The impact evaluation of a fire that broke out on Saturday May 7 at Valmet’s Rautpohja factory site in Jyväskylä, Finland, is ongoing. The fire, which started at a workshop during a roll test and caused minor injuries to one employee, was fully extinguished over the weekend. The official investigations by the authorities are ongoing at the factory site.
The majority of machine workshops at the Rautpohja factory site are unimpacted. Valmet is planning to continue production later this week in these unimpacted machine workshop areas. Additionally, Engineering, Foundry, Service Center and Pilot machine operations are continuing normally.
Impacted machine workshop areas include parts of roll manufacturing and preassembly, and these areas are temporarily closed. This affects temporarily the work of approximately 120 employees, which is around 5 percent of the total number of employees at the Rautpohja site.
The impact assessment of the fire to the business continuity and customer deliveries has been started, and the final outcome will be known once the official investigations have been concluded and the full scale of the incident is clear.
“I want to thank our people at the site for professional actions right after the fire broke. The impact evaluation of the fire is now ongoing, and we continue to support our employees and customers during this time. Optional alternatives for impacted operations will be implemented, if needed. We have several alternative units and partners available, out of which many operate locally. Alternatives in Scandinavia, Europe and globally are being evaluated, too,” says Jari Vähäpesola, President, Paper business line, Valmet.
Valmet’s Rautpohja factory in Jyväskylä produces paper and board machines, pulp drying machine wet ends and special components. Valmet employs approximately 1,850 people at the Rautpohja site.
Valmet is a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. With our automation systems and flow control solutions we serve an even wider base of process industries.
We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers. Our 17,000 professionals work close to our customers and are committed to improving our customers’ performance – every day.
The company has over 220 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement and renewal. In 2022, a major milestone was achieved when the flow control company Neles was merged into Valmet. The combined company’s net sales in 2021 was approximately EUR 4.5 billion based on the respective company figures.
Valmet’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki and the head office is in Espoo, Finland.
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