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Ilkka Harju Packaging Services Director, Metsä Board
Gunilla Nykopp Customer Experience Manager, Metsä Board
“The original idea was always to organise the work- shops physically. We had to learn how to implement the workshops in an online environment. Today, they are arranged quite often via Teams as well,” Nykopp says. Different options for different needs The key themes of the co-creation workshops are re- search, innovation and testing. Several options are avail- able, based on the needs of the customer. “We usually organise Challenge Us workshops. A major theme in these has been plastic replacement,” Nykopp says. Today, a lot of attention is also being paid to over-pack- aging. It is not sensible to transport air inside packages. Instead, the aim is to design efficient packages that serve their purpose. These types of workshops typically involve designing a completely new package that is better than the existing one in terms of sustainability, functionality or cost-ef- fectiveness. The “Performance Clinic” option, on the other hand, investigates how the current package can be made more efficient, and how its performance during converting can be improved. A package’s sustainability can be im- proved by making it lighter, for example. Its structure
can also change. A more compact size or replacing the material can be a step towards lowering the envi- ronmental impact. Benefits can also be ob-
tained in terms of costs: “We made a lot of calculations for one customer on the potential cost savings from using another solu- tion,” Nykopp says.
The “Explore the Future” workshop includes looking further into the future with entirely new material solu- tions and exploring future packaging solutions with ex- ternal partners and top researchers in the field. The package is at the core of everything In a typical case, the collaboration starts with the cus- tomer sending an existing package to Metsä Board’s team for review and describing its development needs. The team can then examine the package first hand and find out what the development needs are. The proper- ties of the package can also be studied in a laboratory and tested in various ways. It is also important to ensure suitability for convert- ing, and cooperation with Metsä Board’s Technical Ser- vice specialists and packaging converting partners is key to success here. The technical team, which has a deep expertise in paperboard materials and their converting and printing properties, can provide useful recommen- dations for increasing production efficiency. When the required background work is complete, the Metsä Board 360 Services team members can start their work and create new ideas. When a proposal is ready, the participants receive either a mock-up of the package or a structural drawing, based on which the customer can implement the package and test it. The solution and development proposals are reviewed at a joint meeting. “The workshop often includes more than one session. This depends on the customer,” Nykopp says. The proposal is refined until the package meets every- one’s expectations. The jointly developed package is then ready to hit the market. •
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