Metsä Board and Heidelberg have entered a strategic collaboration focused on developing new packaging solutions through joint R&D projects, pilot production runs and customer demonstrations.
The partnership will bring together Metsä Board’s paperboard materials expertise and Heidelberg’s printing and converting technologies to improve operational performance and support changing customer requirements across the packaging value chain. Demonstrations and testing will take place at Heidelberg’s Print Media Centres as well as Metsä Board’s Excellence Centre and Design Studios.
Metsä Board said the collaboration is intended to help customers improve productivity and streamline production workflows, whilst Heidelberg said the agreement is designed to accelerate innovation in packaging production.
By combining Metsä Board’s lightweight paperboard materials with Heidelberg’s offset, flexo, digital printing and converting technologies, the companies said they aim to create packaging applications that meet increasing regulatory and performance requirements.
“Our collaboration with Heidelberg allows us to offer our customers new possibilities in packaging design and production efficiency, while maintaining our commitment to sustainability and premium quality,” said Erja Hyrsky, senior vice president of commercial operations at Metsä Board.
“Working closely with Heidelberg as a system integrator enables faster development and testing of solutions that support our customers’ evolving packaging needs,” Ms Hyrsky continues.
Metsä Board said its recyclable, fresh fibre-based paperboards combined with Heidelberg’s production technologies provide a platform for future packaging development.
“By combining advanced printing and converting technologies with Metsä Board’s premium lightweight paperboard, Heidelberg enables high-performance packaging applications for demanding market and regulatory requirements” says Andreas Lang, senior vice president of global accounts and packaging at Heidelberg.
Through the collaboration, the companies said they intend to support customers developing packaging solutions for evolving market demands.
“The cooperation combines materials expertise and production technology for demanding packaging applications,” Mr Lang concluded.
