when competitors became a team when competitors became a team

ekaecho
T H E E K A C H E M I C A L S S T A F F M A G A Z I N E
WHEN COMPETITORS
BECAME A TEAM
f CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS AND PROFITS f EKA BUILD FOR
GROWTH IN BRAZIL f GIVE STUDENTS DEGREE PROJECTS!
# 4/2007

ekaecho
The Eka Echo is a staff magazine
for all employees within the Eka
Chemicals group. It is produced by
the Communications department
at Eka Chemicals, Sweden. The
magazine in published in English
and Swedish, four times a year.
EDITOR
Anne-Cathrine Hartmann
anne-cathrine.hartmann@eka.com
Telephone: +46 31-58 71 22
PUBLISHER
Erik Widén, communications
manager
erik.widen@eka.com
EDITORIAL STAFF
Lene Schack (lene.schack@eka.com),
Kristina Fagerholm (kristina.fagerholm@eka.com),
Adela Guerrera
(adela.guerrera@eka.com), Nancy
Nilsson (nancy.nilsson@eka.com),
Steve Main (steve.main@eka.com)
ART & LAYOUT
Williams information ab
ADMINISTRATION
Ing-Marie Trygg,
Communications department
ing-marie.trygg@eka.com
PRINTED BY
Elanders, Göteborg
CIRCULATION
4 300 ex
Cover picture:
Plant managers
Jean Goyette
and Cynthia
Martin,
Canada.
Photo: Monica
Rossing.
Latest date for sending material
to Eka Echo no 5 is 19 November,
2007.
ADDRESS
Eka Echo
SE-445 80 Bohus, Sweden
Fax: +46 31 15 62 12
ISSN: 0345-2840
2 ekaecho | # 4 2007
ekaecho
WHEN WHEN COMPETITORS
COMPETITORS
BECAME BECAME A A TEAM TEAM
f CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS AND PROFITS f EKA BUILD FOR
GROWTH IN BRAZIL f GIVE STUDENTS DEGREE PROJECTS!
an Akzo Nobel company
T H E E K A C H E M I C A L S S T A F F M A G A Z I N E # 4/2007
EDITORIAL
Safety important to result
DEVELOPMENT IS TAKING large strides towards
a new Akzo Nobel. After the sale of
pharmaceuticals and the planned acquisition
of ICI, once the deal has been realized, we will
be part of an entirely new group, compared to the
Akzo Nobel of a few years ago. We shall be by far
the biggest paint producers in the world and have
fivel growth areas occupying good positions within
chemicals. Eka Chemicals is one of these and will
have considerable opportunities for development
within the new and stronger Akzo Nobel.
During the first six months of the year profits were
good and sales increased by 6%, despite hydrogen
peroxide sales in North America being entered in
our OCI joint venture. The second half of the year
does not look as stable, although so far the economic
situation has been favorable, and this applies to
our markets too, with high production and high capacity
utilization. As earlier, most growth in pulp and
paper is taking place in Asia and South America. We
are happy to see we are acquiring large parts of this
growth, and our new contracts with accompanying
investment plans at both Três Lagoas and Jundiai in
Brazil are further evidence of this. Moreover, our
new plant in south China has rapidly increased its
capacity utilization.
REVENUES HAVE INCREASED, partly owing to success
in raising prices that have been low for a long
time. We have succeeded in compensating, to a certain
extent, for the major power costs rises, especially
in the Nordic countries, which represent a considerable
drawback for chlorate production. Nordic
power prices are presently low on the spot market,
but company power supply is based on longer contracts
and these have not benefited from any price
drop. Nor are we witness to any decisive political
measures that could improve the energy situation in
Europe in the future. Increased costs for emission allowances
in Europe, in the wake of the climate debate,
could well contribute to even higher power
supply costs.
Two industrial accidents occurred during the first
half of the year, resulting in lost working hours, and
two more have since occurred. This means we have
succeeded in cutting back LTIs to the 2007 target,
but we still have some way to go before we reach
zero accidents; a figure many work sites have been
demonstrating is a feasible target and have been doing
so for long time. The number of reported injuries
is still high.. On the one hand this is good, because it
provides a way to countermeasure incidents and
prevent these from causing new injuries. On the other
hand it is still most important to eliminate injuries
altogether.
