UPM (company)


UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996.
UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Communication Papers and UPM Plywood. The Group employs around 18,700 people and it has production plants in 12 countries. UPM shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange. UPM is the only paper company which is listed in the global Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the only forest industry company invited to the United Nations Global Compact LEAD sustainability leadership platform.
UPM is the owner and maintainer of the Verla mill, which has been a museum since 1972 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Board of directors

The company's oldest mill was Papeteries de Docelles located in northeastern France, which produced traditional handpaper at the end of 15th century. The mill got its first paper making machine in the 1830s. UPM Docelles was disbanded in 2014.
The company has a long tradition of forest industries in Finland. There the company's first paper mills and sawmills were put into operation in the beginning of the 1870s. Pulp manufacturing began in the 1880s and paper converting in the 1920s. The company started manufacturing plywood in the 1930s. Several Finnish forest industry companies have merged with the forerunner companies of UPM, such as: Walkiakoski, Jämsänkoski, Kaukas, Halla, Kajaani, Toppila, Kymmene, Kuusankoski, Kymi, Voikkaa, Lohjan Paperi Oy, Wilh. Schauman, W. Rosenlew, Raf. Haarla and Myllykoski.
The company logo, the griffin, was designed by Hugo Simberg in 1899. It is probable that the griffin was chosen as the company logo because it represents a guardian of the northern forests. The griffin logo is the oldest continuous company logo in Finland.

2000 - 2010

Due to worldwide overproduction of paper UPM announced a cost reduction program in 2006. Voikkaa paper mill in Kuusankoski was closed. Nearly 3,000 employees in Finland were laid off. After the closure the area has been transformed into Voikkaa business area.
The Miramichi paper mill in New Brunswick, which UPM acquired in 2000, was closed in 2007. Also a number of plywood mills and sawmills were closed during the years. In December 2008 UPM closed Kajaani paper mill and Tervasaari pulp mill. 1,100 employees were laid off. The former premises of the Kajaani mill were turned into a business park called .
During the decade, UPM also sold many businesses such as Walki Can, Walki Sack, Loparex Group, Walki Wisa, Rosenlew and Puukeskus.
At the same time, UPM invested in other businesses and acquired Fray Bentos pulp mill and Forestal Oriental in Uruguay, Chudovo plywood mill in Russia and Otepää plywood mill in Estonia. The production of label materials expanded to Poland, Brazil, China and the USA.  UPM Biocomposites business was established in 2007.

2011 - 2020

The overcapacity continued in graphic paper business and in 2011, UPM acquired Myllykoski Corporation and Rhein Papier GmbH, which consists of seven publication paper mills in Germany, Finland and the United States. In France, UPM closed Stracel paper mill in 2013 and Docelles paper mill in 2014. Madison paper mill in the USA was closed in 2016.The Schwedt paper mill in Germany was sold in 2017. Specialty paper production expanded to China and Germany in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
In 2015, the production of wood-based biofuels started at the biorefinery in Lappeenranta, Finland.
In July 2019, UPM announced that it will invest USD 2.7 billion in a eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The production capacity will be 2.1 million tonnes of eucalyptus pulp. The new pulp mill is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2022.
In January 2020, UPM announced that it will invest EUR 550 million in an industrial scale biorefinery to convert solid wood into next-generation biochemicals: bio-monoethylene glycol and lignin-based renewable functional fillers. The biorefinery will also produce bio-monopropyleneglycol and industrial sugars. The total annual capacity of the biorefinery will be 220,000 tonnes. The facility is scheduled to start up by the end of 2022.

Businesses

Business areas

UPM manufactures fibre products, wood products, molecular bioproducts and low-emission energy in six business areas. These business areas are connected with a common idea: to create value from renewable and recyclable raw materials by synthesizing them with know-how and technology.
UPM Biorefining consists of pulp, timber and biofuel businesses. UPM has four modern pulp mills: three in Finland and one in Uruguay, and also four sawmills in Finland. The biorefinery producing renewable diesel and naphtha started operating in Lappeenranta in 2015. The pulp mills produce 3,7 million tons of high quality pulp annually. 39% of the company's comparable EBIT came from UPM Biorefining in 2019.
In July UPM announced that it will invest USD 2.7 billion in a eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The new pulp mill is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2022..

UPM Energy

UPM Energy’s power generation capacity consists of hydropower, nuclear power and condensing power. UPM Energy is the second largest electricity producer in Finland. UPM owns 47.69%% of Pohjolan Voima Oyj, which is a majority shareholder in Teollisuuden Voima Oyj. UPM also owns 9 hydropower plants in Finland. 13% of the company's comparable EBIT came from UPM Energy in 2019.

