timbernews
A magazine for SCA’s solid wood products customers | www.scatimber.com
1
2015
High expectations
for primed claddings
GREATER INCLUSION
BRINGS BETTER RESULTS
DEEPER PARTNERSHIP
WITH VEZZOLI IN ITALY
We need to make our
customers more profitable
Peter Sjöström, Product Manager
at Beijer Byggmaterial.
CONTENTS
Enthusiastic change
creates job satisfaction
and increases productivity 3
Friendship and respect
underpin long-term
cooperation agreement 6
High expectations
for primed claddings
8
Movers and shakers
11
Renewed activity
in the markets 11
With the wind in our sails
in Sanya, China
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 Tryckeribolaget
Subscribe to Timber News, please
contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com
Feel free to quote us, but please
name us as your source.
WE HAVE FOCUSED on becoming a good
supplier to the wood processing industry.
We have taken over tasks from our customers, keeping down waste and costs in the
supply chain. We have invested in delivering products that are tailored to the next
processing stage.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
Photo: Bosse Lind
Photo: Bosse Lind
S
CA Timber has gone from being a
fairly unassuming sawmill company
in northern Sweden to leading and driving
development in many areas. We have efficient and competitive sawmills. We work
with some of the world’s most demanding
customers, which requires us to up our
game. We have grown in selected markets,
within chosen market segments and together with customers who themselves are
at the forefront of development.
For more than 10 years now, we have
worked to a clear strategy, taking it step by
step, and it has brought us to where we are
now. We have a strong and resourceful
owner who believes in us and our strategy,
and who has given us the confidence to
invest more than SEK 2 billion over the
past 10 years. We have closed five sawmills
in order to take the five remaining sawmills
to the peak of quality and competitiveness.
We have focused on becoming a strong
supplier to builders’ merchants and for this
we have had to develop new competences
with regard to distribution, service and our
capacity to supplement our own products
with those that others do better. Our task is
to create an offering for our customers that
in turn keeps their customers satisfied.
But all this would be meaningless, if we
failed to be efficient at every stage. Improving productivity is a race that never ends.
We have tried to build improvement work
into our working processes, into everyday
operations at the sawmills, and into processing and distribution. Every day, we
must ask ourselves what we can do better,
and how we can offer our customers
added value.
WE REST SOLIDLY on three pillars, with
around a third of the business aimed at
builders’ merchants, a third at the wood
processing industry and a third at the
broader sawn timber market. We have
implemented major changes, both through
investment and work in the market. Our
focus over the coming years lies on making
as much as possible out of these changes,
becoming better at what we do and at
reducing costs along the whole supply
chain from raw material to customer.
The foundation on which we base our
business is SCA’s major forest holdings,
with their resource of high-quality sawn
timber. We need to extract the full value, the
full potential from this resource and ensure
that it reaches customers who can benefit
from this value. We need to give our customers the best possible conditions for improving their profitability, and this will enable us
to achieve our goal – to become Europe’s
most profitable sawn timber supplier.
Jonas Mårtensson
President, SCA Timber
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
Daily stand-up meetings with straight questions and answers at Tunadal’s planing mill are part of the development model that
leads to inclusion, challenge and responsibility – and thus also to better job satisfaction and increased productivity.
Enthusiastic change creates job
satisfaction and increases productivity
Despite changes and investments, it can be difficult to achieve the full potential that exists in the
interaction between person and machine. SCA
Timber has therefore introduced a development
model based on inclusion and daily follow-up,
which has resulted in better job satisfaction and
greater productivity.
S
o what is it that really drives a person to develop,
to learn more, to perform better? The results of a
study at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
provide a surprising answer.
Assuming that pay is already at a level where money
is not a constant worry, it is not primarily pay rises that
motivate highly educated and skilled employees to do a
good job.
There are, instead, three entirely different incentives
that govern performance and personal satisfaction.
These are inclusion, challenge and responsibility.
3 | timbernews
“It’s often the case that we know how things should
be, but we do something different instead,” says Jerry
Larsson, Technical Director at SCA Timber. “We’re
therefore not performing at quite the level that we
should be.”
He would, however, like to stress that the process
was not prompted by any startling alarm bells. It was
more a sense that several years of change management
work and major investments should have made an even
greater impression on productivity and results than
they have.