OUR PROGRAM FOR BEHAVIOR based safety, BBS,
has now been fully implemented at eight plants.
Others are working on it. This work must be given
high priority. Once again I wish to emphasize there is
no contradiction in striving for both high safety and
high productivity. On the contrary, it has been found
that plants with the best safety statistics and the
best orderliness also return the highest productivity.
Our most important goal is that no-one should be injured
at work. If this results in better orderliness at
our work sites and increases productivity, it will also
help us to achieve an even better result for the second
half of 2007.
JAN SVÄRD
President
� Eka Chemicals, with 2,900 employees in 30 countries, is a business unit within Akzo Nobel. Turnover
2006 amounted to 963 mEUR. Eka Chemicals is a leading supplier of bleaching chemicals, paper chemicals
and systems to the pulp and paper industry throughout the world, and supplies certain special
chemicals to the pharmaceuticals industry, water treatment, the electronics industry etc. www.eka.com

100 largest
surveyed
■ The PPI magazine has published
its review of top 100 pulp and paper
companies of the world in
2006. Based on the sales from
pulp, paper and converting operations,
the largest companies have
been International Paper (US),
Stora Enso (Finland), Procter &
Gamble (US), SCA
(Sweden), UPM-
Kymmene (Finland),
Oji Paper
(Japan), Weyerhaeuser
(US),
Smurfit Kappa
Group (Ireland),Kimberly-Clark
(US) and
Nippon Paper Group (Japan). Total
sales of the top 100 companies
from pulp, paper and converting
operations amounted to US$
273,997 million, up 7.5 % compared
with 2005. Total earnings
increased to US$ 23,641 million in
2006 from US$ 15,823 million in
2005. Market pulp production of
the companies amounted to
33.782 million tonnes and paper
and board production to 205.189
million tonnes.
Central Asia in
the lead
■ How are Central
Asia Golden Dragons
doing? Eka Retention
World Cup
has reported on
the September
results, but no dramatic
changes have occurred
among the leaders, although excitement
is mounting. The Central
Europe Golden Hordes team is
gaining ground in one of the competition
categories. For more information
about competition status
please visit the intranet; key in the
following address on your web
browser: http://mcms.eka.intra/Eka
Forum/Pulp+and+Paper/ERW
2007 Result. htm
The chlorine factory is the first building visitors see
when they drive into Eka, Bohus. Built in 1969-70…
...the building is now to be demolished, and the appearance
of the north entrance will be radically altered.
Hans Karlsson is driving the excavator with Ulf
Olsson in the background. Both are contractors.
Chlorine building
demolished at Bohus
■ The demolition of the chlorine production building at Eka Chemicals,
Bohus started in September this year. The building was used for
chlorine production until September 2005 when the operation was
closed down. It is the last and the largest in a series of buildings and
plant to be demolished, and project managers expect work to have
been completed by the year end. The project involved dismantling
and taking care of 54 mercury cells and all the equipment contained
within the building, and has been well planned and carefully controlled.
Work was started in 2006.
CONTENTS # 4 2007
New plants in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Lee Sampson at green office in Marietta . . . . . . . . 6
The Eka detectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Close-knit team in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-13
ECF bleaching presented in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Peter Kemi
IN BRIEF
Safety record
in Venezuela
■ In May 2007, Eka Chemicals
de Venezuela set a safety record
for reaching 5 years without a
Lost Time Incident (LTI).
“Safety is one of the most important
issues for us, our customers
and the community,” said
Anibal Cermeño, plant manager.
“This achievement is very gratifying
for Eka Chemicals de
Venezuela. This record was reached
thanks to the efforts of all our employees
and contractors due to the
strong safety culture in Santa Cruz.
Training and Behavior Based
Safety processes are ongoing, and
we conduct Process Hazard Analysis
to maintain and improve our
safety systems.
We are proud to share this
achievement with the rest of our
Eka family.”
Tips to Eka Echo!
■ For those who wish to express
views on our staff magazine or who
have suggestions about content –
you are very welcome to contact the
editorial office. You can call or e-mail
us. Contact information is provided
in the left-hand column on page 2.
