timbernews
A magazine for SCA’s solid wood products customers | www.scatimber.com
1
2016
Competence team
– with a focus on the customer’s needs
World-class customer service
The future is bright
for Mill Sales in the UK
Participants in the competence team
from Nordlam Rubner: Tobias Lebbäus,
Nicole Wendt, Fabian Liste och Martin
Krispler.
Customer needs
top of the agenda
3
Competence team – focusing
on customers’ needs
5
Investing in world-class
customer service
6
Bright future
for Mill Sales operation 8
New thesis focuses on the
forest-saw-customer value chain 9
SCA invests on the Atlantic coast 10
Movers and shakers
10
New website in France
11
Rise in construction
brings hope of an upturn
for solid-wood products
11
The scent of the forest
12
TimberNews SCA Forest Products AB
SE-851 88 Sundsvall, tel +46 60 19 30 00
www.scatimber.com
Timber News is published four times a year
Editor-in-chief Björn Lyngfelt
Production KarMin kommunikation
Repro & printing Åtta.45 Tryckeri AB, Sundsvall
Feel free to quote us, but please
name us as your source.
so that we truly deliver the best service in
the customer’s eyes.
‘Putting the customer first’, ‘customer
focus’, ‘customer-oriented’ – there are all
sorts of pithy expressions making clear the
importance of prioritising customer needs
and benefits. But for the words to mean
anything, a supplier has to gain a deep
understanding of these customer needs.
And then the supplier also has to incorporate these needs as targets and guiding
parameters in their own business.
forms of collaboration with customers, it
all begins with an understanding of the
customer’s needs. And only the customer
has that information. We need to listen to
our customers.
Within our own organisation, it is primarily the salespeople that have contact
with the customers. They have to feed their
experiences into the rest of SCA Timber’s
organisation and they need to involve more
people in the contact with the customer –
people who are able to work on planning,
production or logistics.
It is only once the customer’s needs are
known and prioritised throughout our
own organisation and production chain
that we can seriously begin to talk about
being customer-oriented. It is only then
that we can create value together.
It is easy for the customer to become the
content
Subscribe to Timber News, please
contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com
We are here for our customers, or
rather, we are nothing without our
customers.
responsibility of the salesperson, while the
rest of the organisation concentrates on
their own particular part of the value
chain: raw material checks, production
efficiency, logistics. The effect can be that
what the customer is offered is merely the
result of our own, internal optimisation
process. And there is no guarantee that this
is what the customer actually wants.
But whatever the approach and the
Ante Andersson,
Marketing Director
We have sought out concrete ways to
incorporate a customer focus into our everyday reality. The first step is an in-depth
dialogue. Together with priority customers, we have created competence teams
that, on our side, have mastery over every
step of the value chain up to the customer
and on the customer side are able to
explain how this value can be improved.
In these teams, we work on every step of
the chain to increase the value of what
SCA Timber does and so improve the
customer’s profitability. If we can help to
improve the customer’s profitability, in the
long term this should also lead to improvements in our own.
But even where we don’t have the indepth collaboration of the competence
team, we still seek to add value for the
customer. We develop our customer offer
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
Photo: Mats Wigardt
Creating value together
SCA TIMBER is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of wood-based products,
with an annual production of 2.1 million cubic metres. The product range is
supplemented with service and distribution solutions for customers in the wood
industry and builders’ merchant sector.
SCA Timber is part of SCA’s Forest Products business unit, which produces
publication papers for newspapers, magazines and catalogues, as well as
paper for packaging, solid wood products, pulp and renewable energy.
SCA Forest Products also manages SCA’s extensive forest holding and supplies
SCA’s Swedish industries with wood raw materials, in addition to offering
cost-efficient transport solutions to SCA’s units.
timbernews | 2
Martin Krispler and Tobias Lebbäus at the German company Nordlam Rubner,
believe that the competence team is vital for both parties’ success.
Photo: Mats Wigardt
Customer needs top of the agenda
Nordlam Rubner is the biggest glulam
manufacturer in Europe. The two modern
production lines next to the River Elbe in
eastern Germany have a total capacity of
over 250,000 cubic metres, supplying
across Europe.
