Press release submitted on behalf of Metsä Board
Metsä Board, a leading European producer of premium fresh fiber paperboards, including folding boxboards, foodservice boards, and white kraftliners, and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG), a global market leader in integrated, future‑ready solutions for the printing, packaging and converting industries, have entered into a strategic collaboration.
The collaboration seeks to enhance the end‑to‑end value chain of packaging production by developing innovative packaging solutions that improve both operational performance and the consumer experience. It includes joint R&D projects, pilot production runs and customer demonstrations at HEIDELBERG’s Print Media Centers, as well as Metsä Board’s Excellence Centre and Design Studios.
New opportunities for customers to achieve high productivity and efficient production workflows
By combining Metsä Board’s expertise in high‑quality, lightweight paperboard materials with HEIDELBERG’s advanced offset, flexographic, digital printing and converting technologies, the partnership aims to accelerate innovation across the packaging value chain while opening new opportunities for customers to achieve high productivity and efficient production workflows.
“Our collaboration with HEIDELBERG allows us to offer our customers new possibilities in packaging design and production efficiency, while maintaining our commitment to sustainability and premium quality,” says Erja Hyrsky, SVP, Commercial Operations at Metsä Board.
“Working closely with HEIDELBERG as a system integrator enables faster development and testing of solutions that support our customers’ evolving packaging needs,” Hyrsky continues.
Future-ready packaging solutions in a rapidly evolving market
Metsä Board’s recyclable, fresh fiber-based paperboards, combined with HEIDELBERG’s efficient, high-performance production processes, provide a strong platform for developing packaging solutions that address increasing regulatory and performance requirements.
“By combining advanced printing and converting technologies with Metsä Board’s premium lightweight paperboard, HEIDELBERG enables high‑performance packaging applications for demanding market and regulatory requirements,” says Andreas Lang, SVP, Global Accounts and Packaging, at HEIDELBERG.
Through this collaboration, both companies aim to help customers develop future-ready packaging solutions in a rapidly evolving market.
“The cooperation combines materials expertise and production technology for demanding packaging applications, Lang concludes.
Metsä Board www.metsagroup.com/metsaboard/
Metsä Board is a producer of lightweight and high-quality folding boxboards, foodservice boards and white kraftliners. The fresh wood fibers we use in our products are a renewable and recyclable resource that can be traced back to Northern European forests. We aim to phase out the use of fossil energy in our production by 2030. We promote a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion. Metsä Board’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.
In 2025, our sales totaled EUR 1.8 billion, and we employ about 1,900 people. Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group, whose parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative is owned by approximately 90,000 Finnish forest owners. The sales of the whole Metsä Group were EUR 5.8 billion.