Eka®, Expancel®, Purate®,
SVP-Pure® and SVP-Lite®
are registered trademarks
owned by Eka Chemicals
AB and/or other companies
within the Akzo Nobel
group in several countries
around the world.
ekaecho | # 4 2007 3

New plants in Brazil
In December Eka Engineering,
Brazil will be coming to the end of
a hectic period of two years during
which the unit has delivered four
new chlorine dioxide plants to various
pulp mills.
”Keeping on schedule has been
one of the essentials of these
projects,” says Antonio Carlos
Fransisco.
■ Eka Echo met up with Antonio Carlos Fransisco,
head of the local Eka Engineering operation
in Brazil, when he was in Sweden recently to deliver
a final report on the four new chlorine dioxide
plants. The project has been ongoing since
2005.
”There are three entirely new plants and a fourth
where we have increased capacity for the customer,
International Paper, IP, from 8 to 25 tons per day.
We completed this project in the end of 2006,”,
says Antonio Carlos.
The three new plants are:
• A 15 tpd (tons per day) plant was started up
4 ekaecho | # 4 2007
for customer Klabin/Telemaco Borba in September.
• A 30 tpd plant was started up for customer
Bahia Pulp/Camaçari in December.
• Bahia Sul 2, producing 45 tpd, was started up
in August. Like Bahia Sul 1 (that has now been running
for 3 years), the plant is sited on customer
Suzano’s land, but owned by Eka Chemicals.
IN THE PREVIOUS EDITION of Eka Echo we wrote
about the company’s future major investments and
projects in Brazil. Cost competitive raw material
provided by short fiber from fast-growing eucalyptus
trees have helped the country’s pulp industry
to grow increasingly larger.
”When you build a new pulp factory, although
the chlorine dioxide plant represents only about
2 percent of total investment, production cannot
start until this is up and running,” says Antonio Carlos,
and adds:
”A new pulp mill is an investment of over a billion
dollars – and puts a great deal of pressure
on us to deliver on time. Each day of delay can
cost large sums in lost production for the customer.”
Antonio Carlos started Eka Engineering operations
in Brazil 15 years ago. There are now 12 peo-
Antonio Carlos Fransisco
The chlorine dioxide
plant at
Suzano, Mucuri
site, picture
showing the second
plant to the
left, started up
August 15,
2007. This is one
out of four major
Brazilian projects
recently completed
by Eka
Engineering.
ple working locally in a close cooperation with the
organization in Sweden.
“So far we have built 12 plants in Brazil. Once
we start a project it takes about 13 to 18 months
before we can hand over the keys to the customer.
Although before we come to an agreement we
might have been negotiating for up to seven years.
Monica Rossing

Chlorine dioxide to Skutskär
– more success for Eka concept
Eka Chemicals has agreed to supply
chlorine dioxide and to operate
and maintain the bleaching
chemicals plant at a Swedish pulp
mill operated by one of the world’s
biggest pulp and paper manufacturers.
■ The agreement with Stora Enso will see Eka
Chemicals introduce its pioneering chlorine dioxide
concept at the Skutskär mill located in the middle
of the country. This latest deal continues to
build on the global success of the unique initiative,
which involves running bleaching chemicals manufacturing
inside a customer’s premises while remote
monitoring the whole process from a main
operations center.
“Developing solutions that benefit our customers
is vital to the success of our business,” said Eka
Chemicals president Jan Svärd. “The chlorine dioxide
concept is attracting major interest because
not only does it offer our customers cost and efficiency
benefits, but it also allows them to concentrate
on the their core operations.”
Added Tommy Möller, Stora Enso’s production
manager at Skutskär: “We have entered this agreement
to make use of Eka Chemicals’ cutting-edge
skills in this particular field and thereby increase
the efficiency of our plant. The deal will also contribute
to our efforts to lower our total manufacturing
costs.”
Eka Chemicals de Venezuela C.A.
is the first chemical company in
Venezuela to complete the verification
process for the Responsible
Care® program in Venezuela.
■ The goals are established in the Global Charter
of the Venezuelan Chemical and Petrochemical
Industry Association (ASOQUIM).
The following chemical companies in Venezuela,
Bayer, Tripoliven, Resimon, Química Integrada IN-
TEQUIN, and Venoco, were responsible for evaluating
the various codes. The codes include Pollution
Prevention; Safety Process; Worker’s Health
and Safety; Transportation and Distribution; Ap-
The pulp mill in Skutskär, Sweden manufactures bleached pulp for paper and hygiene products.
