, while the other two focus on glassfibre nonwovens.

“We launched the investment project in Russia in 2006 and the plant was commissioned in 2008. The aim was to satisfy local demand,” says the Managing Director. “The demand for our products is increasing globally so we have to have our sensors out all the time, even if no immediate plans for new plants or acquisitions are in the pipeline. Being a Europe-based company, Europe clearly remains the biggest market although our products are supplied worldwide. To grow and further develop the business is our main task. The glassfibre business is a strong part of the Ahlstrom-Munksjö family and we are confident about the future,” confirms Mr Helynranta.

One example of the company’s putting these future growth plans into action is its latest decision to invest €4 million into upgrading the Karhula, Finland plant’s glassfibre nonwovens line. This investment will be completed by the end of 2017. n