Metso Paper opened a service technology center in Brazil

Published Feb 11, 2003 18.18.00 +2 GMT

Metso Paper inaugurated a new service technology center in Brazil on February 11th, 2003. The center operates at Metso Corporation's joint premises in Sorocaba, São Paulo, and serves the needs of the pulp and paper industry in Brazil and in other Latin American countries.

The scope of services offered by the Sorocaba center is from spare parts and roll services to maintenance services. In addition to supplying comprehensive process improvement projects, the center also provides local support for new installations and rebuilds in Latin America. The center is part of the Metso Future Care concept whose goal is to maintain the competitiveness of customer processes throughout their lifecycles.

The Sorocaba center has a modern roll service workshop with 3 800 m2 floor space. It is capable of servicing the largest paper machine rolls in use. It can manage growing future demands of the industry with e.g a crane lifting capacity of 120 tons. The center also includes facilities for parts logistics, testing and customer training. With the new center Metso Paper, one of the largest suppliers to the pulp and paper industry, wants to clearly demonstrate its dedication toward its customers in Latin America.

The considerable investments being made in infrastructure development in Brazil offer good growth opportunities for Metso. Recently, the country's pulp and paper industry has not only been modernizing, but also increasing, its production capacity. Metso Paper has so far been selected to be the supplier of a pulping line and drying machine for Votorantim in Jacarei, wood handling systems for Riocell and Jari and bleaching plant for Suzano in Suzano, and several coating machines and coating color kitchens for Klabin in Monte Alegre, Suzano, Ripasa and VCP Piracicapa.

Metso Corporation employs about 1,400 people in Latin America. Metso has concentrated its main Brazilian operations to Sorocaba where Metso Minerals, Metso Paper and Metso Automation are located. The new Brazilian service technology center is part of Metso Paper's Service Business Line which employs approximately 3,000 people in over 40 service centers around the world.

Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket services. The Corporation's core businesses are fiber and paper technology (Metso Paper), rock and mineral processing (Metso Minerals) and automation and control technology (Metso Automation). In 2002, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.7 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 28,500. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.

More information: Jukka Tiitinen, President, Metso Paper Service Tel. +55 15 9788 0571 or +358 40 740 6178 Mauri Rukajärvi, Area President, Metso Paper Service, South America Tel. +55 15 3235 9801 or +55 19 9604 2659 Hannu Hakamäki, President, Metso Paper, Chemical Pulping Lines Tel. +358 400 598 880