The raw material is exclusively slowgrown spruce, which is delivered by rail and
road. Six thousand cubic metres of sawn
spruce wood products are turned out every
week, ready for checking, drying, sorting
and scanning, before being cut, fingerjointed and glued in standard dimensions.
The cosmetic look is important. Nordlam Rubner’s customers demand the highest standards of the finished product.
Black knots are removed and the holes
plugged. Planes and sanders are handled
manually for the final polishing.
Nordlam Rubner used to work with
around 40 different suppliers of raw material. Now four large-scale producers of
3 | timbernews
sawn wood products, including SCA
Timber, meet over 80 percent of the
company’s needs.
Martin Krispler, Purchasing Manager at
Nordlam Rubner, was thus pleased to see
that SCA had recently started dealing with
its own sales, rather than using agents who
sold wood from many different clients.
“We need raw material of the highest
quality and we prefer direct contact with
the companies we work with,” says Martin
Krispler.
As Krispler explains, success in reducing
stocks, for example, depends on punctual
deliveries, updated information and well
developed channels of contact. And this in
turn relies on a partnership without any
filters.
“We know what we need, when we need
it, and we have to be clear and open about
this with whoever we’re working with,”
clarifies Krispler.
Another step towards a more in-depth
dialogue between supplier and manufacturer was taken recently, when SCA Timber
invited selected customers to create joint
competence teams.
“Nordlam Rubner is a large and modern
customer with a strong interest in working
with us to review profitability along the
whole value chain,” explains SCA Timber’s
Marketing Director, Ante Andersson.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
When SCA Timber suggested taking their partnership to the next level with a joint
competence team for in-depth dialogue, Martin Krispler, Purchasing Manager at
Nordlam Rubner in Magdeburg, Germany, didn’t hesitate for a second.
“It’s easier to do well when both sides are pulling in the same direction,” he
explains.
Ville Liimola is captain of the competence
team that was put together by SCA Timber
and Nordlam Rubner.
It’s easier to do well
when both sides are pulling
in the same direction.”
Martin Krispler,
Purchasing Manager, Nordlam Rubner
Ville Liimola, who is responsible for
SCA Timber’s sales to Germany and
captain of the team that was put together,
draws a comparison with the treatment that
an airline loyalty card confers on the holder:
If there is a delay, the priority customer gets
sorted out first.
“Our focus is on giving the customer
what they want,” he says. “And on finding
joint ways to increase the value of the deal.
Ideally, we want to make life easier for both
parties.”
The competence team comprises ten
key members with expertise in selected
areas, six from SCA and four from Nordlam. The plan is for them to meet on a regular basis, either on the phone or face to face,
twice a year. The first meeting was held a
little over six months ago, and it has all continued from there.
“Each party invests money and personnel in optimising the process from raw
Nordlam Rubner’s large glulam factory is located in Rothensee,
outside Magdeburg in eastern Germany.
material to finished product,” reports Ville
Liimola. “This shows both drive and commitment.”
Openness and an ambition to grow
together are what lie at the heart of the project. Logistics, quality, planning and customer service are areas where there is good
potential for change, improvements and
savings.
With a target of selling 40,000 cubic
metres of sawn wood products to Nordlam
in 2016, a saving of one euro per cubic
metre soon adds up. And Ville Liimola feels
Photo: Mats Wigardt
it is not inconceivable that the potential
savings over the long term may be many
times greater – something that benefits
both parties.
“Getting to know each other makes
for smoother communication, so that a
solution can quickly be found if a problem arises,” he explains.
Tobias Lebbäus, assistant to Martin
Krispler and a member of the competence
team, agrees.
“We previously only communicated
via email and phone,” he says. “Now we
sit down and tease out the problems
Nordlam Rubner, the largest manufacturer of glulam in Europe, with a production capacity of well over 250,000 cubic metres.
Photo: Mats Wigardt
timbernews | 4
together, instead. We get to know each
other, try to find a shared language, give
quick feedback and know where to turn,
at the right level and without any detours.”
