Paper 360
Once again, the industry excelled with outstanding, high-quality entries in the PPI Awards 2016.
MARK RUSHTON
The Radisson Blu Hotel in Brussels was the scene of much celebrating recently when some of the top pulp and paper companies and individuals working in the industry picked up awards for outstanding achievements. The PPI Awards honor leadership, vision, innovation and strategic accomplishments within the pulp and paper industry and are the only global awards dedicated to recognizing the achievements of companies, mills, and individuals in the sector. Meet the winners:
Bio Strategy of the Year
Sponsored by Paper360° Magazine
Winner: UPM
UPM is already well established in the bio-economy area of the industry with its Biofore concept and slogan. The company continues on its trailblazing, pioneering path, stating that its purpose is to “replace non-renewable materials with renewable, recyclable and low impact alternatives, the main drivers for the bio-economy.” And it is walking the walk. UPM’s wood-based biofuels combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas and tailpipe emissions in traffic and replacing oil-based materials with renewable composites; for example, in injection molding, wood-based biochemicals act as renewable performance enhancers.
Environmental Strategy of the Year
Winner: Bio PAPPEL
This Mexican company has set the environmental bar for the manufacturing industry in the country. Bio PAPPEL has allocated more than US$160 million in environmental investment, 90 percent of which is used for the installation and improvement of its Bio-ENERGY cogeneration system. To use cleaner and more efficient energy, the company has reduced the purchase of electric power from the national electricity system by 37.3 percent since 2011, and increased its own co-generation by 264.1 percent in the same period. This system operates in the company’s six largest paper mills. In 2016, the co-generation system started operations in the paper mill located in the state of Queretaro.
Financial Strategy of the Year
Sponsored by NOREXECO
Winner: UPM
Historically, UPM was a vertically integrated company. In the early part of the new century, it became clear that graphic paper markets in Europe and the US were going to be declining markets. It was also clear that long-term fundamentals for growth and profitability in the other parts of the company’s value chain—such as pulp, energy, label materials, specialty papers, and bio-products—offered value-added alternatives. In order to mitigate risks and capitalize on these opportunities, UPM started, and now continues, its increasingly successful business strategy.
Resilience—Managing Risk
Sponsored by FM Global
Winner: Mondi Group
In 2012, the Mondi DLC executive committee made a decision to upgrade fire protection across all operations. A practical fire protection code was launched, looking at how best to safeguard people and operations from the hazards of fire. Mondi Group’s six-year program for 2013-2018 includes almost 200 projects to be completed and an investment of around Euro 20 million (US$21.2 million). In addition to better fire protection, the program has achieved a significant improvement in its fire-risk rating from insurers (reducing the total loss estimate by more than 25 percent) and reduced insurance claims from fire-related losses. It is now assumed that the program will continue into 2020.
Tissue—Innovative Product of the Year
Sponsored by It’s Tissue
Winner: Papelera San Andres de Giles—Felpita Kids
Creative use of the latest design, printing, and embossing techniques available to tissue producers, coupled with an innovative marketing campaign, has seen this Argentinian company gain an impressive foothold in the bathroom tissue market. Aimed at children, the colorful story lines featuring cartoon animals are relayed in an educational, logical fashion, enabling the stories to unfold sheet after sheet.
Bringing Paper to Life—Innovative Printing & Writing Campaign of the Year
Sponsored by HP and ColorLok
Winner: Sappi North America—Holiday Kit
Sappi’s Holiday Kit contains gift wrapping and tags printed on high-quality coated paper, leveraging the science of touch to trigger a connection between the Sappi brand and the recipient, proving paper’s ability to deliver a truly memorable user experience. The kit also demonstrates Sappi’s paper solutions, giving the target audience the confidence to advocate for paper choices to enhance their brand communications in the future. To complete the sensory experience, parts of the Holiday Kit smelled like cinnamon and peppermint. The kits were highly successful, prompting numerous production inquiries.
Global CEO of the Year
Sponsored by StepChange Consulting
Winner: Kari Jordan, Metsä Group
Jordan was awarded the European CEO of the Year Award for 2016. Under Jordan’s leadership, the performance and prospects of Metsä Group have been transformed over the past four to five years. The group was at risk of failing at one point, but the management team made a number of shrewd decisions to turn the business around. Although sales were down over that period, the bottom line and the return on investment steadily improved, and the company’s investment in the new bio-product mill at Äänekoski is a symbol of the renewal of the Finnish forest industry.
Mill Manager of the Year
Sponsored by Valmet
Winner: Murray Hewitt, Greenpac Mill LLC
Hewitt was recruited to lead the US$470 million brownfield start-up from 2012. The mill, a state-of-the-art linerboard mill in Niagara Falls, NY, started up on July 15, 2013, as a partnership between Cascades, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Jamestown Container and Containerboard Partners. Since startup, it has gone from strength to strength on each of the four pillars the mill is structured on: safety, people development, operational excellence, and profitability.
