Business News

Iggesund is adding services in Asia

Arvid Sundblad, Vice President Sales and Marketing at Iggesund Paperboard.

Tuesday 21. July 2015 - Iggesund Paperboard is enhancing its distribution service in Asia. The main aim is to shorten lead times and thereby give Asian customers better service.

“We are continuously evolving together with our customers’ needs. We have therefore set up a sheeting and warehousing capability in Taiwan, which will be operationally ready by the end of July 2015,” explains Ivan Chong, Business Area Director G&P, Asia Pacific. “This channel will strive to enhance Invercote’s availability in the Asian market and will help Iggesund and our customers to gain new business.”

Iggesund is not just establishing a distribution channel in Asia. The company will also keep Invercote in stock and offer local sheeting from a service point in Taiwan in order to minimise lead times.

“Invercote is a niche product aimed at customers who place high demands on appearance and function and who want the end result to attract attention on the retail shelf and encourage purchase,” comments Arvid Sundblad, Vice President Sales and Marketing, in charge of global sales. “Unlike basically all SBB paperboard made in Asia, Invercote has a multi-layer construction, which means it does not crack along the creases. This is a huge advantage, supported, of course, by Invercote’s strong environmental and economic sustainability properties.”

Iggesund’s enhanced service in Asia is part of its efforts to become more global by strengthening its delivery service outside Europe. It is also recruiting staff to reinforce its sales efforts. The company has also launched a broader service concept to inform its customers of the many resources and support functions available to them. “Care by Iggesund” includes the quick and easy ordering of samples and inspirational material, the provision of product safety information and certificates, and access to the analytical services of Iggesund’s accredited Laboratory of Sensory and Chemical Analyses. Iggesund’s extensive environmental documentation is also part of the service offering, not least as a guarantee that customers will not encounter any unpleasant surprises due to the origin of the forest raw material used in their paperboard.

Iggesund’s service offering also includes everything associated with the company’s products, Invercote and Incada: from technical support in local markets to Iggesund’s own paperboard expertise in the form of various reference works.

“We don’t just want our customers to buy our paperboard – we also want them to get the most out of it,” Arvid Sundblad comments. “All our documentation, together with our team of technicians, who are out in the local markets and who have experience from projects and operations similar to those of our customers, exists to ensure this. Some of this support we have had for a long time but we haven’t been clear enough to our customers in general that all this service exists.”

Caption: Arvid Sundblad, Vice President Sales and Marketing at Iggesund Paperboard. © Iggesund

Iggesund

Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group Holmen, one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies listed on the United Nations Global Compact Index. Iggesund’s turnover is just over €500 million and its flagship product Invercote is sold in more than 100 countries. The company has two brand families, Invercote and Incada, both positioned at the high end of their respective segments. Since 2010 Iggesund has invested more than €380 million to increase its energy efficiency and reduce the fossil emissions from its production.

Iggesund and the Holmen Group report all their fossil carbon emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project. The environmental data form an integral part of an annual report that complies with the Global Reporting Initiative’s highest level of sustainability reporting. Iggesund was founded as an iron mill in 1685, but has been making paperboard for more than 50 years. The two mills, in northern Sweden and northern England employ 1500 people.

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