UPM (company)

Due to worldwide overproduction of paper UPM announced a cost reduction program in 2006. Voikkaa paper mill in Kuusankoski was closed. Nearly 3,000 employees in Finland were laid off.[13] After the closure the area has been transformed into Voikkaa business area.[14]

The Miramichi paper mill in New Brunswick, which UPM acquired in 2000,[15] was closed in 2007. Also a number of plywood mills and sawmills were closed during the years. In December 2008 UPM closed Kajaani paper mill and Tervasaari pulp mill. 1,100 employees were laid off.[16] The former premises of the Kajaani mill were turned into a business park called Renforsin Ranta.[17]

During the decade, UPM also sold many businesses such as Walki Can, Walki Sack, Loparex Group, Walki Wisa, Rosenlew and Puukeskus.

At the same time, UPM invested in other businesses and acquired Fray Bentos pulp mill and Forestal Oriental in Uruguay (2007), Chudovo plywood mill in Russia (2002) and Otepää plywood mill in Estonia (2003). The production of label materials expanded to Poland, Brazil, China and the USA.  UPM Biocomposites business was established in 2007.

The overcapacity continued in graphic paper business and in 2011, UPM acquired Myllykoski Corporation and Rhein Papier GmbH, which consists of seven publication paper mills in Germany, Finland and the United States. In France, UPM closed Stracel paper mill in 2013 and Docelles paper mill in 2014. Madison paper mill in the USA was closed in 2016.The Schwedt paper mill in Germany was sold in 2017. Specialty paper production expanded to China and Germany in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

In 2015, the production of wood-based biofuels started at the biorefinery in Lappeenranta, Finland.

In July 2019, UPM announced that it will invest USD 2.7 billion in a eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The production capacity will be 2.1 million tonnes of eucalyptus pulp. The new pulp mill is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2022.

In January 2020, UPM announced that it will invest EUR 550 million in an industrial scale biorefinery to convert solid wood into next-generation biochemicals: bio-monoethylene glycol (BioMEG) and lignin-based renewable functional fillers. The biorefinery will also produce bio-monopropyleneglycol (BioMPG) and industrial sugars. The total annual capacity of the biorefinery will be 220,000 tonnes. The facility is scheduled to start up by the end of 2022.

UPM manufactures fibre products, wood products, molecular bioproducts and low-emission energy in six business areas. These business areas are connected with a common idea: to create value from renewable and recyclable raw materials by synthesizing them with know-how and technology.

• UPM Biorefining
• UPM Energy
• UPM Raflatac
• UPM Specialty Papers
• UPM Communication Papers
• UPM Plywood

UPM Biorefining consists of pulp, timber and biofuel businesses. UPM has four modern pulp mills: three in Finland and one in Uruguay, and also four sawmills in Finland. The biorefinery producing renewable diesel and naphtha started operating in Lappeenranta in 2015. The pulp mills produce 3,7 million tons of high quality pulp annually. 39% of the company's comparable EBIT came from UPM Biorefining in 2019.

In July UPM announced that it will invest USD 2.7 billion in a eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The new pulp mill is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2022. (Updated based on UPM Annual Report 2019).

UPM Energy’s power generation capacity consists of hydropower, nuclear power and condensing power. UPM Energy is the second largest electricity producer in Finland. UPM owns 47.69%% of Pohjolan Voima Oyj, which is a majority shareholder (58.5%) in Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). UPM also owns 9 hydropower plants in Finland. 13% of the company's comparable EBIT came from UPM Energy in 2019.

UPM Raflatac manufactures labelling materials for branding and promotion and information labelling in the food, beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical and retail segments, for example.

UPM has 16 paper mills in Finland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria, China and the United States. Several of the mills work simultaneously as recycling centres and as producers of bioenergy. In terms of revenue, paper production is still the largest business group of the company.

UPM is the largest plywood manufacturer in Europe. The plywood operations consists of nine plywood mills in Finland, Estonia and Russia.