One example is that fresh wood products
from Tunadal were long transported in
covered rail wagons. But in the summer it
gets far too hot in the wagons, which
damages the wood. This issue was raised
by the competence team, and now the
wood is transported in open wagons instead.
Another example is that there were no
detailed plans stating who at the sawmill
should be contacted if Nordlam’s production planning needed to be revised for
some reason. Now there are clear contact
channels for each issue, with horizontal
communication instead of the vertical
variant.
“We draw up a joint agenda for each
meeting and examine one issue at a time,
finding a solution step by step,” sums up
Ville Liimola.
Martin Krispler believes that an open
and constructive dialogue, free from any
smokescreens, is vital for both parties’ success. The quality of products and deliveries
is a priority issue in his view. And the
results, he thinks, have not been slow in
coming.
“It’s actually quite simple,” he says. “If
we don’t sell any glulam beams, SCA isn’t
selling any raw material either.”
Martin Krispler sees the collaborative
model now being applied by SCA and
Nordlam as entirely unique. Of course discussions are also conducted with other
suppliers, but not nearly in as much detail
and in such structured forms as the competence team.
“If we can manage to bridge the differences in culture and history, it could take
us a long way,” believes Martin Krispler.
“In five years we might not need the team,
because we know each other so well that
communication works well without it – to
our mutual benefit.”
Mats Wigardt
FACTS
The family-owned Rubner Group has almost 90 years’ experience in wood, with
operations in Italy, Austria, Switzerland,
Germany, Slovenia, France and Poland,
plus a presence in a further 15 or so
countries. The Group has 1,500 employees in total, across five strategic
areas: the wood industry, wood structures, construction projects, homes and
doors, which in turn are distributed
between 31 companies.
5 | timbernews
Lars-Ivar Eriksson, Sales Manager Scandinavia, Mill Sales.
Photo: Per Anders Sjöquist
Competence team
– focusing on customers’ needs
Over the years in which Lars-Ivar Eriksson has been selling timber to
SCA Timber’s customers in Scandinavia, he has seen a number of important
changes resulting in a greater focus on customers’ needs.
The competence team is one more step in this same direction.
Lars-Ivar Eriksson’s route into SCA
Timber was via various posts at the sawmill in Munksund and on the Scandinavian sales team, before finally reaching the
job he has today, as Sales Manager for
Mill Sales Scandinavia.
During this time, much has remained
the same. The basis of the business, then
as now, is dried pine, geared towards
major industrial customers who produce
flooring, furniture and windows.
But even more is new. Like the way the
proportion of spruce has become considerably larger and in some places dominant
over pine, while the furniture segment has
radically shrunk. New technology, heartwood sorting and a greater focus on
sorting by length are other innovations.
“Another major and key difference is
that there’s a greater commitment at each
sawmill now, as a result of customers
making more specific requirements,” says
Lars-Ivar Eriksson. “The right amount of
the right product at the right time is no
longer simply a wish, it’s a deal-breaker.”
The dialogue between customer and
supplier has deepened. There is more
understanding. Both sides are clearer and
are prepared to put time and resources
into attaining a better result.
Priority customers are nothing
new for SCA Timber, but Lars-Ivar
Eriksson thinks that over the years the
relationship has matured.
“It’s no longer just down to price,”
he explains. “There are plenty of other
things that affect profitability.”
To identify what these might be and
the way in which they affect profitability, special competence teams are now
being set up with representatives of
customers and suppliers. In Scandinavia alone, this initially involves about
ten companies.
“This isn’t something that’s just
happened out of the blue,” says LarsIvar Eriksson. “It’s part of carrying on
along an established path towards
more of a mutual appreciation of the
importance of profitability for both
sides.”
And he adds reassuringly that there
has been a lot of interest.
“Where we’ve got it up and running
so far, the reception has been hugely
positive,” he says. “Plenty of people are
keen to get involved in working to find
solutions that benefit the whole value
chain.”
Mats Wigardt
Investing in
world-class customer service
Photo: Michael Engman
Caroline Nordlander has been working for SCA for
many years and has experience from the whole forest
process industry. Her most recent post was at Tunadal
sawmill where she worked as a team leader in goods out.
