The Japan Times WORLD EYE REPORTS FINLAND
©THE JAPAN TIMES	Sunday, March 10, 2002

Keeping an innovative perspective on marketing

Why do you choose one product over another when you go shopping? Many companies invest millions of dollars trying to influence this decision. At the end of the day, however, a product must appeal visually in order to sell. Into this fickle market steps Raflatac, one of the world's leading manufacturers of paper-based and synthetic labeling solutions. In recent years Raflatac has made a strong commitment to new technology, focusing its product line on synthetic materials and streamlining its office operations. One of its latest products -- Raflex -- is an innovative facing material that combines the best properties of polyethylene and polypropylene. Intended for top-end cosmetics products packaging and other applications that require an excellent print surface, it is not solvent-based -- making it much more attractive from an environmental point of view.

Raflatac's founder, Juhani Strömberg, is leading his company to new goals through consolidation.

With factories on five continents and a worldwide network of terminals and sales offices, Raflatac is committed to operating close to its clients. A staff of 1,900 people and eleven factories spread out internationally ensures that this is a challenge the company does not take lightly.

Perhaps the most innovative of all the developments at Raflatac came from the company's founder, Juhanni Strömberg. Marketed under the brand name Rafsac, Strömberg's new product has single-handedly taken Raflatac's entire mother company, UPM-Kymmene Group, into a new age of simplified living.

By integrating a transmitter into a flexible sheet, Rafsac makes it possible to store information on a person and transmit it wirelessly when passing a remote sensor. Using this technology, it is now possible to reserve tickets and board a Finnair flight without ever laying hands on the actual ticket.

Additionally, complete information detailing a person's fingerprints could be stored on a microchip as part of the transmitter, providing instant identity verification in these times of increased security.

The need to relate the individual strengths of the elements that make up his company into an efficient and creative synergy has led Strömberg to redefine his role within the organization. "In addition to innovation and development," he said, "attention should also be paid to how the efficiency of the product-refining chain can be improved. The development of electronic commerce is one possibility. When routines are streamlined, mental capacity is freed for the development of creative solutions."

The transformation into a company well adapted to the new information-based economy is happening gradually at Raflatac.

But one thing is clear: being part of the UPM-Kymmene Group has proven to be a great asset to Raflatac. "They have provided us with resources and capital that we never would have had otherwise," Strömberg commented. "Without them it is not clear that our success would be so spectacular."

TOP

Home  About Us  Careers  Contact Us  Reports  Advertisers  About Japan Times

© 2002 World Eye Reports