Digitalisation: The future is here

Magnus Björkman, Södra Cell’s president, opened the evening by showcasing the trailer for The Journey campaign (watch it here if you haven’t already). He highlighted the need for the industry to promote its sustainability among the wider public and stressed how much more we could do by working together. We are all in a very sustainable business, he said, urging everyone to like and share the videos and spread the word that sustainable fibre is a good thing. 

Henrik Wettergren, head of Södra Cell International, reiterated Södra’s desire to be at the forefront of digital innovation, but never at the expense of face-to-face meetings, for which there is still no substitute. Indeed, events such as Pulp Week in Barcelona or London are a sustainable way of working: With so many customers in one place at the same time, a single flight becomes a highly efficient way of meeting up. And we are thankfully a long way from leaving communication to the robots!

Angeline Elfström, Customer Relations Manager, said Barcelona was an important meeting point for customers and Södra staff and the company’s largest customer event. As well as a chance to network and socialise, this year’s theme was digitalisation. 

Johan Thor, head of Digital Innovation and Data Science at Södra, was on hand to talk about the importance of building trust as a company in the digital world and showcase a few examples of what Södra is already doing in forest management (a field in which we’ve been a pioneer). 

Partnerships and collaboration are essential in the digital world and all customers are invited to work with us and see how we could turn digitalisation to our mutual advantage. 

Guest speaker, Tomas Bendz, CEO and Founder of Time Traveller asked how many of us really use the technology we already have to its full potential and said that defining and understanding are prerequisites for digitalization and transformation. Change is often painful and difficult, but improvement is positive and makes everyone feel better. To competence, skills and improvement, we need to add willingness, potential and capability. He too reiterated the importance of collaboration. Robots are not taking over, but they are making life easier. “Try new things, see what you can do and then ask yourself how could you use the technology in your business.” 

The session ended with an interactive demonstration of an exoskeleton and AR and VR tools so that customers could try out some of the emerging technologies for themselves. Elfström: “At Södra we’re proud of our position as pioneers of digitalisation in the forest industry and we’re keen to develop this potential further with our customers, so do get in touch via Pulp+ to start the conversation.”