The chlorine dioxide plant at Skutskär will be
constantly remote-monitored by Eka Chemicals
staff located at the business’ operations center in
Sundsvall, with the day-to-day running being handled
by the site’s own personnel. Certain modifications
to the production plant at the Stora Enso
facility will also be required to help ensure high
productivity.
Certification in Venezuela
proaching the Community; and Emergency Response.
Nathaly Lamas, Responsible Care® Manager
for Venezuela, and Mauricio Herrera, ISO
9000 Management Systems Coordinator, participated
in the verification process. The Responsible
Care® verification process began in November
2006.
RESULTS WERE POSITIVE, with the report highlighting
the following conclusions. Eka Chemicals
de Venezuela, C.A:
• Maintains a systematic implementation process
of the integral Responsible Care® Program following
the fundamental principles that determine it.
• Demonstrates a high level of performance in the
integral Responsible Care Program ®.
Eka Chemicals now remote monitor some 15
such chlorine dioxide plants around the world at
customer sites located in Sweden, Brazil, France,
Finland and US. The business is also currently building
a Chemical Island for the total chemicals supply
to a new pulp mill being constructed by Votorantim
Celulose e Papel in Brazil.
Has a good relationship with the neighbors in the
community, governmental institutions and the surrounding
industrial park, which is evident in its remarkable
participation in ASOVECINDUSTRIAS.
Nathaly Lamas congratulated Eka Chemicals de
Venezuela personnel, including all employees, workers,
contractors and especially Mario Sanchez, Coordinator
for Responsible Care®, for the teamwork
involved in reaching this goal. She also asked that
they continue to improve and to serve as promoters
of this initiative to other Venezuelan companies.
Text: Anibal Cermeño
Plant manager Eka Chemicals de Venezuela, C.A.
ekaecho | # 4 2007 5

A green
HQ for
Purate
The Purate business, based at
the Eka Chemicals Marietta office,
is a global operation with
15 employees conducting activity
in seven countries. Since January
this year the group is headed
by Lee Sampson, a man who
really enjoys the green headquarters.
■ The Eka Chemicals Marietta office, GA, is located
in the suburbs of Atlanta. Atlanta is the
ninth largest metropolitan area in the United
States with a population of about 5.1 million, as
of 2006. It might be a surprise, then, to consider
that the Marietta office is like a small nature
preserve. The office building sits adjacent to a
small lake, which attracts a diverse collection of
waterfowl and other birds.
So far, 27 unique species have been identified
around the office, according to amateur bird
watcher, and the general manager of Eka Purate
Lee Sampson.
LEE HAS BEEN QUICKLY learning the Purate
business, which has meant traveling to major customers
in Italy, South Africa and elsewhere. Together
with the rest of
the team Lee has been
working with focus on
”Growth for the Future”.
Gunther Zaremba joined
the group from Eka do
Brasil on March 1st and
will lead the group’s
sales activities in Central
America and Northern
Lee Sampson
South America.
There are approximately
125 active SVP-Pure generators in operation,
not including those in paper mill applications.
Currently Purate is used to treat drinking
water in 36 communities in Europe and the
Americas including the city of Bari Italy,
Gainesville Georgia, El Paso Texas and soon in
the home city of Marietta Georgia. There are
6 ekaecho | # 4 2007
Lee Sampson, a passionate ornithologist and new manager at Eka Purate, keeps his binoculars
close at hand.
many other applications for this technology but
most are somewhat less glamorous. These include
odor control in rendering plants, process
water purification in food and beverage processing
plants, wastewater treatment, ship ballast
water treatment, THM (trihalomethane) reduction,
and fouling control application for cooling
towers.
AT THE MARIETTA OFFICE, the group conducts
customer service, sales, marketing and accounting
functions. There is also an engineering
and manufacturing team that designs, fabricates
and tests Purate units. Purate product stewardship
is another function coordinated from this
office. All Purate customers have periodic onsite
audits in order to maximize reliability and
safety for the owners. This group has been responsible
for creating the Purate systems patent
portfolio and has been granted four patents so
far with five additional applications pending. As
a small business, Purate must rely on shared resources
and innovative thinking from within all
of Eka. Collaboration between the Pulp and Paper
SBUs and Purate is growing to help take advantage
of this rapidly expanding market opportunity
for Eka.
