Business News
Iggesund CEO in Paper Industry International Hall of Fame
Friday 24. October 2008 - Lars G. Sundblad, CEO of Iggesund Paperboard until 1984, has been selected for induction into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.
The induction ceremony will be held on 23 October. Sundblad, who is the man responsible for the existence of paperboard manufacturing at Iggesund, is only the second Swede to become a member of this illustrious group of some 90 individuals recognised for their pre-eminent contributions to the development of the paper industry. Lars G Sundblad has been selected for his achievements in entrepreneurship, leadership and marketing and sales.
As the young CEO of Iggesund Paperboard, Lars G. Sundblad ensured that the small pulp mill on Swedens northern Baltic coast decided to focus on producing added value pulp products – and in particular solid bleached board – at a time when no one in Europe even knew what the product was, let alone wanted to buy it.
It was his visits to the United States before becoming CEO that made Sundblad realise there was a growing market for packaged foods – and that this market would soon reach Europe. He dared to take a leap into the unknown, he convinced his board of directors, and he dared to invest in new technology.
“We will make the worlds best paperboard,” was the instruction he gave to the team of people who were to help establish the paperboard mill that was built at Iggesund, Sweden in 1963.
Quality and quality consistency were the pledges of those early years of paperboard manufacture. Those values have been kept alive and passed down to todays production in Iggesund of the spearhead product Invercote. Quality consistency is particularly valuable in giving converters and printers security when it comes to their production economics and also predictability of the results. Over the years Iggesund Paperboard has established itself as a quality leader thanks to this focus on quality consistency as well as due to the mechanical properties that appeal to all manufacturers of quality packaging.
“I didnt know that this Hall of Fame existed but Im honoured to have been chosen as an inductee,” says Sundblad himself, who is now retired and enjoys watching the fruits of his efforts continuing to flourish at a distance.