Ahlstrom Kuitulasi Oy, the glass fibre subsidiary of Ahlstrom, is one of Europe“s largest manufacturers. The Finnish company has a turnover of FM 336.4 million, and is expected to increase turnover t…
Ahlstrom Kuitulasi Oy, the glass fibre subsidiary of Ahlstrom, is one of Europe“s largest manufacturers. The Finnish company has a turnover of FM 336.4 million, and is expected to increase turnover to FM 400 million in 1996 and FM 500 million in 1997. Ahlstrom Kuitulasi has disproved the misconceptions that capital investment does not translate into jobs and that moving high-tech production to Finland is not successful. The company“s FM 250 million investment programme has created 125 jobs and it has transformed itself from a licensee to a leading manufacturer relying on its own R&D. The company“s product groups are glass fibre tissues, reinforcement fibre products, and woven and specialty reinforcement products. The activities of the product groups are based on refining the company“s glass fibre production. Ahlstrom Kuitulasi has passed Bayer of Germany in terms of volumes. Its strong growth and ambitious plans have broken its licensee relationship with Owens Corning of the USA, which did not want to support its competitor by passing on know-how.