Having the opportunity to enjoy his hobby at
Gunther Zaremba and Jimmy Jefferson fine
tune the settings on a Purate generator control
panel.
work, Lee continues to identify new avian visitors
to the Marietta office. The most unique recent
avian visitor to the Marietta office was a
Wild Turkey hen. This large iconic American bird
strolled the length of the building one morning
this spring, right across the concrete front entrance
to the office. While turkeys are plentiful
in the wild environs, this suburban office visitor
was quite a surprise.
Text & photo: Steve Main

Meet a master of degrees
How to attract the best chemical
engineering students from the
universities to Eka Chemicals? A
good method is to offer them interesting
degree projects, maintains
Johan Wanngård at Process
R&D. And he’d like to see more
people volunteering as supervisors.
■Eka Echo sometimes get tips about employees
who are more committed than most. Such a tip
was about Johan Wanngård, a senior research
engineer with the global Technology and Engineering
unit.
“He’s phenomenal at coming up with subjects
for degree work and he’s supervised loads of students”
according to the tip received.
Johan Wanngård tells us that as early on as
when he was a researcher and teacher with KTH
Stockholm, he was committed as a supervisor
for students, a tendency he took along with him
to his first job with the company at Ljungaverk
in 1981.
“I thought that what I know, those things I can
teach others. Some turn down the chance of being
supervisor and say they don’t have the time.
But I’ve always regarded students as being a resource
– and I learn a lot from them in turn,” he
says and adds:
“It’s important both to the company and the
students, that we make an effort over their practical
degree work.”
IN JOHAN WANNGÅRD’S OPINION, Eka Chemicals
must see to it that universities get to know
the kinds of professional skills being used and
how work is conducted in the present day chemicals
industry in practice. This is especially important
considering that fewer resources are being
invested in the subject of chemicals engineering.
“Unfortunately this picture is true all over Europe.
Education resources are being cut back
while our operations become increasingly advanced.
Our products too, are becoming more
mature and vulnerable to competition.”
It might seem as if this is an impossible equation
for a company in need of qualified personnel.
“The gap between what we need and what the
universities have to offer is widening. This is why
we have to bring in students and top up their
knowledge. We do this by offering practical degree
work and apprenticeships and allowing the
students to learn about our core areas. Then we
are able to recruit some of them.”
JOHAN KEEPS A DEPARTMENT register of the
students who apply for practical degree work.
And he writes back personally to all applicants.
“Many of my students have consequently been
given a temporary project position in order to
continue working with their results – especially
with the
FACTS
> Students working on degree projects at Eka
Chemicals in Sweden are training to be chemicals
engineers at university level. Degree projects
are part of their final year syllabus and
adhere to a pre-determined pattern.
> The objective is to solve a pre-determined
task within 20 weeks. A target is set up and
the student usually works on the project at
the company, in part together with the supervisor
and with access to all the resources the
company has to offer.
> Project reports are made both verbally and
in writing. The supervisor normally approves
the student’s work before this is officially approved
by the university examiner.
more classified applications. Some have then
been given permanent positions and made careers
within Eka Chemicals.
Johan is planning to further develop his own
skills shortly, including taking a course in coaching.
He hopes that his commitment will encourage
more staff to work with students.
“Some of my most important results have actually
been obtained through projects with students.
I find being able to help develop people,
at the same time as developing methodology
and technology, to be a stimulating challenge.
The key is the personal commitment that reveals
the human side of the chemistry profession. Not
to mention the fun I have working with young
people,” he says.
Text & photo: Monica Rossing
Johan Wanngård (right) with Kristoffer
Hedenstedt, who came to Eka
Chemicals, Bohus from Umeå
University to work on his degree
project. Consequently, Kristoffer
was given a temporary project
appointment so that he could
further develop this work. After
which he was taken on permanently
as a research engineer.
“This turned out to be a good
way for me to get a foot in with
the industry,” he says.
ekaecho | # 4 2007 7

If you enter the following address in your web browser
http://eu.eka.intra/sites/315/default.aspx you will find the Technology Scouting intranet page
where you can read all about what the scouts are looking for and how to contact them.
Technology scouts at Eka
“The ideas are there, all we have
to do is catch hold of them!” -
reasons John Breese, head of the
Business Development Projects
and Business Intelligence unit.