“We felt that we perhaps hadn’t fully managed to
make best use of our employees’ skills, that there was
more for us to tap into,” explains Jerry Larsson.
ERIK HÄGGSTRÖM works on business development
and strategic leadership training within SCA Timber.
He believes that people basically want to achieve good
results, but that the energy and motivation needed to
succeed is often bottled up.
It can sometimes be a question of ingrained patterns
and habits, or managers who do not allow enough
space for an employee’s creativity.
“People are driven by perfectionism, but in order to
develop this, a person has to be given responsibility and
feel involved,” he explains.
Development of a business-driven working method
has been under way within SCA Timber for a number of
years now. Inspired by SCA Hygiene, and following
study visits to several other companies, the system
known internally as TIPS – Timber Innovation and Performance System – has been gradually bedded in.
“But it’s certainly not a project with a set end date,”
emphasises Jerry Larsson. “It’s more of an ongoing task
aimed at coaching our employees so that they can perform better.”
A major key to success has been creating a disciplined
system for regular feedback, a kind of systematised ques-
Everyone essentially wants to
do a good job. But they have to
be given responsibility and feel
included.
tion time that is very open and pitched at a level that is
relevant to everyone taking part in the meeting.
What this basically involves is identifying the factors
that are necessary for success and then breaking these
down into targets at a level that the participants can
relate to and influence in their own work. And making
it clear who is then responsible for action actually been
taken, when this is to be done, and what the system is
for checking that it really has been done.
THE FIRST UNIT to introduce TIPS was the grading
plant at Tunadal Sawmill. Daily meetings, where everyone jointly goes through the points that have been
agreed on, have generated a clear increase in productivity and greater commitment among the employees.
And when the method was introduced at Rundvik
Sawmill, 108 actions were suggested in 27 days, resulting in a productivity rise of many percentage points.
Less forklift damage is one of the more tangible results of the development work
at Tunadal. Everyone takes responsibility and everyone knows what has to be done
to reach the target.
Principles
FOCUS
KSF*: What has to be done well to succeed, full list.
KPI*: Specific, measurable, controllable, correct.
TARGETS
The “tools” of the working method, analytically assessed,
EVERYONE in the company bears responsibility and understands
the objective.
EVALUATE
Measurement: Right frequency, method and results.
Reporting: Right information, to the right person, at the right time.
ACT
Reflect the results, identify issues, give correct response/information.
Format – WHO does WHAT and WHEN – and follow up.
* KSF = Key Success Factor
* KPI = Key Performance Indicator
timbernews | 4
According to Erik Häggström, when the employees
see that their proposals at the meeting are actually
acted upon, it encourages more people to think creatively.
“It has proven a simple and, at the same time, powerful tool – taking 15 minutes each day to set out what
is to be done and what obstacles have to be overcome
to achieve the set targets.”
“I’ve changed, from grumpy and negative to constructive and positive. It has proven to
be an exciting journey that has produced
clear results.”
DANIEL WIKLANDER, MANAGER OF TUNADAL’S PLANING MILL
JERRY LARSSON also reports that within Timber
Supply Scandinavia, there are several examples of units
where productivity and delivery capacity have become
substantially better in just a short time, sometimes
improving by as much as 10 to 15 percent.
“Inclusion leads to greater commitment among
employees, and this leads to improved performance
towards the customer,” he says.
AT THE PLANING MILL IN TUNADAL, manager Daniel
Wiklander first encountered the concept of “daily
operations management” in autumn 2013. He admits
that he was not particularly enthusiastic initially and
found it hard to see the benefits of the method.
“But I’ve changed, from grumpy and negative to
constructive and positive,” he asserts. “It has proven to
be an exciting journey that has produced clear results.”
Two short meetings are now held every day at the
planing mill – one with employees from customer service and goods out, the other with employees in production and maintenance.
For the duration of the 15-minute meetings, everything else is put on hold, phones are turned off and the
team comes together. Based on general factors for
achieving success in the business, the team jointly analyses what has been achieved and what remains to be
done.
The focus may be on reducing the amount of forklift
damage, increasing load volumes on lorries and ensuring reliable deliveries (on time, in full). These goals are
then broken down into measurable targets such as
safety, quality and performance.