She is now starting an exciting journey where the focus
is on business care.
“I will be responsible for coordinating and driving
business care issues. The role includes making sure
we have consistent procedures and working methods
throughout the process and that we have the same high
quality of service no matter where or when a customer
contacts us,” Caroline explains.
The focus on business care builds on a study carried
out in 2015, headed by Lars Norberg, Logistics Manager
at SCA Timber. The study clearly shows that there is a
great need to coordinate work on business care and that
it is important to constantly measure and monitor the
quality of customer service and customer relations.
“Customers want a close dialogue with us and we
need to adapt to their needs better. Our customers are
looking for good communication and want a relation-
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
In 2016 SCA Timber is focusing on business care.
The aim is to improve customer relations and
customer service by making the sales process,
administration and logistics more efficient.
As part of the initiative, Caroline Nordlander
was employed on 1 February as Business Care
Controller.
Caroline Nordlander is coordinating and running the customer
service development work.
ship based on our being able to provide tailored solutions,” Caroline continues.
To ensure a good customer experience overall, the
business care concept needs to be developed and become
more effective on several levels.
“When it comes down to it, it’s about offering a service, and services, that meet the customer’s needs. Sales,
planning, customer service and logistics – it all has to tie
in together and we need high quality at every link in the
chain,” says Caroline.
In 2016 Caroline will be surveying what working
methods and procedures look like at the different saw-
timbernews | 6
The focus that SCA is now placing
on customer relations means we can
plan our business even better and
further optimise the whole flow.”
Ragnar Berg, ceo of Norsk Limtre
mills. Depending on what the survey shows, some
changes may need to be made.
“We already have a great deal of knowledge in house.
It’s important to draw on the best practice we already
have and pass it on to all our employees. If we’re going
to provide world-class customer service, we need to be
one step ahead. Success depends on all employees having
the knowledge they need and being given the right information. This is especially important at certain critical
times, like when we have lots of temporary staff,” Caroline points out.
The focus on business care will produce tangible
results for customers.
“In practice we will be doing the same things but in
a new and more consistent way. This is positive for our
staff and for our customers too. We hope our customers
will experience this as an extremely positive move.
Improvements at every stage of the process reduce the
risk of errors and will enable us to provide an even more
professional service. This will be clearly seen in even
greater efficiency,” says Caroline.
products and fairly short planning periods, it needs its
suppliers to be extremely flexible. Norsk Limtre needs
tailored deliveries, at the right time and with efficient
stock management.
“For us, having good communication with our supplier has been vital. We already have a good relationship
and good deliveries in our relationship with SCA. The
focus that SCA is now placing on customer relations
means we can plan our business even better and further
optimise the whole flow. This will make us even more
efficient day to day and means we are able to continue
to develop our products,” concludes Ragnar Berg, CEO
of Norsk Limtre.
Patricia Knutsson
One customer that SCA has been working with for
many years is Norsk Limtre AS. The company is based
in Mosvik, a small community about 100 km north-east
of Trondheim in Norway.
Norsk Limtre is one of Norway’s largest glulam
manufacturers. The company was founded in 1992 and
has had its ups and downs over the years. In the early
21st century the glulam industry collapsed and many
manufacturers went out of business, but Norsk Limtre
managed to survive.
“It was partly down to finding new products, but also
because we reviewed our efficiency and profitability,”
says Norsk Limtre’s CEO Ragnar Berg.
He thinks that one important element in this work is
the ability to be flexible, cost-effective and change with
the times.
“We worked on product development and today
we’re operating in a global market. To be able to reinvent
yourself as we’ve had to, you need a good relationship
with your supplier and you need them to listen and
understand your needs. SCA has played an important
role here,” Ragnar Berg continues.
SCA and Norsk Limtre have developed a unique busi-
ness relationship based on the needs that Norsk Limtre
has.
“The sorting and quality of the products that SCA
delivers has met our needs well and we’ve developed our
partnership over the years. SCA listened to us and had
an excellent ability to optimise lengths that enabled us
to get maximum usage out of them,” says Ragnar.
