Metsä Fiber’s New State-Of-The-Art Sawmill in Rauma, Finland, Is Fully Operational

Metsä Fiber, part of the Metsä Group, announced on Friday (9-30-22) that its new state-of-the-art sawmill in Rauma, Finland, has completed its test run production schedule. The mill, running with three shifts daily, is now fully operational as a continuous sawn timber production facility.

The Rauma sawmill’s annual capacity is 750,000 cubic meters of pine sawn timber, and the annual use of pine logs sourced in Finland is approximately 1.5 million cubic meters.

The sawn timber manufactured in Rauma is typically sold to countries in Europe and Asia. Of interest, the new sawmill does not have its own warehouses. Instead, finished sawn timber products are packaged and automatically loaded onto trucks, which transport it directly to the Port of Rauma, which is located close to the mill.

According to the press release, the Rauma sawmill is a worldwide forerunner in technology, efficiency, and operating models. Technological innovations such as machine vision, self-learning artificial intelligence, and integrated information systems that control the sawline’s various functions provide improved conditions for the production of sawn timber of consistent quality and the sawmill’s industrial efficiency. With the aid of new technology, the Rauma sawmill’s operation is controlled from a single central control room, and sawn timber moves along the converting line without any manual work stages.

The new sawmill was built next to Metsä Fiber’s Rauma Pulp Mill. The pulp production generates bioenergy for the sawmill, and the chips from the sawmill provide the pulp mill with its fiber, allowing for the use of all residual waste products.