The Fiber Based Packaging Innovation Award
Sponsored by Moorgate Capital
Winner: Mayr-Melnhof Karton Gesellschaft m.b.H.—FOODBOARD
The protection of consumer health is the top priority for the food packaging supply chain, particularly surrounding discussions about mineral oils in food. It therefore became an urgent challenge for producers to solve this problem. FOODBOARD is Mayr-Melnhof’s answer: an environmentally friendly cartonboard that opens up new packaging applications for the fiber-based packaging world. With its functional barrier, the board can replace existing plastic packaging, inner liners, or plastic compounds that have been used to prevent migration of unintended substances in the past.
The Water Efficiency Award
Sponsored by NALCO Water
Winner: Kimberly-Clark Corporation
A recent initiative at the company’s Beech Island, SC, mill resulted in the reduction of more than 200 million gallons of fresh water use in 2015 via recycling and has substantially lessened the impact to the local Savannah River watershed—a crucial municipal, recreational, and industrial water source for the region.
Entries were evaluated by panels of judges who independently reviewed the entries against the award criteria set out in each category. The judges on this year’s panels were:
• Adam Bushong, Dell
• Bob Latham, Delphi Projects
• Bodo Kottowitz, Bkay Tissue Advice
• Donna Harman, AF&PA
• Esko Uutela, RISI
• Ilkka Hiirsalmi, Rollresearch International Ltd.
• John Pollard, Unilever
• Jonathan Roberts, Pryor Roberts Communications
• Kari Vainio, Kolumbus
• Nicholas Mockett, Moorgate Capital
• Richard Donovan, Rainforest Alliance
• Robert Wilson, AMEC
• Rod Young, RISI
For more details on the award ceremony, the judges’ panel, or the list of finalists, please visit www.ppiawards.com.
2016 PPI Awards Runners-up
Bio Strategy of the Year Award:
• BILT Graphic Paper Products Limited—Bhigwan Unit
• Metsä Group
• Mondi Group
• Resolute Forest Products
Environmental Strategy of the Year:
• BillerudKorsnäs
• Graphic Packaging
International, Inc.
• Mondi Group
• Sappi North America
• Smurfit Kappa
• WestRock India
Financial Strategy of the Year:
• Middle East Paper Company
• Metsä Group
• Rengo Co., Ltd.
• Stora Enso
Resilience—Managing Risk:
• BILT Graphic Paper Products Limited—Unit-Ballarpur
• Bio PAPPEL
• Middle East Paper Company
• Smurfit Kappa
Tissue—Innovative Product of the Year:
• Kimberly-Clark Corp., NA Consumer Tissue—Scott
Tube-Free Toilet Paper
• SATU Laboratory—Gel Wipe
• SCA—Tork EasyCube
• Sofidel S.p.A.—Dissolve Tech
• WEPA Group—WEPA Hybrid
Fair Fiber
Bringing Paper to Life—Innovative Printing & Writing Campaign of the Year:
• Bio PAPPEL—“Made from Yourself” Campaign
• Sappi North America—The Neuroscience of Touch: Haptic Brain, Haptic Brand
• Waste Collection and Recycling Co.
Global CEO of the Year:
• A.S. Mehta, President, JK
Paper Limited
• Doyle Simons, President and
CEO, Weyerhaeuser
• Kiyoshi Otsubo, Chairman, President and CEO, Rengo Co., Ltd.
• Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO,
Sofidel S.p.A.
• Sami Safran, CEO, Middle East Paper Company
• Walter Schalka, CEO, Suzano
Mill Manager Award:
• Jay Hennessey, Pratt Paper
Indiana, Valparaiso, IN
• Jim Roeder, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Fullerton, CA Mill
• Klaus Peller, Mondi, Syktyvkar
• Pavan Kumar Suri, JK Paper Mills, a unit of JK Paper Limited
The Fiber Based Packaging Innovation Award:
• Grupo Gondi—6 Pack Sash
• iFoodbag—Keeps Goods Chilled and Frozen for up to 24 Hours
• Metsä Board—“Elevated
Drink Box”
• Mondi-Industrial Bags—HYBRIDPRO
• Sappi Europe—Algro Guard OHG
• Smurfit Kappa—HotKan
The Water Efficiency Award:
• BillerudKorsnäs AB
• BILT Graphic Paper Products Limited—Bhigwan Unit
• JK Paper Mills, Rayagada,
Odisha, India
• Smurfit Kappa
• WestRock India
Winners take the stage at the PPI Awards 2016.
