Metsä Board and Heidelberg partner to strengthen packaging innovation
Key takeaways
- Metsä Board and Heidelberg have formed a strategic partnership to develop advanced packaging solutions.
- The collaboration combines lightweight paperboard expertise with printing and converting technologies.
- Joint R&D projects and customer demonstrations aim to improve production efficiency and packaging performance.
Metsä Board and Heidelberg Druckmaschinen have formed a strategic partnership to develop packaging solutions that improve operational performance and the consumer experience.
The partnership is set to include joint R&D projects, pilot production runs, and customer demonstrations at Heidelberg’s Print Media Centres and Metsä Board’s Excellence Centre and Design Studios.
Erja Hyrsky, senior vice president for Commercial Operations at Metsä Board, says: “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.”
“Working closely with Heidelberg as a system integrator enables faster development and testing of solutions that support our customers’ evolving packaging needs.”
Enhancing the packaging value chain
The partnership combines Metsä Board’s lightweight paperboard expertise with Heidelberg’s offset, flexographic, digital printing, and converting technologies.
It aims to “accelerate innovation across the packaging value chain while opening up new opportunities for customers to achieve high productivity and efficient production workflows,” according to Metsä Board.
Andreas Lang, senior vice president for Global Accounts and Packaging at Heidelberg, says: “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.”
“The cooperation combines materials expertise and production technology for demanding packaging applications.”
Earlier this year, Metsä Board announced it would open a Packaging Design Studio in Milan, Italy, by mid-2026, aiming to strengthen collaboration with European brands, converters, and packaging developers.
In product innovation, the company recently unveiled the MetsäBoard Pro FBB Go, a folding boxboard developed for demanding food and pharmaceutical packaging.