Since the second quarter this
year, he has been leader of a
group working specifically with
Technology Scouting.
■”We work actively on tracking down ideas, evaluating
and acquiring the rights we need to use
them,” explains John Breese.
The policy has been followed before, but by
having a dedicated team working like this, the
company hopes to increase the influx of ideas
and of new technology. The concept has already
generated results; the group has received about
30 projects after only six months, these now be-
More reporting from Bohus
8 ekaecho | # 4 2007
ing evaluated, one of which has been delivered
to the line organization for implementation.
TECHNOLOGY SCOUTING WORKS as a complement
to existing methods of developing company
business. Other parallel activities, apart
from R&D, include general business intelligence,
the Eureka ideas system and the innovation program.
”Eka develops operations and products internally,
but we need to keep an eye on technologies
developing outside the company. We need
to detect and evaluate opportunities and threats
as early as possible, and when we find good ideas
we need to ensure we have the right to use them.”
Five others besides John Breese are now engaged
in scouting. These are Hans Larsson, Global
Marketing, Magnus Davidsson, Maria Norell,
Technology and Engineering, Michael Persson,
Product and Business Development and Scott
Auger, Technical Marketing.
■■ ■ Incident reporting at Eka Chemicals, Bohus, Sweden has increased by 50 percent. At the same
time, according to recently compiled figures, the length of time it takes to process these reports has
been cut from 110 days to 40. Moreover, the prognosis for the whole of 2007 is looking good.
”This is very positive. We have been encouraging an increase in incident reporting and this, together
with an improved reporting system, has produced results,” says Ann Lindgärde, Bohus site
manager. ”And we are very pleased to have shortened the processing time so much. Reporting incidents
is important preventive work, and by learning from incidents and taking appropriate measures,
we hope to prevent serious accidents from occurring.”
WHAT WE DO FOR ...
PENGUINS
■ Everyone who has visited penguins
at the zoo knows what fun it is to watch
them diving and swimming in their pond.
Although you might have wrinkled your
nose because the water looks cloudy
and the ”pool” is stained with an unpleasant
looking blackishgreen
substance.
The problem is caused by
algae growth. This in turn is
caused by the nutritive substances
in the penguins’
food and their habit of relieving
themselves in the
water. The latter is of
course unavoidable,
whoever heard of potty-trained
penguins?
To provide the penguins
with more pleasant living conditions,
and to make it easier for spectators
to see them, the water needs to be
cleaned. Chlorine, some might guess,
would be the answer. But, although penguins
might remind us of gentlemen in
tails, their water cannot be treated with
chlorine – chlorine makes penguins go
blind.
Instead we use a combination of hydrogen
peroxide and UV light. This is
the method in which the Slottskogen
Zoo in Göteborg, Sweden has invested,
buying their hydrogen peroxide from
Hydrogen Peroxide Special Applications
at Eka Chemicals.
The zoo hosts 30 Humboldt penguins
and last spring they were given a new
pond fitted out with the same kind of
treatment plant the seal pond was
equipped with in 2003.
The plant contains an “engine room”,
through which flows the water which is
constantly pumped round the pond. A
continuous and small amount of hydrogen
peroxide is added to the water.
After which the water is treated with UV
light in order to reinforce the cleaning
effect. Previously, the pond had to be
frequently emptied and cleaned out with
high pressure hoses, a process now required
far less frequently. Although the
zoo uses 60 tons of hydrogen peroxide
per annum (for treating both ponds) this
is still a cost saving. And best of all – the
penguins no longer have to be interrupted
in their water acrobatics.
Monica Rossing

Dollar affects profits
Since 2002, the US dollar has weakened by a full 30 percent against
the Euro and the Canadian dollar. Naturally, currency fluctuations of
this order have a major impact on the competitiveness of countries and
companies alike.
■ Theoretically, a weaker US dollar should lead to shifts in prices
and costs, compared to e.g. Europe, by the same magnitude as
the currency change. Subsequently, the effect of this ought to be
increased exports from and decreased imports to the US.
How does this affect our customers? Forestry industry players often
have production costs in one currency and sales in another. Forest
industry products are generally traded between regions in US
dollars. A full 30 percent of world trade in paper and board is
transnational, so the impact of currency fluctuations is considerable.
