Metsä Wood has signed a letter of intent for maintenance partnership with Quant. The agreement covers Punkaharju plywood and Kerto mills, Suolahti plywood mills and the planned veneer mill in Äänekoski and plywood mill in Estonia. The agreement is expected to come into force in March. The maintenance operations at Lohja mill have been transferred to a partner already previously.
According to the agreement, the maintenance business will be transferred to Quant in stages. In the preliminary plan, the maintenance in Punkaharju is transferred at April 1st, Suolahti in the fall 2017, and Estonia and Äänekoski in connection with their production start-up. According to the plan, all Metsä Wood's staff in maintenance, about 70 people, will continue at Quant as existing employees. The letter of intent does not apply to the operating personnel at Punkaharju power plant.
"Maintenance is developing in the direction in which Quant as a specialized maintenance company is capable of developing operations more effectively than Metsä Wood focusing on the wood products industry. System development and internet of things require special know-how and investments, which an external actor can resource. With this partnership we are primarily looking to increased productivity,” says Metsä Wood’s Executive Vice President Esa Kaikkonen.
"We are proud of the confidence Metsä Wood is showing to Quant by choosing us as their maintenance partner," says Olof Sand, CEO of Quant, and continues: "This partnership strengthens our position as a global market leader in maintenance. Metsä Wood's corporate image, and their requirements for maintenance fit very well to Quant’s value proposition and tool set. During the past 25 years we have permanently achieved the targets set by our customers and maximized the productivity of their production equipment. Maintenance is a people-oriented business and our staff is the most important factor for us to succeed in the market. We warmly welcome all our new employees to Quant."
Quant is a global market leader in industrial maintenance. Quant has over 25 years of experience in the maintenance partnerships in more than 300 locations around the world. Quant’s head office is located in Stockholm.
More information:
SVP Production and Technology Jari Tikkanen, Metsä Wood, tel: +358 (0) 50 598 9176
www.metsawood.com
Metsä Wood provides competitive and environmentally friendly wood products for construction, industrial customers and distributor partners. We manufacture products from northern wood, a sustainable raw material of premium quality. Our sales in 2016 were EUR 0.5 billion, and we employ about 1,500 people. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.