Company to expand in Asia and US

Iggesund completes staff restructure as it hails 2017 bioenergy goal

By Jenny Eagle

- Last updated on GMT

The Recovery boiler has been installed at the mill in Sweden
The Recovery boiler has been installed at the mill in Sweden

Related tags Iggesund paperboard Pulp and paper industry

Iggesund Paperboard has restructured its management team following the arrival of 38-year-old CEO Annica Bresky and is on track to running its mill in Sweden on bioenergy by 2017. 

Bresky was previously CEO of BillerudKorsnäs Karlsborg and production manager for Stora Enso. She joined the company in October.

AnnicaBresky_460x490_2
Annica Bresky

Senior management team

At the same time, other senior positions became available and have now been filled. The firm hired Olov Winblad von Walter as manager of its Iggesund Mill, Sweden, Ulf Löfgren, manager of its Workington Mill, UK, and Tobias Bäärnman as financial director.

Staffan Sjöberg, public relations manager, Iggesund Paperboard, told FoodProductionDaily Bresky was in a unique position following the retirement of former CEO Björn Kvick.

Annica was very fortunate because at the same time as she arrived, we had two management vacancies at the mills, one director was promoted within the Holman group and there was another vacancy for a financial director​,” he said.

There were huge changes within the company and she had the unique opportunity of forming her own team which you don’t always have when you join a firm. She was able to influence those decisions and choose a management team that reflects the dynamism she wanted to see within the organisation​.”

Sjöbergadded the firm is close to running its Iggesund Mill in Sweden on bioenergy only by 2017, with no fossil emissions from the production of Invercote.

He said this was made possible by a $326m recovery boiler installed in June 2012 which enabled the mill to gradually increase its annual pulp production from 350,000 tonnes to 420,000.

Increasing pump production

Its sulphate process for pulp production separates out the cellulose fibres that comprise half the mass of a log and the other half consists of the wood’s binding agent, which is an energy-rich substance called lignin. It burns this in the recovery boiler and it produces enough steam and electricity to cover more than 90% of the mill’s energy needs.

We have now got the permits to increase our pump production than what we have today and over the next three years we will reach a stage where we can only run on energy we generate ourselves,” said Sjöberg​.

Our goals in the field of sustainability will never stop and our next target is to totally get away from all fossil use in production.​”

Iggesund’s board mill in Workington has also changed its energy source from fossil natural gas to biomass. This was realised by installing a $166m biofuel boiler. Today the mill operates solely on biofuel and supplies fossil-free electricity to the UK electricity grid.

Europe is our main market. Even though we’ve been selling Invercote to more than 100 countries we want to become more global. We have our sights set on Asia and we already have a foothold and offices there​,” said Sjöberg.

We are also focusing on the US and it’s just a matter of finding the right customers there. We only produce board from fresh fibres, which means our products have become more interesting for the food market given the publicity surrounding hygiene in the last year and awareness about boards made from recycled fibres. There is definitely an opportunity for us there​.”

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