THE RESULTS have been remarkable. Better informa-
tion, higher inclusion, greater influence, less complaining and a whole new level of job satisfaction. Not to
mention production that has exceeded the budget by
3,500 cubic metres.
“It’s certainly a winning concept,” reports Daniel
Wiklander with great pleasure.
Every other month, the team goes through the
agreed focus areas together, reflecting and analysing,
adding points and deleting those where the targets have
been achieved.
This provides a strong driver of individual and team
development. Everyone is involved, they know what
they have to do, when it has to be done and what the
concrete result of their work will be.
“This increased inclusion leads more to seek – and
be given – responsibility,” says Daniel Wiklander. “It’s
fantastic to see the way people develop in their work
and how productivity per hour of operation is actually
rising.”
5 | timbernews
“We’re on an exciting journey that is leading to clear results,” says Daniel Wiklander,
manager of Tunadal’s planing mill.
TIPS has now been rolled out successfully at all units
within Timber Supply Scandinavia. Next in line is
Timber Supply UK and then comes SCA Timber France.
The key to success is always inclusion and active, open
leadership, whether in log sorting, goods out, the sawmill or the marketing department.
“It’s a powerful tool for wide-ranging improvement
work that gives a better overview and makes it easier
for us to keep our promises,” concludes Jerry Larsson.
Mats Wigardt
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
Wood company Vezzoli is centrally located in the Italian city of Palazzolo. SCA has been
delivering sawn timber to Vezzoli for over a quarter of a century.
Friendship and respect
underpin long-term
cooperation agreement
An old relationship is set to be renewed when SCA and Italian ceiling and wall
cladding manufacturer Vezzoli S.P.A. extend their collaboration. Under this
agreement, SCA seeks to meet the company’s entire requirement for Nordic
spruce timber.
“We’ve decided to pay our biggest customer in Italy more attention,”
explains SCA’s Raffaele Parlato.
I
n Lombardy, just where the fertile Po plain
meets the low hills that, further to the
north, rise and become the Alps, are the cities
of Brescia and Bergamo. Right next door is
the sleepy little town of Palazzolo sull’Oglio.
Palazzolo’s history stretches back to the 9th
century AD. The town was once known as the
“Manchester of Italy” because of its collection of heavy industries.
It’s now a lot quieter on the narrow streets
that run alongside the river, where the Tower
of the People, which, at 85 metres, is the tallest round tower in Italy, extends above the
tiled roofs.
MANY OF PALAZZOLO’S industries have either
moved to new areas outside the community,
or have disappeared completely. But things
aren’t completely silent, there is still one factory left in the town.
In 1967, Gian Battista Vezzoli started a
small business manufacturing ceiling and
wall claddings for small joineries and DIY
stores in Switzerland and northern Italy.
Gradually, the company’s facilities were
extended along the disused railway lines that
ran through the town. One of the initial
investments made was in an in-house paint
shop and a modern planing line.
Vezzoli’s three children were still in school
when their father died unexpectedly. His
eldest son, Francesco, was quickly thrown
head first into the business and is now ably
assisted by his siblings Andrea and Valentina.
“Things have gone well for Vezzoli,” says
Raffaele Parlato, SCA Timber’s Sales Director
Brothers Francesco and Andrea Vezzoli run
the company.
Europe. “The company has succeeded in
riding out the economic storm, managing to
invest in new equipment and the installation
of solar panels on the factory roof. They’ve
also managed to develop a list of clients
throughout Italy and secured exports to
neighbouring countries to the north.”
THE COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIP be­tween Vezzoli and SCA began in the second
half of the 1980s. For the past 25 years, significant volumes of sawn timber have regularly been delivered by rail from northern
Sweden, via the terminal in Treviso, to the
factory in Palazzolo.
timbernews | 6
In all those years, the proportion of Vezzoli’s
raw material requirements satisfied by SCA
has been around the 35 percent mark. This
makes Vezzoli S.P.A. SCA’s biggest customer
in Italy by some margin.
Stimulus packages offered by the government to encourage renovation and energy
saving, covering both materials and labour,
have led to SCA managing to increase its
exports to Italy by 20 percent, mostly dried
and custom-length spruce timber sourced
from Tunadal.
