Pankaboard’s sales director Ilkka Mutka said the investment wouldn’t mean a rise in the price. "We just wanted to improve our competitiveness on the market place. It’s helped us to reposition ourselves in relation to our competitors and we can now offer more in terms of printing area per tonne," he said.

The €100m turnover, 160 staff manufacturer used more precise fibre screening to improve the consistency of the ground-wood pulp used in the middle layer of the board.

This has had the effect of increasing the thickness of the boards and although it varies depending on the weight of the product, according to the manufacturer PankaBrite has had an overall increase in thickness of 30 microns and PankaWhite has increased by 10 microns.

Pankaboard has also modified its coating formulas to make its products smoother and more suitable for printing. The shade of both products has come closer to blueish-white, which means they appear whiter to the eye.

Folding box boards normally vary between 1.0 to 3.0 on the Robinson Scale, which measures odour and taint. As a result of its investment Pankaboard has moved its products from 2.5 to 1.5 on the scale by reducing the amount of volatile compounds, which are the main source of odours in folding box boards.

Mutka said this opened up new opportunities in a wider range of sectors, especially in the food industry, where brand-owners are increasingly looking for products that are ranked closer to 1.0 on the Robinson Scale.