Plywood with a little something new

Text: Tuovi Similä
Photos: Herman, Matti Viljanen, UPM

Wood is a fine raw material, but not even wood is perfect. Many customers want wood, but they also desire properties wood does not possess. Wood must be dimensionally stable – "flat," it must not rot and it must be possible to shape it into any form. The Plywood business area decided to implement these customer expectations and we will be seeing revolutionary new product solutions in the near future.
 

Samantha Kiljunen
Research Manager

Pekka Peura
Plywood's Director, Research & Technology Development

"Plywood has not changed much in 30 years. We have been looking for solutions that can be used in applications where conventional plywood is not suitable. This has been a quite a big change for us, and at
the same time the function of R&D has changed dramatically," says Samantha Kil­junen, at UPM's Plywood business area.

Kiljunen refers to the Plypro project, which started in 2007, in which researchers launched an innovative and open-minded way to combine wood with chemistry, among other areas. "By applying chemistry and using the imagination, plywood has metamorphosed into a new product," she says. The major Plypro project also received funding from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

Kiljunen is very excited about the possibilities of these new solutions though she's unable to reveal much about them at this point. "Before unveiling them, we must ensure that we have capacity and potential for production. Our goal is to launch at least two products next year."

Technology push and market pull

UPM's Plywood business area has carried out systematic R&D for already nearly 40 years, which is rather unusual in the industry. Investments, too, have almost doubled in comparison with the sector average.

"The department employs 30 specialists. Compared with our competitors, we have excellent laboratory and pilot production facilities as well," says Pekka Peura, Plywood's Director, Research & Technology Development. Plywood also engages in significant research subcontracting with top European universities.

Impulses for product development come from both customers and applications derived from scientific research. "There is a technology push where the possibilities of new technology are exploited. On the other hand there is market-driven development work which identifies needs coming from customers," Peura says.

Plywood's Plypro projects largely involve market-driven development work. The first phase of the project is complete, and the second phase is currently in progress. "Product 'greenness' and recyclability are key issues for many companies. It is to this that we pay a lot of attention in the Plypro projects," Peura says.

Prototypes and piloting

The Plypro project originally aimed at two applications upon which work would begin. Currently, however, there are no fewer than six product solutions in different stages. Some are being prototype tested, others are already in the pilot phase.

Kiljunen herself has moved from R&D to the New Business Development function, where she is taking an application developed in the Plypro product through to the commercialisation phase. "The customer with whom we carried out prototype testing is highly satisfied with the product. I think that the product is going to sell itself; it is something that customers have been looking forward to."

"It's what you don't know that makes the impossible possible"

British-born Kiljunen came to Finland as a post-doctoral researcher at Lappeenranta University of Technology. The planned eight-month visit has now stretched into 10 years – first research work, followed by a job in UPM's Plywood R&D department.

"I'm a specialist in chemical engineering, wood was completely new to me. This was the key factor, as my unfamiliarity with wood was my best asset," Kiljunen asserts. "It's what you don't know that makes the impossible possible."

In Kiljunen's view there is no magic formula in R&D that should be followed. Innovations emerge when different people, different backgrounds and different disciplines are brought together. "We also need passion and the ability to play with different things and ideas, especially with those that are not
particularly obvious," she says.

She does not want to take sole credit for the ideas that emerged during the Plypro project. "We have a large number of innovative people this was a team effort. One or two people can
breathe life into an idea, but it takes the whole company to commercialise it," Kiljunen says.