THE MAJOR NET EXPORT COUNTRIES, that is, Canada, Finland,
and Sweden are most affected. For Canada, the world’s largest
forestry product exporter, the currency fluctuation has presented
a considerable disadvantage and is a strong contributory factor
to the extensive closures of recent years. This is one of the
largest economic factors affecting Europe as well, where export
represents 10 percent of production capacity, corresponding to
11 metric tons. The larger part of this comes from Finland and
Sweden.
Most paper and pulp products can be considered commodities,
so currency fluctuations have a more direct effect on profitability
than for specialized products. The mature markets of
North America and Europe exhibit excess paper capacity and
weak or declining demand for several grades.
So despite its favorable currency position, due to declining demand
and an under-invested industry, the US has not been able
to take advantage of the situation. Instead, the excess capacity
and increased costs of input goods of recent years have led to
closures at a rate never before seen.
Europe has also seen closures, which would normally give rise
to a better balance between supply and demand, thereby allowing
price increases. This expectation has, however, not been realized,
not least due to the strong Euro, which led to reduced export
opportunities, and by persistent excess capacity. If the current
dollar-euro exchange rate holds, Europe will need to further
rationalize the industry if it is to attain reasonable profitability.
FOR PULP PRODUCERS, the reduced availability and increased
cost of raw materials, together with other increased costs, has
caused a dramatic rise in production costs. Since the dollar started
weakening in 2002, the price of bleached long-fiber pulp has
increased by an average of 46 percent while bleached short-fiber
pulp has increased by 40 percent. For pulp exporters outside the
US, however, most of this gain has been countered by the weak-
BUSINESS
$
A full 30 percent of world trade in paper and board is transnational,
so the impact of currency fluctuations is considerable.
er dollar. Canada in particular is very hard hit by the low US dollar
exchange rate.
CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS are often overlooked when describing
the forest industry’s situation, despite being one of the key factors
influencing the industry’s, and consequently our, profitability.
PricewaterhouseCooper’s latest forest industry report shows
the average return on working capital for the world’s 100 largest
forestry companies to be no more than 5.1 percent for 2006. A
generally accepted goal within the industry is a return of 10-12
percent. The report also ranks the depreciation
of the US dollar highest in its list of the
economic factors behind the forestry industry’s
prolonged profitability problems.
Lene Schack
Head of Eka
Business Intelligence
ekaecho | # 4 2007 9

CANADA
Plant managers Jean Goyette and Cynthia Martin are a closely knit team. They take their work seriously, but
laughter is never far away.
From competitors
to a close-knit team
Two plants within a two hour drive of each other. Magog and Valleyfield manufacture
the same product and collaborate now more than ever.
“We used to compete over being the best Eka Chemicals plant in Canada. Then
we realized it would be better to help each other,” says Jean Goyette, head of
the Valleyfield plant.
■ We are now traveling by car between the two
Eka Chemicals chlorate factories in the Canadian
province of Quebec. Cynthia Martin has driven this
road many times. It was when she became factory
manager at Magog four years ago that collaboration
between the two factories reached new levels
that improved the global efficiency of both
plants; this being partly due to a restructuring program
that required rationalization. Although collaboration
would probably not have been so comprehensive
if Cynthia Martin and her opposite number
at Valleyfield, Jean Goyette, had not chosen
to work as a team.
ONCE WE REACH VALLEYFIELD Jean Goyette confirms
this theory:
“Valleyfield once belonged to Alby Klorat and
was bought by the company now known as Akzo
Nobel in 1991. Despite the ownership change, we
10 ekaecho | # 4 2007
continued to regard ourselves as competitors.
When I became manager here in 2000, relations
between the two factories had already improved
from a purely competitive situation to a much cordial
relationship. “
“The situation has much improved since you and
I began to work together. We’re a good team,” says
Cynthia.
“Yes. We see things the same way and have compatible
ideas. We can bridge our differences, although
really the difference between our factories
is more about culture than production,” says Jean
Goyette.
He offers us coffee in his office. The distance between
the two factories is far enough to prevent
the two executives from meeting every day, but a
working day seldom passes without a check or two
being made with each other by phone.
“We talk about day-to-day operations and how
“Because we cooperate we often share
begin to say something and then the ot
we should deal with various situations. Both plant
manufacture chlorate, so we both face the same
kind of problems,” says Cynthia.