Because the company works with non-standardised
7 | timbernews
“The sorting and quality of the products that SCA delivers has met our needs well
and we’ve developed our partnership over the years,” says Ragnar Berg, CEO of
Norsk Limtre.
Bright future
for Mill Sales operation
SCA Timber Mill Sales UK is looking to the future with the help of a
new leader. 2016 sees a fresh start with new customer partnerships,
product portfolio expansion and improved customer service levels.
The journey of growth is just beginning for the Mill Sales Team.
For the past 10 years, SCA Timber
has been supplying high quality
timber to the UK market via SCA’s
King George Dock terminal at the
port in Hull, Yorkshire.
Customers are serviced with direct
sales from SCA’s sawmills in Sweden
together with the option of accessing
timber from the terminal. In order to
support demand, SCA send two vessels of pine and spruce material each
month to ensure a consistent flow of
goods into the UK market.
The summer of 2015 saw SCA
increase their reach to a nationwide
coverage. A liner service is now delivering goods into the Port of Sheerness, Kent, which is better for customers based in the South of England
with better delivery times and cost
now available.
At the beginning of this year,
Stephen King took up the position of
Sales Director and has hit the ground
running.
Stephen is well known in the UK
timber industry and has worked for
SCA, mainly at SCA’s Timber Supply
business stream, for over 15 years.
With key contacts in the market,
Stephen is sure to lead the Mill Sales
organisation into the future. He has
The customer support staff, Diane Bailey and Sarah Mumby,
in the office at Melton.
many plans for growth and a ready
enthusiasm to improve this key area
of the UK market.
Supporting Stephen’s drive is an
experienced team of four; two sales
staff, Caroline Evans and Neil
Morris, and two customer support
staff, Diane Bailey and Sarah Mumby.
“I have high ambitions to develop
the business in the UK,” comments
Stephen. “Firstly we aim to better our
customer service levels. We are currently building much closer partnerships with our Swedish sawmills and
with our customers to improve
response times and exceed expectations. SCA Timber has recently
employed a new Business Care Controller whose single aim is to improve
the service levels by enhanced processes and procedures. We are also
aiming to bring in a SAP related
customer relationship management
(CRM) tool during this year which
will enhance and streamline our efficiencies.”
Looking to the future, the Mill
Sales team are keen to grow existing
key relationships and gain new customers in conjunction with the
demands of the business.
Stephen King, Sales Director, with
high ambitions to develop SCA Timber
Mill Sales UK.
Now supported by a wider delivery reach, there is a new market base
to target. Stephen is in the process of
conducting a full review of the current portfolio.
“In order to provide our customers with an improved offer we must
first assess and look to expand our
product range. It is vital that we are
offering the right products for the
demands of the current market,” he
says.
With such drive for continuous
improvement, the foundations for the
imminent growth of the UK Mill
Sales operation are being laid.
The future of SCA Timber in the
UK is certainly looking bright.
Amy Sellers
SCA Timber supplies high quality timber to the UK market via SCA’s King
George Dock terminal at the port in Hull.
timbernews | 8
New thesis focuses on
the forest-saw-customer value chain
Magnus Larsson has spent many
years trying to highlight the
importance of greater collaboration between forestry and industry. But the time has not been
right. As a doctoral student in the
industry, he is now finally putting
figures to the potential for development in the value chain.
Magnus sets the tone for his thesis
with the heading ‘Value creation and
efficiency in wood mechanical value
chains – from forest to market’. It is
about explaining what could be
achieved through better collaboration.
Magnus Larsson is a certified
forester who has worked on forest
planning, forest maintenance and
purchasing issues over a 25-year
career. The link between forestry and
industry has been a common thread
running through his professional life.
So when the opportunity arose, as
a doctoral student, to run with this
question, Magnus Larsson was quick
to seize it. And after several years of
work he is now ready to present the
results in his thesis.
“It’s actually quite simple,” he
says. “The main area that can be
improved is the information about
the needs of the end customer. Objectives, figures, processes and support
systems are vertical rather than horizontal.”