UPM Raflatac

UPM Raflatac manufactures labelling materials for branding and promotion and information labelling in the food, beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical and retail segments, for example.

UPM Specialty Papers and UPM Communication Papers

UPM has 16 paper mills in Finland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria, China and the United States. Several of the mills work simultaneously as recycling centres and as producers of bioenergy. In terms of revenue, paper production is still the largest business group of the company.

UPM Plywood

UPM is the largest plywood manufacturer in Europe. The plywood operations consists of nine plywood mills in Finland, Estonia and Russia.

Other businesses

UPM offers a wide selection of different services for forest owners. UPM owns 510,000 hectares of forest in Finland. All of the company's forests are certified.
Most of the wood needed for the UPM factories is acquired from private forests of Finland. UPM is acquiring all kinds of wood and uses it to produce pulp, paper, plywood, sawn timber and energy. UPM is the biggest private landowner in Finland. UPM refines UPM Bonvesta properties from its real estates.
UPM Biochemicals, UPM Biomedicals and UPM Biocomposites business units are also included in other operations. UPM Biochemicals offers and develops wood-based biochemicals. The product segments are glycols and lignin products. UPM Biomedicals develops biomedical products and applications. UPM Biocomposites offers composite products in outdoor building material and consumer products..

Environment and responsibility

The production of UPM is based on renewable raw-materials which are biodegradable and recyclable. All the production sites have a certified ISO 14001 environmental management system. All European pulp and paper mills, as well as the UPM Fray Bentos pulp mill in Uruguay and the UPM Changshu paper mill in China, adhere to the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. In 2013 the paper mill in Changshu was the first paper mill in China to receive such a certificate. 70% of all fuels used are renewable. UPM is the industry leader in the forest and paper sector  in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the only forest industry company invited to the United Nations Global Compact LEAD sustainability leadership platform.
The company's key areas in environmental responsibility are sustainable products, climate, water, forest and
The economic responsibility focus areas are profit, governance and responsible sourcing. In the area of social responsibility, the focus areas are diversity and inclusion, continuous learning and development, responsible leadership, working conditions as well as community development.

Biofore

In 2009, UPM created the term "Biofore" to describe new forest industry. "Bio" stands for sustainable solutions and environmental performance. "Fore" stands for forest and the company's position at the forefront of the development. The Biofore term is also used in the company's slogan: UPM - The Biofore Company. In 2018, UPM launched brand promise 'UPM Biofore – Beyond fossils'.

Global operations

UPM's products are manufactured in 12 countries and the company has a worldwide sales network. UPM's production plants are located in Austria, China, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, UK, Uruguay and USA.

China

UPM has two production units in China: UPM Changshu paper mill and UPM Raflatac, Changshu Labelstock factory. Changshu is located in the Province of Jiangsu by the Yangtze River, some 100 km from Shanghai.

France

UPM has two production units in France. The UPM Chapelle Darblay paper mill, located near Rouen, France's major port for wood and paper products, and the UPM Raflatac labelstock factory located in Pompey, 10 km north of Nancy and 40 km south of Metz.

Germany

UPM has seven production units in Germany.
There is also a wood plastic composite factory in Germany: UPM ProFi, Bruchsal wood plastic composite factory, located in Bruchsal approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Distance to Frankfurt is some 120 km and to Stuttgart some 80 km.

UK

UPM owns three production units in the United Kingdom.
Paper mills:
There is also a labelstock factory in the UK: UPM Raflatac, Scarborough

Uruguay

UPM has a pulp plant in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. The productions located in Uruguay consist of bleached hardwood kraft pulp from eucalyptus. UPM's pulp mills produce renewable energy in their recovery boilers and provide CO2-neutral biomass-based electricity for the Uruguayan markets. In 2011 UPM expanded plantation grounds in Uruguay. In February 2011, UPM announced a plan to build a second nursery in Uruguay to secure the availability of high-quality seedlings and seed material. Argentine and Uruguay had conflict of UPM emissions in 2013.
Metsä Botnia, a part of Metsä Group, opened Fray Bentos factory in Uruguay in 2007. It produce annually a million tonnes of cellulose. Until the end of 2009 the owners of Metsä-Botnia were M-real 30%, Metsä Group 23% and UPM-Kymmene 47%, and since the end of 2009, UPM 91% and Metsä Group 9%.

