PulpEye Has Found the World Arena

PulpEye started on a small scale - with a big vision. 15 years later, the company from Örnsköldsvik is a world leader in measurement technology and on its way to fulfilling its most successful year. - We have received excellent response and a fantastic trust from the Swedish forest industry, says Öjvind Sundvall, CEO of PulpEye.

It is an exciting autumn for PulpEye. Finland has been a blank spot on PulpEye's world map due to intense competition from the domestic industry.

- Due to our new technology the demand has increased. We can compete with our new world-class technology. We have not made any business deals yet but we are on our way and we are in the process of launching. The hope is to do installations in Finland during 2017, says Öjvind.

- It is a big player and it is really nice that we are getting the request. We have several new technologies that no one else can offer, as well as services of world class which I hope will benefit us, he says.

Finnish forestry is, like the Swedish, investing in new technology and right now, there are several pulp factories in Finland that the company is negotiating with.

- They have several billion SEK projects where new technologies are needed and that is where we come in, says Öjvind.

Close Collaboration

PulpEye’s success story is largely due to getting the right help from other companies in the region.

- The network is strong. All our products are the result of a network, we have a number of local partners and every measurement device we produce generates half a man year in work hours. Our development is called distributed development – we can act bigger than we are thanks to our friends, says Öjvind

PulpEye has close collaboration with universities and research institutes, e.g. Process IT, Umeå University, Luleå Technical University and Processum and RISE Bioeconomy.

- But above all we should be their obvious partner – if they have an idea, we can develop it further into something that will generate both employment and export revenue to Sweden, says Öjvind.

The big seller is PulpEye Online Analyzer, which has enabled the company to grow outside Sweden and today the company has agents in 50 countries and offices in Örnsköldsvik, Timrå, Västerås (Sweden), Friedrichshafen (Germany) and Ottawa and Vancouver (Canada).

A couple of PulpEye products are based on a measurement technology from FP Innovations in Vancouver, one of the world’s largest research institutes in paper and pulp.

- They offered us a special technology in 2008 and we launched it 2015 after 7-8 years of development. Now we have world patent and a couple of installations in Canada and most recently at SCA’s multibillion investment at Östrands Pulp Mill in Timrå. The response has been great, says Öjvind.

From North to South

Measurement technology is mainly used to get a more even quality of pulp in the pulp mills’ productions and to help reduce the energy consumption. Using a camera, the length and form of the fibres are quickly read.

- We have the fastest fibre measuring in the world, we measure 100 000 fibres in 30 seconds. That way the operator gets good statistics and a rapid update to best manage the process, Öjvind explains

- The forest industry has to be competitive and twice as efficient since the forest grows much slower in the northern parts. With our technology, the pulp mills can automate and control their processes to ultimately produce a product at a lower cost. We can help our customers to implement new technology and visualize the analytical results in the control room for the operators to use. That is when the companies can make money, says Öjvind.

Finland becomes the eleventh country in which PulpEye sells its products. In Sweden, the PulpEye measuring instruments are used along the entire coast, from Smurfit Kappa in Piteå to Stora Enso Nymölla in Skåne.

- We have a great deal of trust from the Swedish forest industry that we want to manage. We have, for example, five service technicians traveling around.

PulpEye has 12 employees in Sweden and 20 in total. Turnover is around 27 million SEK, but the aim is around 30 million this year.

- We have a good and ambitious team who work tightly together, it is a teamwork. When you have fun and collaborate as we do, you can get an efficient and flexible company.

PulpEye recently sold their 54th unit.

- It feels great, we are on a roll!