He gives examples of good value
chains with a clear customer focus
and a capacity to quickly adapt to
new customer demands, such as
IKEA and Toyota.
He suggests that the forest industry has a lot to learn in this respect.
As the sawmill industry moves from
producing a standard range to delivering customer-specific products, the
link between the forest and the rest of
the value chain offers the greatest
potential for improvement.
There are many reasons for this
– complex logistics with incessant
disruptions to raw material deliveries, targets and bonus systems that
fail to take account of the bigger pic-
9 | timbernews
Doctoral student Magnus Larsson knows what can be gained from better collaboration along the whole
value chain, from forest to customer.
Photo: Per Anders Sjöquist
ture and failure to communicate are
just some of them.
“We simply can’t be confident
enough that the industry will receive
the raw material it has ordered,” he
relates. “But it’s also a question of
knowing what can reasonably be
ordered, considering the conditions
that forestry operates under.”
In his study, Magnus Larsson
points out that customer benefit must
be clarified all the way back from the
customer, via the sawmill, to the raw
material supplier, and they in turn
need to be able to offer reliable forecasts and deliveries back up the chain.
He also stresses the importance of
having a ‘guide’ for managing disruptions and deviations.
“In traditional, capital-heavy
industry, an attitude has taken root
that it is better to push down costs
than be flexible and consider the raw
material’s potential and the customer’s needs,” says Magnus.
In his thesis he presents a model
for mapping out the supply chain. He
wants to use this to understand and
identify bottlenecks, in order to gradually improve the customer focus
while maintaining efficiency.
He points out that concern over
customers not being able to receive
what they ordered leads to solid-
wood product manufacturers building up large stocks of finished goods.
Of the total 24-week lead time from
harvesting in the forest to delivery to
a customer in the UK, half is waiting
time in a warehouse near the customer.
“This is a classic example of what
an unwanted log delivery to the sawmill can lead to,” explains Magnus
Larsson. “And it represents a missed
opportunity to improve efficiency
and reduce costs in the chain from
forest to customer.”
With a model for more specifically
highlighting the importance of valueadding measures in the form of good
forecasts and reliable deliveries of
raw material, knowledge about the
appearance and internal properties of
the log, and thus new customer offerings, the tools exist to achieve a better
collaboration between forest and
sawmill.
“This is a vital issue for the industry, and one in which SCA, with its
major forest holdings and its close
collaboration with large-scale, development-driven solid-wood customers, should have excellent potential to
stay a long way ahead of the pack,”
concludes Magnus Larsson.
Mats Wigardt
SCA invests on the Atlantic coast
On 23 February a contract was signed to
invest in a new site in Rochefort. This
means that the working operations that
SCA Timber France has in Rochefort will be
combined on one site by 2018. The offices
and the two operations (import and industry) will be relocated at the end of the process.
The new site is located just near the current
site. The geographic situation by the harbour in Rochefort gives SCA Timber France
the best location for import and export operations. The relocation to the new site will
be performed in two phases. In the first
phase, SCA Timber France will move all the
import operation. In phase two, in 2018, the
industrial part will be relocated. This matter
will continue to be investigated in autumn
2016.
“The investment will strengthen the
position in France for SCA Timber as a
whole and now we can make our business
development stronger in the French market.
It will provide positive development for our
operation in France and secure growth for
the future,” says Benjamin Bodet, Managing
Director of SCA Timber France.
This is an important investment which
gives us new prospects. Once the process
has been finalised, we should be able to
increase the integration of the operations,
improve synergies and invest in modern new
equipment to be able to offer the customers
the highest level of service.
“We should be able to modernise production within a period of three years. This
is something we have really longed for. But
to make the modernisation happen, we need
a decision on further investments. By the
end of the year we are counting on starting
a process to find the best solutions for the
future, so we can meet and serve our customers in a more efficient way,” says Benjamin.
Our logistic are going to be more efficient and simultaneously we will decrease
our costs. With the new installation we will
also continue to decrease the carbon footprint from our operations.