“Because of this, the financial crisis hasn’t
affected us so badly,” says Parlato. “But
all parties have to adapt to the situation.
Old product ranges are struggling. The
window segment has almost completely disappeared.”
We’ve made a number of significant investments,
“
including in larger premises, a better paint shop
and a new production line.”
FRANCESCO VEZZOLI
SO WHEN SCA DECIDED to develop its Tun-
adal sawmill and Vezzoli was looking to the
future and wanting to expand its business
operations, discussions were opened on how
to extend the collaborative relationship
between the two companies.
Using more than 10 different suppliers,
in agreements that always left both parties
replaceable, had forced Vezzoli to build up a
significant buffer stock. At the same time,
unsurprisingly perhaps, the Italian planing
mill industry is characterised by small margins, with considerable difficulty in obtaining specialized wood raw materials at short
notice.
Vezzoli’s premises are located in the
middle of the town, surrounded by narrow
cobbled streets, houses and shops.
The rain clouds hang heavily in the grey
sky and the walls in the office are adorned
with rows of colourful oil paintings.
“I have a passion for art and believe it can
create a pleasant working environment,”
explains Francesco Vezzoli, sitting at the
shiny conference table.
HE TALKS ABOUT how the siblings have man-
aged their father’s legacy, with Francesco
acting as CEO and assuming responsibility
for purchasing and sales, his brother Andrea
handling finance and production, and his
sister Valentina taking care of administration.
“We’re a family, both at work and at
home – everyone has their roles,” he says. “We’re now one of the biggest companies
in town, with more than 20 employees.”
Vezzoli underlines the huge respect the
company has for the environment, pointing
out that it is self-sufficient in terms of the
energy it consumes, having its own means of
generating electricity, solar panels, and heat
generation using sawdust from production.
The company is also certified in accordance
with both FSC and PEFC.
“We’ve also made a number of significant
investments, including larger premises, a
7 | timbernews
Vezzoli has made a number of significant investments, including in larger premises, a better
paint shop and a new production line.
SCA has always been a major supplier for Vezzoli. Now that partnership is being
made even stronger.
better paint shop and a new production line,”
he says. “The financial crisis also brought
with it a partially new product portfolio and
forced us into new markets.”
THE FACTORY in Palazzolo currently extends
over an area of 30,000 square metres, with
three planing lines, sorting, drying and storage, and the company only produces to order.
However, in order to survive, you have to
be able to quickly adapt to customers’ changing requirements. For example, requirements
in the dry indoor climates of the Alps differ
sharply to their counterparts on Sicily or
Sardinia.
So, initiating a more in-depth collaborative relationship with a big supplier such as
SCA affords a level of security that did not
previously exist.
“SCA has always been an important supplier, and now that existing collaborative rela-
tionship is being developed even further,”
explains Vezzoli. “It enables us to reduce the
number of suppliers we use, bring our storage
volumes down, plus it gives us a sense of security, knowing that SCA guarantees the supply
of the raw material we need.”
The collaboration is based on three levels
– annual estimated volume, monthly inventory of current requirements and weekly reconciliation. In order to avoid having empty
shelves, a shared IT function is being developed that will handle relevant production
planning and transparency in respect of stock
balances.
“This will be a massive help,” says
Francesco Vezzoli. “A friendly relationship
characterised by mutual respect is now
being transformed into a professional and
trusting business relationship.”
Text and photo Mats Wigardt
Jens Karlsten is head of Sweden’s oldest timber yard, Canada Brädgård on Lidingö outside Stockholm. The business is owned by Beijer Byggmaterial.
High expectations
for primed claddings
Canada Brädgård on Lidingö, Stockholm, is Sweden’s oldest timber
yard to still be operating on the site where it was first founded. Now
Canada Brädgård is part of Beijer Byggmaterial. The shelves in the
old timber sheds carry a wide range of products, including primed
exterior claddings from SCA’s paint shop in Stugun.
I
t was in the late 19th century that ship’s captain Claes Bäckström returned home from the high seas
and decided to open a timber yard on Lidingö. He
decided on the name Canada during his years at sea,
and was perhaps inspired by a visit to the country.
