An expanded range and a focus on strengthening its business through international collaboration are supporting Stora Enso's strong growth in graphical boards. The use of the company's Aurocard board for the covers of IKEA's catalogues is a powerful example of this increasing market. This year 132 million IKEA catalogues have been printed and are forecast to rise by tens of millions within a few years. 

Catalogues are a key business area for Stora Enso. The company has created a range of products that include SBS, CTMP and FBB boards and has strengthened the services provided by its Service Centre to enable even faster and more flexible deliveries. The latest Service Centre will open in Baienfurt, southern Germany, in the autumn.

Vice President Pasi Ahokas, head of Stora Enso's Graphical Boards, says that investment in major international partners has paid off. "In every area we have grown faster than our competitors, in conventional business catalogues, the yellow-page and directory sector and in books. A crucial element to our success is a customised optimal cover material. An extensive product palette enables us to do just this. We found a solution for IKEA's needs in Aurocard as, besides good printing properties, the catalogues must have excellent stiffness," Pasi Ahokas points out.

The furniture giant's catalogue is said to be one of the biggest publications in the world. This year's multi-million circulation comes in 45 versions in 23 languages. The catalogue is an essential part of IKEA's global expansion strategy, which means that its catalogue circulation is likely to rise to 180 million by 2007.

"The catalogue is more than printed matter. It is a cornerstone of the IKEA concept," says Lars Carlson, Purchasing Manager at Inter-IKEA Systems S.A. "The catalogue is an item that must be able to withstand consumer use for a whole year. The cover must be excellent in terms of printing and durability to enable it to carry the values represented by the IKEA brand for as long as the catalogue is used. We print photographic material on the cover both on the front face and inside, which means that colour rendering must be of a high quality inside, too. We want to produce a top-quality, resilient cover with the minimum grammage. This is the main goal in optimisation. In addition, we expect suppliers to comply with our sustainability principles - an absolute prerequisite for a supplier relationship."

Stora Enso is the main supplier of the catalogue's cover materials and one of the main paper suppliers. As well as Aurocard for the cover, the PubliPress is used for the catalogue pages. Aurocard is a multi-ply graphical board made from virgin fibres bleached without chlorine. It has a blade coated, calendered top offering excellent print results. The matt coated white reverse side is also suitable for multicolour printing.



For further information, please contact:

Stora Enso Oyj
Mr Pasi Ahokas, Vice President, Graphical Boards
FIN-55800 Imatra
FINLAND
Tel: +358 2046 22665
Fax: +358 2046 24767
E-mail: pasi.ahokas@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Deutschland GmbH
Packaging Board
Mr Wilfried Schmahl
Moskauer Str. 27
DE-40227 Düsseldorf
GERMANY
Tel: +49 211 581 2537
Fax: +49 211 581 2175
E-mail: wilfried.schmahl@storaenso.com

Stora Enso France S.A.
Mr Alain Piattier / Ms Maila Grastilleur
15/25 Boulevard de l'Amiral Bruix
F-75782 Paris Cedex 16
FRANCE
Tel: +33 1 53 64 79 00
Fax: +33 1 53 64 79 90
E-mail: maila.grastilleur@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Italia srl
Mr Renato Somekh
Via A. Volta, 16
I-20093 Cologno Monzese
ITALY
Tel: +39 02 251 514 74
Fax: +39 02 251 514 59
E-mail: renato.somekh@storaenso.com

Press release images