Today, responsibility is central to UPM’s operations. Customers, employees and society in general expect companies to pay attention to the environmental and social effects of their products and operations. Responsibility Made Easy presents our holistic view of responsibility. It illustrates the many ways in which we have made responsibility an integral part of our everyday operations.
“Responsibility is a broad and complex subject that means different things to different people and companies. Discussion on responsibility easily digresses into technical details or becomes a purely emotional subject, which leads to the big picture becoming obscured,” says Ari Voutilainen, Director of Stakeholder Relations, UPM Plywood.
“Responsibility Made Easy helps us to approach responsibility as a wider picture and to discuss concrete matters related to responsibility. These matters are related to our everyday lives.”
Responsibility is visible in everything we do
UPM Plywood’s Responsibility Made Easy circle gives six focus areas: responsibility as a business partner; responsibly produced wood material; responsibility for society and for environmental performance; responsibility delivered to our customers in products and services; and innovations for building a more sustainable and fossil-free future.
“The circle helps us outline responsibility as a whole and highlight the focus areas. For example, a new bio-based product innovation and our investments into a more efficient bio-boiler plant may appear unrelated, but they both drive the big picture in the same eco-friendly direction,” Voutilainen explains.
As a responsible business partner, and in line with its customer promise, UPM Plywood aims to make efficiency easy for its customers, for example by delivering products and services of high quality in line with the agreed schedule.
WISA plywood is made of sustainably grown and sourced wood, which is nature’s own renewable biomaterial. Wood products have a long service life, they store carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change.
“In the case of plywood production, the benefits for both the environment and for production go hand in hand. We aim to decrease energy consumption and boost the use of this material by continuously improving our processes. Efficiency means eco-friendliness and cost-effectiveness, and is a key indicator in production control,” notes Voutilainen.
Innovations add value to our customers
Our products and services also enable our customers to act responsibly. For example, special features such as friction surface or fire retardancy can be added to WISA plywood products. These features make the products safer to use in their applications.
Plywood is a great material for replacing many substances that are made from artificial or non-renewable raw materials, such as aluminium, concrete and steel. The development of new innovations makes more environmentally sustainable solutions possible. For example, WISA BioBond replaces oil-based phenols in adhesives with wood-based lignin.
“To us, the concept of responsibility also means social responsibility and providing a safe and motivating work environment for our employees. We also play a significant role in local communities, where our operations create new jobs and promote a wellbeing that extends far outside the mill gates,” says Voutilainen.
Stories from our everyday lives
Responsibility Made Easy helps UPM Plywood tell its customers and other interested stakeholders about its operations from the viewpoint of responsibility. To learn more about responsibility in various aspects of our operations, please visit our new dedicated web page: www.responsibilitymadeeasy.com
Text: Janne Suokas