This will form part of a three-year programme by Iggesund, part of the Holmen Group, to tackle the UK market and increase sales of its Invercote solid bleached paperboard product.

The investment, which was announced in December, will involve quality improvement measures and a new wire section on its KM2 board machine at the Iggesunds Bruk mill in Sweden.

Mill manager Staffan Jonsson said the improvements would allow Iggesund to further develop its products for graphics and packaging. These include the packaging of cosmetics, chocolates and tobacco products, as well as brochures, book covers and postcards.

Jonsson said the surface properties of the products would be unaffected by the move to fewer layers in the paperboard composition. He claimed that turnaround times between products would improve as a result, with both downtime and wastage being reduced. The company's Invercote G  paperboard product is also being upgraded.

A series of fixed lead times are being introduced to ensure deliveries do not vary, along with improvements to Invercote G's consistency and runnability.

Jonsson said that corrective action had been taken to remove bottlenecks, while enhancements to coating stations had improved the detection of spot and holes in products.

Iggesund's KM2 paperboard machine can produce 180,000 tonnes per annum.