Getting the most out of our day – TAMK, UPM and Valmet!

by guest bloggers Georgia Daniel and Josh Pippin

Our day started with breakfast provided by TAMK, Tampere’s University of Applied Sciences, and a short presentation on the school and the Tampere area by Riku-Matti Kinnunen, the International Coordinator for Engineering, Technology and Natural Resources. Tampere is very much a college city with 4 universities within the city and roughly 40,000 students making up the city’s population. TAMK is composed of 10,000 students, 800 staff, and 6 different schools providing 45 degree programs, four of which are in English. TAMK takes pride in having modern and various learning environments and encourages their students to have a multidisciplinary perspective, and part of this perspective is the BioHub program. BioHub combines knowledge from all departments in the school and allows students to develop a better understanding of how different disciplines work together. A competition was also conducted last fall as part of the BioHub program, called BioHubening, to encourage students to interact with different companies in various fields and work with students from different areas of studies.

During our visit we focused mainly on the field of Bioproduct and Process Engineering, which included paper technology. This area of study focuses on sustainable, renewable, and recyclable development and emphasizes on importance of deep connections with companies while studying. Many of the labs on campus are being used for research requested by companies, including research on nanocellulose and coating formulas. We also toured the labs used by paper technology students and saw their coating machine and testing labs. These labs were all very well maintained, clean, and modern.

Next up on our itinerary was a visit to the UPM Tervasaari mill; we arrived at the mill early and were taken on a bus tour of the mill before our walking tour. It was a really great experience being able to hear about the history of the mill while driving around it. We had lunch in the mill’s cafeteria before hearing more about the company and products they made at this location. The Tervasaari location has 2 paper machines, which produce label face papers, release base papers, and flexible packaging. The main product discussed was glassine, used as the backing for stickers and labels. After the presentation, we took a walking tour of one of the machines, this particular machine had no open draws in the press section, so the sheet was completely supported all the way from the wet end to the dryer sections. None of us had ever really heard of anyone doing this and it was very interesting to see how they implemented this technology.

Our final stop for the day was Valmet Automation where we were hosted by one of their marketing managers, Jarmo Ervast. There we learned more about Valmet’s automation operations and how they serve customers in different industries including, pulp and paper, power generation, marine, and oil and gas. Valmet Automation is number one in QCS analyzers and measurement devices and number 3 in pulp and paper control systems. The main products that they make include distributed control systems, quality management systems, and analyzers and measurement devices. We were also taken on a tour of the facilities, where we saw testing areas where different devices were being tested and calibrated. Our visit to Valmet concluded with a very nice dinner full of wonderful food and conversation before heading back to our hotel in Tampere to prepare for our last day full day in Finland.