In his office at the Sappi paper mill in Kirkniemi, Lohja Tero Nevalainen says that since childhood he has been used to seeing the Kirkniemi mill from the car window as he drives past it. Nevalainen is from Lohjansaari, a few kilometers from the paper mill.
“When I was taking the bus to middle school, I watched the construction of paper machine number three progress. I guess these views gave me the idea that the forest industry and papermaking could be my thing.”
And so it happened. After primary school, Nevalainen completed a two-year paper process course at Lohja Vocational School. After completing this, he continued his studies at Tampere University of Applied Sciences. After four years of studies, Nevalainen graduated as a Bachelor of Science in Paper Technology.
"After the first year of study, I got a summer job on the coating machine at Kirkniemi Paper Mill No. 2, making serrated seams. The following summer, I was polishing paper on a super calender."
After his third year of study, Nevalainen worked as a summer shift supervisor at Lohjan Paper. After the army, he continued his permanent career in paper there.
“Lohjan Paperi manufactured special papers. There I got to see a different kind of papermaking and different processes than in Kirkniemi.”
Mondi became the owner of Lohjan Paper, and when the factory's production ended, Nevalainen returned to his roots in Kirkniemi in 2017.
"It was easy to come back here. There are nice colleagues here, a good spirit and competent staff. Whenever there is a need, there is a colleague who can help."
The Kirkniemi factory is like a city
Nevalainen gives a short PowerPoint presentation about Sappi and the Kirkniemi mill. The mill, founded by Metsäliitto in 1966, currently produces 2000 tonnes of coated magazine paper per day using three paper machines. The main raw material is sawdust, which requires about 40 truckloads of it daily. Since 2009, the mill has been owned by the international company Sappi. Its roots are in South Africa, and it operates in 20 countries, eight of which are in Europe. The mills in Finland and Austria are the largest in Europe. In total, Sappi employs 11.000 people, 550 in Finland.
After the key figures, an aerial view of the entire Kirkniemi factory area on the shores of Lake Lohjanjärvi is projected onto the wall.
Five facts about Sappi Kirkniemi
1. Sappi's Kirkniemi paper mill is located in the Kirkniemi district of Lohja, 65 kilometers from Helsinki. People come to Kirkniemi to work mainly from Lohja, but also from Salo, Turku and the Helsinki metropolitan area.
2. Kirkniemi is the world's largest mill producing coated magazine papers. Its three paper machines have an annual capacity of 750.000 tonnes.
3. Metsäliitto Paperi Oy established the Kirkniemi mill in 1966. Next year, the mill will celebrate its 60th anniversary.
4. In 2009, the Kirkniemi factory was acquired by Sappi Limited, headquartered in South Africa. The company has factories in North America and Europe, employing a total of over 11.000 people, including 550 in Kirkniemi. The factory is the largest private employer in Lohja.
5. Kirkniemi switched to biofuels in its energy production in 2023. As a result of the project, the factory's direct greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 90 percent.
"Kirkniemi is like a small town. It has everything you need, including a canteen, health centre, gym, maintenance, water system and its own power plant, which produces process steam and partly its own electricity."
In the picture, Nevalainen shows where the Karjaanjoki River flows into the Gulf of Finland.
"Salmon stairs are being built in the river so that salmon can ascend back to Lake Lohjanjärvi. Salmon are especially necessary for the river's rudd population, which needs salmon as a host to reproduce. Kirkniemi is involved in supporting the restoration work in the Lohikala Karjaanjokeen project," says Nevalainen.
“The environment is taken care of in many ways,” he says.
Growing up in the lap of nature and on the shores of Lake Lohjanjärvi, environmental values are important to Nevalainen.
The process wastewater used by the factory is thoroughly cleaned before it is released back into Lake Lohjanjärvi, and direct carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 90 percent, as investments have been made in energy production and the energy comes from biofuels. The biofuel storage silo can be seen from the office window, which Nevalainen thinks resembles a Moomin house.
“Even more so if you painted it blue,” he laughs.
“It's great that we are investing in cleaner operations.”
Taking care of our personnel is also an important value. Safety is a particular focus, and is reminded of this on information boards and posters throughout the factory.
“A positive atmosphere has been created around safety,” he says.
The factory offers a variety of activities for the personnel, including a soccer club, a hockey club, a craft club, a rowing club, a bowling club and a golf club. The Virkkalan Tarmo football school, which is sponsored by Sappi, has been important to the Nevalainen family. The Nevalainen twin boys are there Rikku ja Topi They started at the age of five and became so enthusiastic that they now play for the ViTa team, which is coached by their father Tero.
Factory tours for students
Tero Nevalainen's title at Sapp is CI and Quality Systems Expert. His work includes, among other things, continuous improvement, planning and organizing training for personnel, maintaining the e-learning system, organizing internal and external assessments and audits of quality systems, and leading the idea system.
"Continuous improvement means examining work phases and finding areas for improvement to make work more meaningful and easier to do. Every year, personnel come up with 200–300 ideas for savings, improving safety, streamlining work, or other issues. I support their implementation and refinement when necessary," he explains his duties.
"My work is diverse and I get to collaborate with different departments. Every week I am also in contact with Sappi's other factories in Europe, mainly on quality system issues."
In recent years, Nevalainen has also been actively involved in cooperation with educational institutions.
“We have students from the industry and high school students coming to see our operations. It’s always great to be able to show them the factory. We also work closely with Lohja Vocational School. We show the students what kind of jobs there are here. The factory needs many different types of experts, electricians, maintenance workers, laboratory technicians – many more than just papermakers.”
Kirkniemi has been involved in the Forest of Opportunities campaign of the Finnish Forest Industry Association from the beginning. Nevalainen has organized colleagues to speak to eighth-graders and upper secondary school students and has toured schools himself.
“If no one tells young people what is done at a paper mill, all they can be left with is a roaring factory and white steam in the sky.”
Factory tours and idea meetings
CI and Quality Systems Expert Nevalainen's daily work includes meetings and conferences, but also visits to the factory and various departments.
Today, it's his turn to visit the factory hall of paper machine number three. Wearing protective gear and earplugs, Nevalainen climbs the stairs to the packaging plant's control room, where he goes over the latest developments with operator Sami.
The next meeting is in the Haapa conference room with the operations engineer of paper machine number three. Anttoni Haapa-ahon The meeting will discuss new ideas from paper machine line employees. It was decided to take a more detailed look at a change process that could reduce pigment loss.
After the factory tour, Nevalainen rushes back to his office for a remote meeting to supervise the thesis of an engineering student at Tampere University of Applied Sciences.
After that, it's a day of sledding. Nevalainen gets his bike and pedals the 10 kilometers home.
Exercise, nature and culture
Lohja offers a variety of outdoor and indoor sports opportunities. There are swimming areas and nature trails on the shores and islands of Lake Lohjanjärvi, a marina in Aurlahti, and a mountain bike trail on Lohjanharju. The city has several sports and ball fields, an indoor swimming pool, two ice rinks, two golf courses, and the Kisakallio Sports Institute.
Culture can be enjoyed in museums and art galleries. Various events are held throughout the year, such as the Café Day to mark the beginning of summer and the harvest festival Omena Carnival in the autumn.
The city of Lohja has its own city orchestra and city theatre. Lohja plays at festivals and concerts, there is rock, classical, pop and jazz, Rantajamit in July and the Factory By The Lake festival in the surroundings of an old paper mill in August. Lohja has the Tytyri adventure mine, which has a museum, art gallery and troll cave.
