SNAPSHOT: Pär Andersson

Name: Pär Andersson

Responsible for: P&W and Board/packaging customers in Europe, all paper grades for Asian customers 

Born: 1962, Gothenburg, Sweden 

Education and expertise:  MSc Chemical Engineering, Chalmers, Gothenburg 

Worked in the P&P business since 1989 for three different supplier companies within paper chemicals, pigments and MFC, both in Sales and R&D positions. 

Lives: Mölnlycke, Sweden 

Likes: Music, sport, fishing/spending time on the boat at summer cottage  

Status: Married to Chatarina. Two boys, aged 25 and 28

Reflections: 

Since the appointment of a new TPM dedicated to both Paper and Dissolving pulp projects, I am now entirely focused on paper pulp projects. Within this one area, however, the challenges can vary greatly, which is a large attraction of the job – I like not knowing what questions or issues will come up next. The mix of European and Asian projects is also very interesting as our approach is different depending on location – we can head over to a customer in Europe and visit the mill concerned much more easily than a customer in Indonesia, for example, where we liaise with trading houses as well as the mills. That can be challenging but rewarding too as several different cultures and attitudes can be involved in one project. 

The Asian market is very quick to adopt new technologies and China’s environmental awareness and sustainability record have made rapid progress – when the Chinese decide to close a polluting mill, there is no messing around – decisions are made and implemented fast. For some things, they are 20 years behind but for others 10 years ahead, which is fascinating. 

Before joining Södra as a TPM in 2016, I worked for a French mineral supplier for a decade, the last four years of which were spent developing a new MFC (micro-fibrillated cellulose) pigment composite.  This expertise in a related but niche area has proved an advantage, and this is an area which is only going to get bigger as we search for more sustainable solutions for the future. 

I find multi-partner projects especially interesting. If we don’t have the full set of expertise in house, we’ll bring in a third party to help. A very successful example recently was a project with Arctic Paper and the enzyme supplier, Novozymes, using enzymes to optimise the customer’s refining process. That was very satisfying.