UPM offers a wide selection of different services for forest owners. UPM owns 510,000 hectares of forest in Finland. All of the company's forests are certified.[18]

Most of the wood needed for the UPM factories is acquired from private forests of Finland. UPM is acquiring all kinds of wood and uses it to produce pulp, paper, plywood, sawn timber and energy. UPM is the biggest private landowner in Finland.[19] UPM refines UPM Bonvesta properties from its real estates.

UPM Biochemicals, UPM Biomedicals and UPM Biocomposites business units are also included in other operations. UPM Biochemicals offers and develops wood-based biochemicals. The product segments are glycols and lignin products. UPM Biomedicals develops biomedical products and applications. UPM Biocomposites offers composite products in outdoor building material and consumer products. (Updated based on UPM Annual Report 2019).

In 2009, UPM created the term "Biofore" to describe new forest industry. "Bio" stands for sustainable solutions and environmental performance. "Fore" stands for forest and the company's position at the forefront of the development. The Biofore term is also used in the company's slogan: UPM - The Biofore Company.[20] In 2018, UPM launched brand promise 'UPM Biofore – Beyond fossils'.

UPM has two production units in China: UPM Changshu paper mill and UPM Raflatac, Changshu Labelstock factory. Changshu is located in the Province of Jiangsu by the Yangtze River, some 100 km from Shanghai.

UPM has two production units in France. The UPM Chapelle Darblay paper mill, located near Rouen, France's major port for wood and paper products, and the UPM Raflatac labelstock factory located in Pompey, 10 km north of Nancy and 40 km south of Metz.

UPM has seven production units in Germany.

• UPM Augsburg paper mill, located by the river Lech in the city of Augsburg, a town in southern Germany, some 65 km from Munich
• UPM Ettringen paper mill, in the town of Ettringen
• UPM Hürth paper mill, located in the town of Hürth
• UPM Nordland Papier, located in Dörpen, a village in northwestern Germany, some 250 km from Hamburg
• UPM Plattling paper mill, located in the town of Plattling
• UPM Schongau paper mill, located in the city of Schongau, a town in Upper Bavaria

There is also a wood plastic composite factory in Germany: UPM ProFi, Bruchsal wood plastic composite factory, located in Bruchsal approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Distance to Frankfurt is some 120 km and to Stuttgart some 80 km.

UPM owns three production units in the United Kingdom.

Paper mills:

• UPM Caledonian paper mill, located in Irvine, North Ayrshire a coastal town in southwestern Scotland, 50 km (30 mi) from Glasgow.
• UPM Shotton paper mill, located in Shotton in the district of Deeside in the county of Flintshire in northeastern Wales, close to the estuary of the River Dee, 13 km (8 mi) from Chester and 56 km (35 mi) from Manchester.

There is also a labelstock factory in the UK: UPM Raflatac, Scarborough

UPM has a pulp plant in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. The productions located in Uruguay consist of bleached hardwood kraft pulp (BHKP) from eucalyptus. UPM's pulp mills produce renewable energy in their recovery boilers and provide CO₂-neutral biomass-based electricity for the Uruguayan markets. In 2011 UPM expanded plantation grounds in Uruguay. In February 2011, UPM announced a plan to build a second nursery in Uruguay to secure the availability of high-quality seedlings and seed material.[22] Argentine and Uruguay had conflict of UPM emissions in 2013.[23]

Metsä Botnia, a part of Metsä Group, opened Fray Bentos factory in Uruguay in 2007. It produce annually a million tonnes of cellulose. Until the end of 2009 the owners of Metsä-Botnia were M-real 30%, Metsä Group (ex Metsäliitto = Finn Forest) 23% and UPM-Kymmene (UPM) 47%, and since the end of 2009, UPM 91% and Metsä Group 9%.[24]

