2025-09-11 Voith successfully rebuilds Stora Enso's PM 6 into the largest XcelLine board machine in Europe
- The rebuild will enable a production capacity of 750,000 tons of highquality coated primary fiber board annually – a new record in Europe.
- A prerequisite for the successful completion of the project was an intensive preliminary project in which, among other things, the reusability of the parts was examined.
- A very trusting cooperation between local and global teams and the customer ensured the success of the project.
Official inauguration ceremony of PM 6 at Stora Enso’s Oulu mill
OULU, FINLAND/HEIDENHEIM, GERMANY. Voith, the leading full-line supplier, has successfully completed the PM 6 rebuild project for Stora Enso in the northern-most university city in Europe, Oulu in northern Finland. The modernized plant will now achieve an impressive annual capacity of 750,000 tons of high-quality folding boxboard and coated kraft back (CKB), at a wire width of 9,000 mm.
It was important to Stora Enso that the rebuilt line offers optimal production efficiency while also meeting the highest environmental standards, in particular with regard to excellent heat recovery. The rebuilt plant has enabled the company to achieve the highest production capacity in Europe for high-quality packaging made from folding boxboard and CKB, thereby setting a new record.
Tailor-made solution for maximum efficiency and sustainability
Voith was able to tailor the system to the needs and circumstances of Stora Enso. This made it possible to achieve the high production volume with maximum efficiency and sustainability.
The scope of supply includes all key components of a Voith XcelLine paper machine, including headbox, wire, press and dryer sections, coating units and reel. In addition to a three-layer wire section with the DuoFormer D II, Voith experts integrated the high-performance Triple NipcoFlex shoe press concept, which enables maximum production output at the highest quality level. At the same time, the efficient technology minimizes specific energy and production costs.
The plant also features a SpeedSizer system and four DynaCoat AT coating units with JetFlow F applicators, which ensure maximum flexibility and optimal product quality. The SpeedSizer and the DynaCoat AT are partially made of carbon fibers to ensure stable cross-sectional profiles for all types and speeds. Voith also installed the volume-preserving EcoCal HiBulk calender, which ensures excellent stiffness, outstanding smoothness and printability.
Integration of industrial design – aesthetics meet functionality
As part of the project, the existing dryer hood was also extensively redesigned. The high operating dew point of up to 65°C in the new EcoHood 65 dryer hood reduces the volume of supply and exhaust air, thus reducing steam and electricity consumption. The new industrial design of the drying hood, including an innovative LED color display, ideally combines functionality and aesthetics and is a step towards Voith's innovative design concept Papermaking Vision.
The CombiDuoRun drying concept efficiently dries the paper web on both sides, thereby preventing curl, even at high operating speeds. Finally, two VariFlex Performance winders will be used. Stora Enso is also taking advantage of Voith's leading digitalization and automation portfolio and will now have the OnControl.Machine MCS for the board machine automation, OnQuality quality control system and OnCare.Health condition monitoring solution. The dataPARC cloud will serve as the IIoT platform.
Four sets of paper machine fabrics and the complete doctor blades are also included in the scope of supply. To ensure that the Oulu team can operate the paper machine efficiently in the individual sections in the future, mill personnel received comprehensive training in the closure of dry fabric seams, retraction of shoe press sleeves, press felts and forming fabrics. Exceptional 24/7 support was provided for a total of 10 weeks. Initial findings for further optimization have already been obtained through measurements on the paper machine while it was running.
Global expertise with local presence
The Voith team combined global and local expertise to offer Stora Enso a reliable solution tailored to its needs. As part of a support agreement, the local Voith team will continue to be present at the Oulu plant to implement further optimization measures.
The successful project execution demonstrates Voith's reliability as a leading full-line supplier and commitment to customer satisfaction and innovation. Voith will continue to be a reliable partner for its customers in the future, providing innovative solutions for efficient and sustainable paper manufacturing from a single source.
About Stora Enso
As part of the global bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable products for packaging, biomaterials, wooden construction and paper, and one of the largest private forest owners in the world. The company believes that everything made from fossil materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Stora Enso has some 22,000 employees and in 2022 net sales totalled EUR 11.7 billion. Stora Enso's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (STEAV, STERV) and Nasdaq Stockholm AB (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY).
More information is available at: www.storaenso.com/en
About the company
The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, the company today has around 22,000 employees, sales of € 5.2 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the larger family-owned companies in Europe.
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The Group Division Voith Paper is part of the Voith Group. As the full-line supplier to the paper industry, it provides the largest range of technologies, services and products on the market and offers paper manufacturers holistic solutions from one source. The company’s continuous stream of innovations facilitates resource-conserving production and helps customers minimize their carbon footprint. With its leading automation products and digitalization solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio, Voith offers its customers state-of-the-art digital technologies to improve plant availability and efficiency for all sections of the production process.