UPM-Biofore-Magazine-1-2017-ENG

UNESCO nominated the Verla groundwood and board mill for its World Heritage List in 1996 in recognition of the well-preserved mill surroundings, village and workers’ housing. Today the site is owned and run by UPM.

Ville Majuri

The view at Verla is dominated by the owner's residence, which was designed by the architect Eduard Dippell.

Karhula and Tampella – the very first heavy industry and paper machine manufacturers in Finland – built the grinding machines, as well as some of the wet-lapmachines. The board sheets were lifted from the machine hall by an early lift model manufactured by the world-renowned elevator company KONE. Several belts and straps on the wet-lapmachine were made by the Nokia company – a company that went on to become a founding member of the Nokia Corporation, nowadays a famous name in the information technology and communications sector. The VerlaMill Museum is open from the beginning of May until the end of September.

and Finland a forerunner in the forest industry sector. “Several of today’s forest industry giants started out as similar small mills,” adds Majuri. The Kymi Company bought the mill in 1922. It produced its last sheet of board in summer 1964 and was opened for public visits as an industrial heritage site soon afterwards. UNESCO nominated the Verla groundwood and boardmill for its World Heritage List in 1996 in recognition of the well-preservedmill surroundings, village and workers’ housing. Today the site is owned and run by UPM.

board sheets were reground into mechanical pulp, but the workers could also use them for insulating their homes. All materials were recycled until they reached the very end of their lifecycle. “The worn clothing fromwet-lap machines was sought after because it was reused as children’s clothes, and the old stones used in the grinder machines were cut into four pieces and used in the foundations of the workers’ housing,” Lemminkäinen explains. Lemminkäinen is a rich source of stories about life at the mill. He even has personal memories – some of his relatives worked there and he also visited the mill in his childhood. Worker education and health care The main building that overlooks the rapids in the village was the residence of the mill owner, Gottlieb Kreidl, who ruled both the mill and village with a firm, patriarchal hand. Though authoritative, Kreidl was a reformist dedicated to improving the workers’ social welfare and health care. “The mill paid for the workers’ medical treatment andmedicines, and there was even a sickness and burial fund, as well as a pension fund for them,” explains Lemminkäinen.

Kreidl was also eager to educate the people of Verla. In 1890, the mill founded a primary school for children, which was taken over by local authorities in 1922. In its peak years, the mill had some 150 workers, roughly 40% of whomwere women. Men were responsible for the more physical and dangerous tasks like peeling and grinding the wood andmaintaining the machines. Women were in charge of operating the cardboardmachines and the drying loft and separating the board sheets. “Although women’s wages were about 60% of what men earned, they still made more money in one month than the entire yearly income of women working on farms,” Lemminkäinen adds. Verla wakes up in summer After production ceased, Verla was opened to the public as Finland’s first mill museum. UNESCO recognition saw a new peak in visitor numbers. “In the summer, we have some 40,000 visitors touring the site. In a good year, we have as many as 22,000 visitors on our guidedmill tours,” notes Lemminkäinen. The oldmachine hall also preserves a fascinating slice of Finnish industrial history.

The reconstruction period after the war was also a very busy time,” explains Jussi Lemminkäinen , a tour guide at the mill. Verla’s product was called “hand- made board” because workers handled it several times during the industrial process. The annual output was some 2,000 tonnes of board, plus the same amount of groundwood too. Verla was well known for its high- quality output, which was exported to as many as 30 countries. A history of recycling know-how Recycling and the efficient use of raw materials has always been a core feature of the Finnish forest industry. Spruce was the main rawmaterial used for making mechanical pulp. Peeled bark waste was incinerated to generate heat in the drying loft. Damaged and unsuitable

Exporting hand-made board In the centre of the mill, there

were eight wet-lapmachines producing 70 x 100 cm board sheets. Thinner qualities were made for the packaging industry, while thicker qualities were made for applications such as book covers and picture mount boards. The machines ran around

Contact and reservations: VERLA MILL MUSEUM Verlantie 295, FI-47850 Verla FINLAND Tel. +358 2041 52170 www.verla.fi/en E-mail: museum.verla@upm.com

Jussi Lemminkäinen

the clock. “The most hectic years were during the SecondWorldWar when board was needed for ammunition boxes.

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