Country	Production type	Production units
Austria	Paper	UPM Steyrermühl
	Forest and timber	UPM Steyrermühl sawmill
China	Paper	UPM Changshu
	Label	UPM Raflatac, Changshu
Estonia	Plywood	Otepää plywood mill
Finland	Paper	UPM Jämsänkoski UPM Kaukas UPM Kymi UPM Kaipola UPM Rauma UPM Tervasaari
	Pulp	UPM Kaukas UPM Kymi UPM Pietarsaari
	Label	UPM Raflatac, Tampere
	Plywood	UPM Joensuu plywood mill UPM Jyväskylä plywood mill UPM Pellos plywood mill UPM Savonlinna plywood mill UPM Kalso veneer mill
	Forest and timber	UPM Alholma sawmill UPM Kaukas sawmill UPM Korkeakoski sawmill UPM Seikku sawmill
	Energy	UPM Harjavalta hydro power plant UPM Kallioinen hydro power plant UPM Kaltimo hydro power plant UPM Katerma hydro power plant UPM Keltti hydro power plant UPM Kuusankoski hydro power plant UPM Tyrvää hydro power plant UPM Voikkaa hydro power plant UPM Äetsä hydro power plant
	Other	UPM Biocomposites, Lahti (wood plastic composite) UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery (biofuels)
France	Paper	UPM Chapelle Darblay
	Label	UPM Raflatac, Nancy
Germany	Paper	UPM Augsburg UPM Hürth UPM Ettringen UPM Nordland Papier, Dörpen UPM Plattling UPM Schongau
	Other	UPM Biocomposites, Bruchsal (wood plastic composite) UPM Biochemicals Biorefinery, Leuna (under construction)
Malaysia	Label	UPM Raflatac, Johor
Poland	Label	UPM Raflatac, Nowa Wies UPM Raflatac, Wroclaw
Russia	Plywood	UPM Chudovo plywood and veneer mill
United Kingdom	Paper	UPM Caledonian Paper UPM Shotton Paper
	Label	UPM Raflatac, Scarborough
Uruguay	Pulp	UPM Fray Bentos UPM Pasos de los Toros (under construction)
United States	Paper	UPM Blandin
	Label	UPM Raflatac Fletcher, NC UPM Raflatac Dixon, IL UPM Raflatac Mills River, NC

[25]

UPM has invested in a biorefinery producing biofuels from crude tall oil in Lappeenranta, Finland. The biorefinery produces annually approximately 100,000 tonnes of advanced second generation biodiesel for transport. Construction of the biorefinery began in the summer of 2012 at UPM’s Kaukas mill site and was completed in 2014. UPM’s total investment amounted to approximately EUR 150 million. The construction of the biorefinery offered work for nearly 200 people for approximately two years. The biorefinery directly employs nearly 50 people and indirectly about 150 people.[28]

UPM is planning to produce biodiesel from forest energy wood. The raw material to be used in the production of UPM's biodiesel would mainly consist of sustainably sourced wood: logging residues, woodchips, stumps and bark. UPM has been developing gasification technology for biodiesel production with Andritz/Carbona. The initial testing programme was completed in the United States as planned. UPM's biodiesel is well suited for the current diesel motor technology and fuel distribution infrastructure.[29]

UPM Plywood has developed a new way to manufacture layered composites and the new form of plywood is called UPM Grada. At the core of the new technology is a special adhesive film, which allows the plywood to be formed after manufacturing. UPM Grada Plywood can be safely recycled or burned at the end of its lifecycle. UPM Grada Plywood can be used e.g. in furniture. The Finnish furniture manufacturer Isku has introduced the new Kaava chair which demonstrates the capabilities of UPM Grada Plywood.[30]

UPM ProFi composite is a Biofore material that combines the best characteristics of cellulose fibres and plastic. Manufactured mainly from recycled raw material, the composite has proven to be tough and humidity resistant. The material is suitable for use in patios, terraces, piers and playgrounds. The material does not require polishing, lacquer finishing or other surface finishing. The material was a result of UPM's own research and product development. UPM ProFi has been used in the manufacture of a pedestrian walkway in the historic city of Ghent, Belgium.[31]

UPM Formi is a recyclable and odorless composite which can be used to replace plastic in many instances. UPM Formi composite granulates are manufactured from clean polymers and pulp. UPM offers the granulates in three grades for injection molding – Formi GP for general use, Formi SP for special surface, and Formi TP for technical applications.[32] The UPM Formi -material has already been used in the manufacture of a mobile phone microscope, launched by KeepLoop Oy.[33]