“When we modernise our equipment, we
will be able to increase productivity. Production will be safer and more efficient,
with less of an impact on the environment.
This is something our customers expect of
us,” explains Benjamin Bodet.
The new site should meet the certification
criteria of ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.
The investment is also a new start for
SCA Timber France and will be a good platform for the future.
“The project should give us the opportunity to meet the requests from our customers
in a better way and will be a good starting
position for developing new products. An
important part of this is to focus on employee
safety and improving the work environment.
We are therefore planning to focus in particular on the workplace and the corporate
areas,” continues Benjamin.
Within the relocation project, we will also
go through all the production equipment.
We are aiming for a reorganisation of our
teams and workforce at administrative and
operational level.
“The work on the new site will give us the
opportunity to attract the best talent to our
company and it will push us a step ahead. We
should also be able to meet the needs of our
existing and new customers in a better way,”
says Benjamin Bodet.
Movers and shakers
Benjamin Bodet took
on the role of Managing
Director of SCA Timber
France on 25 January
2016. Benjamin was
previously acting
Managing Director.
Brent Davies has
Anders Petersson,
been appointed Business
Development Manager,
SCA Merchant Services
in UK.
Business Performance
Manager at SCA Timber,
has been adding to the
strength at SCA Timber
China & S. E. Asia since
1 January 2016.
Jeremy Roussarie
Andrew Marston has
been appointed Business
Development Manager,
SCA Merchant Services
in UK.
took the position of
Sales and Marketing
Director since 14th
March 2016. At the same
time, Philippe Bence left
his post as Marketing
Director.
Stephen King has been
appointed Sales Director,
SCA Timber Mill Sales UK.
He took up his new position on 1 January 2016.
His previous position
was Commercial Director,
SCA Timber Supply UK.
Caroline Nordlander
took on a new role as
Business Care Controller
at SCA Timber on 1 February 2016. Caroline has
moved from her post as
team leader for goods out
at Tunadal sawmill.
Niclas Solberger,
Business Performance
Manager at SCA Timber,
will be reinforcing the
business team at
Tunadal sawmill during
the year.
Lars Trell, Business
Performance Manager at
SCA Timber, will mainly
be working on the
project ‘Sharp saw,
sharp business’ at
Tunadal sawmill.
timbernews | 10
Rise in construction brings hope of
an upturn for solid-wood products
Global demand for solid-wood products
increased in 2015.
This was partly fuelled by the USA, mainly
owing to increased construction activity.
Europe saw slightly slower but stable
growth. Sweden and the UK stood out with
a higher increase in demand.
In Japan too, demand increased after a
few weak years. In China strong demand
has tailed off into stagnation, mainly due to
a drop in construction. The furniture industry is doing better and here Swedish suppliers are strong.
In North Africa the solid-wood prod-
ucts market has continued to give cause for
concern. Demand is high, largely driven by
high construction needs in the region. But
financial problems, mainly in the major
pine markets of Egypt and Algeria, have
had a knock-on effect on sales. Low oil
prices are acting as a brake on the region’s
purchasing power.
Although global demand is strong,
oversupply has put pressure on prices in
many markets.
The fall of the rouble by 45 percent
against the Swedish krona in the space of
two years makes Russian suppliers much
more competitive in most markets. Russian production has not increased very
much, however, according to available statistics.
A fall off in demand from China and a
strong US dollar mean high supplies of
Canadian solid-wood products in the
United States.
In Europe the increase in production has
been moderate, apart from in southern
Sweden.
Given this situation the pine and
spruce markets developed in different
ways over the past year. The pine market
was under pressure from oversupply,
mainly from Russia, while the market
balance for spruce looked better, mainly
for spruce products for the construction
industry.
Currency trends are important. Russian
and Canadian suppliers are benefiting
from a weak rouble and a strong US dollar.
The strong dollar benefits Swedish suppliers too, but a weaker pound reduces competitiveness in the important UK market.
Anders Ek – new
Chairman of CEI Bois
Anders Ek, President of SCA Timber
Supply, has been elected Chairman of CEI
Bois for the 2016–2017 period.