In the early part of the last century, Lidingö began
to emerge as a smart suburb of Stockholm. This
marked an era of intensive housebuilding, with many
plots being developed. Starting a timber business at
this time appears to have been a smart move.
OVER THE YEARS that followed, the timber yard
expanded to include joinery and planing. The tim ber
came by boat to a special dock at Kyrkviken and was carried the last distance by horse and carriage.
A red brick building from 1908 reminds us of the timber
yard’s first years. There was once a steam engine here that
powered the belt-driven planers, and the building later
became a workshop for sharpening planer cutters and saw
blades.
THE WELL-WORN TIMBER SHEDS, with their canopies, slid-
ing doors and loading quay still in use today, are largely the
same as the scene in photographs from the 1920s.
In the 1960s, the business was developed to include the
manufacture of kitchens and small-scale housing. And in
1991 Beijer Byggmaterial purchased all the shares in the
company.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with being the
country’s oldest timber yard,” says branch manager Jens
Karlsten. “But now the time is ripe to leave Kyrkviken. By
the end of the year, we’ll have new premises that are more
suitable for today’s requirements and needs.”
Canada Brädgård on Lidingö is one of the 77 branches
timbernews | 8
Peter Sjöström, Product
Manager at Beijer
Byggmaterial, sees
an increase in demand
for painted claddings.
“The trend is for an increasing
“A lot of cladding for the money” is how he sums it
up.
across Sweden that make up Beijer Byggmaterial. Beijer
is a complete and nationwide supplier of building materials, with a range that spans renovation and newbuilds.
Four fifths of customers are professional tradesmen.
“We have a close partnership with local builders and
try to enter the process early on, in order to give our customers added value,” says Jens Karlsten.
Beijer’s range also includes primed exterior claddings,
a product that is increasingly in demand from professionals and private customers.
Jens Karlsten lists the advantages of primed: you save
money and time, and get a durable product with good
adhesion for the undercoat and top coat.
number of complaints in the first few years, an analysis
was conducted to identify what was needed for a better
product in the “Audi segment” as Sjöström puts it.
“We drew up a record-length specification of requirements with points that precisely described how and with
which paint and at which temperature the timber should
be painted,” he relates. “We also specified the quality of
the wood and even how the wood should be split.”
Now Beijer uses the long list of requirements when
negotiating with its suppliers. What they demand is dense
spruce that grows north of the Dalälven river, sawn in
specific lengths and painted correctly.
“It’s important to get things right actually in the
forest,” says Peter Sjöström. “It’s something we’ve talked
about for a long time, but never really managed – until
proportion of primed and painted PRODUCT MANAGER Peter Sjöström can only agree,
timber products and we need to
adding that fast-growing Beijer was quick to offer
painted exterior claddings to its customers. After a
be onboard with that.”
FACTS:
BEIJER BYGGMATERIAl has its roots in 1866,
when Firma G Beijer was formed in Malmö.
Today, the goal is for a third of sales to come
equally from major building contractors, smaller building firms and private DIY enthusiasts.
Since 2006, Beijer has been part of British
building materials supplier Wolseley, which
has 39,000 employees and a million customers in 18 countries. Together, the group has
3,000 sites on three continents, turning over
almost GBP 13 billion.
9 | timbernews
“We have a close partnership with local builders and try to enter the process early on, in order to give our customers added value.”
Markus Henningsson is Managing Director of
SCA Timber Supply Scandinavia, which has planing in
Tunadal and planing and painting in Stugun. In spring,
a new paint shop is opening in Tunadal with a focus on
customers in Sweden.
Today, primed or undercoated exterior claddings
make up around 10 percent of the total production of
240,000 cubic metres.
“But 35 percent of our exterior claddings are painted,”
says Markus Henningsson. “And of the claddings sold
to Beijer, half are painted, which makes them our biggest customer in this segment.”
PAINTED EXTERIOR CLADDINGS are one of the prod-
“You get a lot of panel for the money,” says branch manager Jens Karlsten about the
primed cladding as a product.
now. But the result is a satisfied customer and a forest
owner who earns more.
“In addition, the housebuilders are happy because
they can build all year round. This is very much a segment where demand is growing.”