Table of production sites

CountryProduction typeProduction units
PaperUPM Steyrermühl
Forest and timberUPM Steyrermühl sawmill
PaperUPM Changshu
LabelUPM Raflatac, Changshu
PlywoodOtepää plywood mill
Paper
  • UPM Jämsänkoski
  • UPM Kaukas
  • UPM Kymi
  • UPM Kaipola
  • UPM Rauma
  • UPM Tervasaari
Pulp
  • UPM Kaukas
  • UPM Kymi
  • UPM Pietarsaari
    • LabelUPM Raflatac, Tampere
    Plywood
  • UPM Joensuu plywood mill
  • UPM Jyväskylä plywood mill
  • UPM Pellos plywood mill
  • UPM Savonlinna plywood mill
  • UPM Kalso veneer mill
    • Forest and timber
  • UPM Alholma sawmill
  • UPM Kaukas sawmill
  • UPM Korkeakoski sawmill
  • UPM Seikku sawmill
    • Energy
  • UPM Harjavalta hydro power plant
  • UPM Kallioinen hydro power plant
  • UPM Kaltimo hydro power plant
  • UPM Katerma hydro power plant
  • UPM Keltti hydro power plant
  • UPM Kuusankoski hydro power plant
  • UPM Tyrvää hydro power plant
  • UPM Voikkaa hydro power plant
  • UPM Äetsä hydro power plant
    • Other
  • UPM Biocomposites, Lahti
  • UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery
    • Paper
  • UPM Chapelle Darblay
    • Label
  • UPM Raflatac, Nancy
    • Paper
  • UPM Augsburg
  • UPM Hürth
  • UPM Ettringen
  • UPM Nordland Papier, Dörpen
  • UPM Plattling
  • UPM Schongau
    • OtherUPM Biocomposites, Bruchsal UPM Biochemicals Biorefinery, Leuna
    LabelUPM Raflatac, Johor
    Label
    • UPM Raflatac, Nowa Wies
    • UPM Raflatac, Wroclaw
    PlywoodUPM Chudovo plywood and veneer mill
    Paper
  • UPM Caledonian Paper
  • UPM Shotton Paper
    • LabelUPM Raflatac, Scarborough
    PulpUPM Fray Bentos UPM Pasos de los Toros
    Paper
    • UPM Blandin
    Label
  • UPM Raflatac Fletcher, NC
  • UPM Raflatac Dixon, IL
  • UPM Raflatac Mills River, NC

    • Biofuels

    UPM aims to become a major player in advanced biofuels. The company is developing new business on wood based biofuels for transport. The brand name for the future biofuels of UPM is UPM BioVerno. The production concepts are based on non-food raw materials and they result in a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The UPM Biofuels surpass both the EU and Finnish requirements for sustainable biofuels. One of the goals in the long run is to expand the production of biofuels with new processes and raw-materials like pyrolysis oil and solid biomass.

    Biorefinery

    UPM has invested in a biorefinery producing biofuels from crude tall oil in Lappeenranta, Finland. The biorefinery produces annually approximately 100,000 tonnes of advanced second generation biodiesel for transport. Construction of the biorefinery began in the summer of 2012 at UPM’s Kaukas mill site and was completed in 2014. UPM’s total investment amounted to approximately EUR 150 million. The construction of the biorefinery offered work for nearly 200 people for approximately two years. The biorefinery directly employs nearly 50 people and indirectly about 150 people.

    Biodiesel

    UPM is planning to produce biodiesel from forest energy wood. The raw material to be used in the production of UPM's biodiesel would mainly consist of sustainably sourced wood: logging residues, woodchips, stumps and bark. UPM has been developing gasification technology for biodiesel production with Andritz/Carbona. The initial testing programme was completed in the United States as planned. UPM's biodiesel is well suited for the current diesel motor technology and fuel distribution infrastructure.

    Research and development

    UPM Grada

    UPM Plywood has developed a new way to manufacture layered composites and the new form of plywood is called UPM Grada. At the core of the new technology is a special adhesive film, which allows the plywood to be formed after manufacturing. UPM Grada Plywood can be safely recycled or burned at the end of its lifecycle. UPM Grada Plywood can be used e.g. in furniture. The Finnish furniture manufacturer Isku has introduced the new Kaava chair which demonstrates the capabilities of UPM Grada Plywood.

    UPM ProFi

    UPM ProFi composite is a Biofore material that combines the best characteristics of cellulose fibres and plastic. Manufactured mainly from recycled raw material, the composite has proven to be tough and humidity resistant. The material is suitable for use in patios, terraces, piers and playgrounds. The material does not require polishing, lacquer finishing or other surface finishing. The material was a result of UPM's own research and product development.
    UPM ProFi has been used in the manufacture of a pedestrian walkway in the historic city of Ghent, Belgium.

    UPM Formi

    UPM Formi is a recyclable and odorless composite which can be used to replace plastic in many instances. UPM Formi composite granulates are manufactured from clean polymers and pulp. UPM offers the granulates in three grades for injection molding – Formi GP for general use, Formi SP for special surface, and Formi TP for technical applications. The UPM Formi -material has already been used in the manufacture of a mobile phone microscope, launched by KeepLoop Oy.