Day 7 –  Valmet Rautpohja and JAMK University, Tampere

Day 7 – by Varun Atree, Caleb Smith, Mason Broadway, Samuel Webb

Today we started off the day by checking out of the hotel by 8:30 AM. We then took the short ride to the Valmet plant and were ready for presentations by 9:00 AM. The first presentation was about SPINNOVA, an up and coming technology company specializing in the production of sustainable spun cellulosic fibers for textiles from mechanically treated wood pulp. This topic was new to almost all of our students, and gathered much interest from the crowd as we questioned the Co-Founder about his work on developing and scaling their process from the laboratory to industrial factories. I think we were all astonished by this interesting technology, and are interested to see the role it will play in the future of the pulp and paper industry.

The second presentation at the Valmet facility was about Metsä. They are owned by the Finland forest industry and operate a combination of sawmills and pulp mills. They are the largest producer of SBSK market pulp in the world. Currently their focus is implementing a new wood pulp and bioproducts mill in Kemi, Finland. This location has the capacity to produce up to 1.5 million tonnes of wood bioproducts annually.

Metsä is an industry leader who continually strives for more sustainable production. Metsä mills operate carbon neutral facilities and are currently operating at 240% energy self sufficiency. Additionally, Metsä has so many large scale operations that they account for 11% of the total renewable energy produced in Finland. Water usage is also one of the highest standards currently seen within the paper industry. It’s enlightening to understand how other European based companies operate differently in comparison to the US mills that we are all so familiar with. 

After presentations we were graced with good food and coffee from the Valmet canteen. Once finished, a short bus ride took us to the front doors of Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, also known as JAMK. Here we were greeted by senior lecturer Annell Kakko, a good friend of the PSE program, who showed us to our meeting room to hear presentations about their university and programs.

During three brief presentations we were familiarized with the history of collaboration between JAMK and PSE that goes back to 2008. It was also emphasized how the university structures their programs to combine technical engineering knowledge, practical laboratory skills, and relevant industry experience so that their students are top notch candidates upon graduation. We were also given tours of their wonderful facility and shown a variety of laboratories for student use: concrete additive manufacturing robots, material property testers, 3D metal printing, atomic layer deposition technology, process control simulators, and equipment wear testers.

After reconvening and reflecting on time spent in Finland and Jyväskylä thus far, we headed out to the next step of our journey and took a 2 hour bus ride to Tampere. We checked into the hotel around 7:30 PM and split our many ways to explore different parts of the city. Many groups ran to the specific cuisine that piqued their interest before heading back to the hotel, tired from a full day of adventures.