As one of Sweden’s biggest resellers of planed
timber, Beijer has an established and long-running
partnership with SCA Timber Supply, partly for
structural timber but also primed exterior claddings. SCA is one of three suppliers with national
responsibility for deliveries directly to the store, in
line with the concept of “On time, in full”.
“We’re really steaming ahead,” relates
Peter Sjöström. “Volumes have doubled in a year.”
ucts where fibre from northern Sweden is preferable.
And since SCA’s raw material base is dense spruce with
small knots that is ideal for priming, the claddings are
an interesting segment for development, or as Markus
Henningsson asserts boldly: “Nordic spruce is best,
that’s all there is to it.”
“The trend is also for an increasing proportion of
primed and painted timber and we need to be onboard
with that,” he says.
In partnership with Beijer, a more specific concept
for exterior claddings has been developed, with length
options tailored to the needs and wishes of Beijer’s customers. In addition, SCA has committed to 98 percent
delivery reliability.
“We were prepared to stake money on this, assuming that Beijer’s delivery forecasts were correct,” states
Markus Henningsson.
In 2014, SCA Timber Supply Scandinavia delivered
17,000 cubic metres of painted claddings to Beijer’s
branches, and just as much structural timber. There has
been no need to pay out any fines. Deliveries have generally been “On time, in full”.
“It’s rolling on, with gradual development, including
the new paint shop in Tunadal.”
Backed up by one of Sweden’s largest spruce
sawmills, SCA is able to steer the timber
towards the lengths preferred by high-priority customers such as Beijer. The timber is
dried, trimmed and planed before being
painted and finally packaged.
“The next step is to advance the
product development a few more
steps, and begin a discussion with
SCA on how to raise our profile
in the market,” says Peter
Sjöström.
Mats Wigardt
Photo: Bosse Lind
timbernews | 10
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
PHILIPPE BENCE has been ap-
pointed Director of Marketing
and Development at SCA Timber
France. Formerly Sales Manager
at PLF, he took up his new position on 1 October 2014.
BENJAMIN BODET has been
appointed Site Manager of SCA
Timber France’s operation in
Rochefort. Formerly a Product
Engineer, he took up his new
position on 1 November 2014.
PHILIP LOCKWOOD has been
KATARINA LEVIN has been
appointed Sawmill Manager at
Tunadal Sawmill, with Ville Huittinen moving to a new position.
She took up her new role on 1
January 2015.
MAGNUS KARLSSON has been
ANDERS PETERSSON was
VILLE HUITTINEN has been ap-
appointed Sawmill Manager at
Rundvik Sawmill. Magnus was
previously Plant Manager for
AkzoNobel in Ånge and vill take up
his new position on 1 April 2015.
appointed acting Business
Manager at Tunadal Sawmill
on 19 January 2015.
pointed Raw Material Manager
at SCA Timber. Ville was formerly Sawmill Manager at Tunadal
Sawmill and took up his new position on 1 January 2015.
appointed General Manager of
SCA Timber Supply’s plant in
Melton, UK. He joins SCA with
broad experience from several
managerial positions and considerable expertise in areas such
as logistics, finance, sales and
customer service.
SIMON MESSAM has been appointed Senior Business Development Manager for SCA Timber
Supply UK. He was previously
Metsä Wood UK’s National Sales
Manager.
ROSALIND HERON has been ap-
pointed Quality Assurance and
Environment Manager at SCA
Timber Supply UK. Rosalind
developed her experience in a
variety of industries.
ADAM LLEWELLYN has been
has been
appointed Sawmill Manager
at Bollsta Sawmill, replacing
Katarina Levin. Johan was previously President of Gällö Timber
and took up his new position on
1 March 2015.
JOHAN OLOFSSON
has been appointed Business Manager at
Bollsta Sawmill. A former business optimiser, Erik took up his
new position on 1 October 2014.
ERIK ELMKVIST
EMIL LUNDSTRÖM has been
JEREMY ROUSSARIE has been
appointed Country Manager for
SCA Timber Supply Scandinavia’s Norwegian builders’ merchant market. He took up his
new position on 1 February
2015.
appointed Sales Director at
SCA Timber France. He was
formerly Sales Manager at Sotrinbois and took up his new
position on 1 October 2014.
appointed finance controller at
SCA Timber Supply UK. He will
be working with areas such as
SCA Timber Supply’s commercial operations and procurement.
