Finland
Video of VERLA Paper Mill Museum
The little Verla
mill community on the borders of Jaala and Valkeala in the Kymi river valley
of Southeast Finland dates back to the 1870s, at a time when the region began
its development into the leading centre of the Finnish forest industry.Verla
at that time still lived an independent life of its own. Even when it was
founded, the Verla groundwood and board mill was among the smallest in Finland,
and it never grew much bigger. Yet Verla had a good reputation in trade circles,
because people knew they could trust the board produced there.
World heritage safeguarded
The story of Verla could have ended when the mill closed down in 1964, but
it was not destined to fall into oblivion and decay. On the contrary, Verla
became a lasting part of Finland’s cultural history and of world heritage.
http://www.verla.fi/en/history
Kouvola is a pleasant
city of about 88,000 inhabitants in Kymenlaakso, Southeast Finland. Kouvola
is Finland’s tenth largest city.
In Kouvola, the urban and
the rural live side-by-side. The Kymi River winding through the region provides
the local population and tourists with a setting for recreation, serves local
forest industry companies and provides a unique landscape. Industry is still
a major employer in Kouvola, although the region’s forest industry has
declined drastically in recent years. These days, an increasing number of
people in the city are employed in commercial services. The largest employer
in Kouvola is the Finnish Defence Forces, as the Karelian Brigade and the
Utti Jaeger Regiment are stationed in Kouvola.
Kouvola is also a railway city. It is the western terminal of the Trans-Siberian Railway that goes from Europe to Asia, as well as being a significant junction in Finland. The Allegro train takes tourists and business travellers between Kouvola and St Petersburg. As far as road traffic is concerned, Kouvola is situated along Highways 6 and 15. The journey from Kouvola to the Helsinki region takes a little over an hour by train and 1½ hours by car.
In Kouvola, nature offers the best landscape in Southern Finland to enjoy outdoor activities and cottage life. The region is home to the Repovesi National Park, where you can marvel at the changing landscape after just a short trek into the countryside. Kouvola also has the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Verla Groundwood and Board Mill, where you can learn about the operations and stories of the old mill. In summer, the Tykkimäki Amusement Park is a great attraction, both for the young and the young at heart.
The story of Kuusakoski began
in 1914, when Donuard Kuusakoski set up business in Vyborg collecting iron,
metal scrap, and textile waste. Vyborg was the main city of the province of
Karelia in Eastern Finland, which, until Finland’s independence in 1917,
was part of the Russian Empire.
World War I, the 1920s,
and the Great Depression were times of expansion for the young scrap-collecting
company. Raw materials were hard to come by and waste was an alien concept.
Everything was reused: bricks, wood, metal, textile fibers, rags, etc.
In the 1930s, before World War II broke out, Kuusakoski made its first forays
abroad, selling high-grade non-ferrous metals to smelting plants and foundries
in Germany and England. But war soon changed everything. In 1938, Kuusakoski
set up headquarters in Helsinki, a move that proved crucial to the company’s
long-term survival when, two years later, Finland ceded the territory around
Vyborg to the Soviet Union as part of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
In 1944, Kuusakoski’s Helsinki offices were destroyed in an air raid,
and, in a heavy blow to the company, its founder, Donuard, died in 1946. However,
Donuard’s sons, Victor and Rafael, took up their father’s mantle
and revived the company.
Post-War Through The 1980s
A once-in-a-lifetime deal in 1948 with the Finnish Armed Forces to buy part
of their air fleet for metal scrap became the starting point of Kuusakoski’s
ongoing success and expansion. It sparked the company’s switch from trading
to industrial operations with its first aluminum smelting plant and kick-started
the culture of research and development the company retains to this day.
Through the 1950s and 60s, Kuusakoski expanded its operations and invested
heavily in advanced machinery—like the Morgan copper processing furnace
and the Ponzen 5000 furnace for aluminum. During this time, the company’s
laboratory established itself as the industry’s foremost authority on
metal alloy analysis.
Expansion continued steadily. In 1970, Kuusakoski had 85 employees; by the
end of the decade, that number had reached 200. In the 1980s and 90s, Kuusakoski
accelerated its technological and environmental advancements, for example
introducing planet-friendly induction furnaces and perfecting new methods
for drying of turnings, sink and float, and melting-point separation.