CEI Bois is the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries, representing and defending the interests of the
woodworking and furniture industries
towards the European Union.
The organization includes more than
184,000 companies generating annual
sales of EUR 130 billion and employing
around 1.1 million workers in EU27.
More information about CEI Bois
http://www.cei-bois.org/en
SCA Timber at India Wood
Ante Andersson,
Marketing Director, SCA Timber
New website in France
SCA Timber France is proud to present its
new website.
Any distributor or user can access all the
important information about SCA Timber’s
business in France at:
www.scatimberfrance.com
The site was developed in close cooperation with the communications department
at the Sundsvall site. It is important to retain
and uphold the spirit of SCA.
General information, such as the catalogue, sales team contacts and facility details,
is available online. More specific and technical information, such as product data sheets
and environmental characteristics, can also
be downloaded.
In addition, the site is intended to be
entertaining, with a range of media, such as
videos, production photos or Timber News
articles, available for browsing.
Nowadays, the first port of call for any
user or distributor looking for a product is
the Internet, and more specifically Google.
11 | timbernews
In February SCA Timber China & S.E.
That is why we decided to develop our own
website, to enhance promotion of SCA
Timber France. Phase two will involve
improving our keyword strategy so that we
appear on the first page of results for online
searches of our range of products.
The Internet is changing the world. We
need to develop tools to stay connected.
Asia was one of the exhibitors at India
Wood in Bangalore, India. India Wood is
one of the world’s largest biennial woodworking events.
“We saw a great interest for the Indian
market from wood suppliers around the
world. Producers from Canada, Germany,
US etc were well represented at the fair.
SCA was the only exhibitor from the
Nordic countries which generated extra
interest from the visitors. This was the first
time SCA approached potential customers
in India to try to understand how our products can fit their demands and we are
happy with the response,” says Mathias
Fridholm, Managing Director, SCA
Timber China & S.E. Asia.
In this apparatus Anders Fahlén can distil plants into essential oils for use in
food and perfume.
The scent of
the forest
Spruce needles could well be the next top-selling perfume.
Anders Fahlén distils the top shoots from spruce trees and
extracts oil, which is mainly used for various perfumes. The
dream is a completely unique scent of northern Sweden.
Beneath a tarpaulin in Rö, a small village outside Härnösand, is an
impressive piece of distilling equipment, used to distil local plants to
make essential oils for use in food, spa products and perfumes.
It was designed by Anders Fahlén. With a
PhD in agronomy, he has spent many years
working as a consultant in South-East Asia.
This was where he came in contact with traditional knowledge of plants and their uses.
Back home in Sweden, he adapted his experiences to Swedish conditions.
Using his apparatus, Anders produces
essential oils from the plant kingdom of
northern Sweden, with plants including angelica, mint, meadowsweet, lovage, bog myrtle
and wild rosemary. New systems for the same
technique use steam and a vacuum.
“A vacuum gives you lower energy costs
and higher quality,” he explains.
His interest in what the plant kingdom has
to offer has recently led Anders Fahlén to try
extracting fragrance from spruce needles.
“It’s one way of marginally getting more
added value out of the forest,” he says, pick-
Anders Fahlén extracts essential oils from plants including spruce shoots.
ing out some test tubes filled with a yellowish liquid that gives off a
penetrating aroma of the forest.
The process is relatively simple. He packs the distilling equipment
with 300 kilos of spruce top shoots and passes steam through the
container while stirring. Eventually a mixture of oil and water, known
as herbal distillate, starts to drip from a tap
at the other end. After separating out the
water, what you have left is an essential oil
with a strong – but not at all unpleasant –
smell of the Swedish forest. Each batch produces about a litre of finished oil.
“It might not be very much but I’m more
interested in quality than quantity,” says
Anders.
The spruce tree offers up a wealth of
scents to compose into a perfume, with a
choice of up to 200 unique chemical substances.
Anders Fahlén dreams of working with
his two daughters to produce a special Swedish spruce-based perfume.
“Better the genuine scent of northern
Sweden than a copy of Provence,” he concludes.
Mats Wigardt. Photo: Frida Sjögren