Renewed activity in the markets
Overall, 2014 was a reasonably good year,
although the business climate for the sawmills declined towards the end of the year.
THE ORDER BOOKS are being filled at a
normal and expected rate and prices appear
to have stabilised in the markets.
Negative factors for the sawmills
PRODUCTION IN SWEDEN rose by
almost 1.5 million cubic metres and stocks
were therefore somewhat higher in the
autumn, compared with the previous year.
The industry is thus experiencing a tougher
winter than last year.
ACROSS EUROPE as a whole, production
is currently falling. The potential for production increases in Russia and North America
– at least with regard to SPF – is not thought
to be great for the coming year. At the same
time global consumption of wood is growing. These factors indicate a short-term dip
and a better balance later in the year.
Developments on the commodities and
currency markets have been dramatic recently, with opportunities being created, for
example in the USA, and potential threats
arising as Russian flows increase.
As we begin sales for 2015, we are seeing
customers becoming active again, following
a period of caution during the end of 2014.
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• The current balance of supply and demand
is creating limited stockpiling and a certain
pressure on prices.
• Only weak growth in Europe for a prolonged period. Germany is slowing down.
• A weak sawn timber market in Egypt is
hitting the pine market in particular.
• A weak sawn timber market in Japan for
the third and fourth quarter.
Positive factors for the sawmills
• Production is being cut back more quickly
than feared, particularly in Central Europe,
which creates the conditions for a better
balance in the first half of 2015.
• Weaker SEK in relation to USD increases
competitiveness in the USA and other territories.
• Sweden is growing and capturing market
share in China.
• Stable demand for repair, conversion and
extension work under the ROT scheme
and a rise in new building in Sweden, our
largest market.
• Weaker construction industry and a cer- • Global consumption of softwood is growtain economic slowdown in China.
• The growth in US consumption has so far
been slower than expected.
• A weak market for by-products.
• Falling prices for raw materials and competing materials is inhibiting an upswing
for sawn timber.
• It is unclear how the flow of Russian goods
is developing.
ing. There are clear indications that global
demand will grow by at least another 50
million cubic metres by 2018, rising 4%
per year.
Anders Ante Andersson
Marketing Director, SCA Timber
With the wind in our sails
in Sanya, China
“Together with our guests, we also summed up and discussed
the market situation for sawn timber, from both a Chinese and a
Swedish perspective. In addition, SCA’s partner AWAWA presented
some of its current projects,” relates Mathias, who also informed
the guests about SCA Timber’s progress in China and about its
future plans.
When round-the-world yachting event the Volvo Ocean Race
came to Sanya, China in early February, SCA Timber was there to
see it, along with a group of customers and partners.
Taking part in the race is Team SCA, an entirely female crew.
“THE HIGHPOINT of the Sanya visit was when we headed out on
a boat to watch the sailing competitions in the harbour. Under the
expert guidance of Team SCA, we got to watch the six boats competing at close quarters. Everyone was impressed by the size and
speed of the boats and the enormous effort that the crew puts in
every time a sail has to be changed,” describes Mathias.
Much to the delight of the home fans, the race in the harbour
was won by the Chinese boat Dongfeng. Team SCA finished in a
creditable fifth place.
The next day, it was time for Team SCA and the other crews to
set off on the fourth leg of the round-the-world competition, which
would take them to Auckland in New Zealand.
“For our SCA Timber group, it was time for a rather less adventurous journey – back home to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland,” concludes Mathias Fridholm.
M
athias Fridholm, President of SCA Timber China & S.E.
Asia, explains:
“Sanya is on the southernmost tip of Hainan, an island that is
also known as the Hawaii of China. It’s a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists and travellers from further afield.
“Our guests are interested in wood and forests, so we took
them on a guided tour of Hainan’s rainforest, stopping off in a Li
village. The Li people are Hainan’s original settlers. In the village,
we learned a little of their traditions and way of life.”
A VISIT TO THE SCA PAVILION in the Race Village, which was built
specifically for the yacht race, was also part of the programme. In
the pavilion, with its beautiful wood floor made with timber from
Bollsta Sawmill, our guests were introduced to SCA’s various products and brands.
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