THE TWO PLANTS HAVE STARTED to work with an
increasing number of joint functions in recent years;
human resources, finance and quality being the
most important.
Joint projects are also on the agenda; a present
example being factory laboratories working together
over solving problems with boron impurities
present in the salt used for production.
“Nowadays, when a new problem arises, we usually
assign one person to deal with it on behalf of
both plants,” says Jean Goyette.
Recent years have been eventful, for both Magog
and Valleyfield. They have gone through several
restructuring programs and been obliged to
cut back on employees. At the same time, pro-

the same point of view. At meetings one of us might
her elaborates,” says Jean Goyette.
duction volumes have increased owing to reorganization
and rationalization.
“The principle tasks that Jean and I have are to
reduce costs and produce the best chlorate for the
lowest cost,” says Cynthia, and Jean adds:
“Our challenge is to constantly improve both efficiency
and technology in the plant, and all other
areas. Magog, by the way, is often used as a best
practice reference plant for Eka chlorate factories
globally” says Jean Goyette.
“Although at Valleyfield you’re every bit as good
as us,” points out Cynthia.
It becomes very clear that both plant managers
have completely abandoned all thoughts of competition
and prestige. They each run their own plant,
but see only advantages in helping and supporting
each other. And there is no lack of future challenge.
“Many employees have been working for Eka
“…and you can’t expect employees to cooperate if their managers don’t,” elaborates Cynthia
Martin.
Chemicals for a very long time. We are facing a big
challenge in trying to avoid losing too much professional
skill now that many are due to retire simultaneously
in a few years time,” says Cynthia.
CYNTHIA IS ONLY 34 and joined Eka Chemicals in
1998 as a process engineer. She has just finished
a few months of parental leave, having handed over
the reigns to Pierre Marchand as stand-in plant
manager for this period. Jean Goyette also lent a
helping hand with some of Cynthia’s workload.
“It feels good to get back to work again,” comments
Cynthia, and goes on:
“I like it at Eka Chemicals, I approve of the company
philosophy of making efforts to recruit and
promote internally. Eka too, is a company with excellent
values concerning health, safety and responsibility.
The global attitude towards the chemicals
industry is not always fair, but it feels better
THE VALLEYFIELD PLANT
> Situated in the town of Valleyfield,
which has approx. 10,000 inhabitants,
70 km south-west of Montreal
(and just 20 km from the US border).
> Manufactures: Sodium chlorate, but
also sells the by-product, hydrogen.
> Number of employees: 49
> In operation: 24 hours a day, seven
days a week
> History: Built in 1985 by competitor
Alby Klorat. Sold to Eka Chemicals
in 1991.
to work for a chemicals company that harbors
worthwhile values. For example, we have a citizens
committee in both Magog and Valleyfield and good
relations with both towns.”
We are now in the province of Quebec and
French is the mother tongue of most employees.
The plants cooperate over the translation of documents.
We ask if all meetings are held in French,
and the question is received with amusement.
“Of course,” says Jean Goyette, and Cynthia
Martin adds: “All communications at the factories
are in French. As far as I know we only have one
employee at Magog who has English as a mother
tongue. Many employees here don’t speak any
English at all.”
Text & photo: Monica Rossing
More about this on the next page ➥
ekaecho | # 4 2007 11

CANADA
> Canada is the next largest country in the
world (after Russia) but has only 33 million
inhabitants. The country is divided into 10
provinces and three territories. Large parts
of northern Canada are principally uninhabited.
> Capital city: Ottawa
> Official languages: English and French.
English is more commonly spoken, although
in the province of Quebec, with
over 7 million inhabitants, over 80 percent
speak “Quebec French”. Plus there are
three native Canadian populations who
speak some 50 different languages.
> Form of government: Monarchy (the English
monarch is the head of state). Parliamentary
democracy. Canadians pay relatively
high taxes but enjoy a well-developed
social welfare service that includes
free medical care.
> Religion: Catholic: 45 percent (most in the
province of Quebec). Protestant: 36 percent.
Yukon
British Columbia
Alberta
12 ekaecho | # 4 2007
Nothwest Territories
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Hudson
Bay
Ontario
Quebec
Quebec City
Montreal
Magog t
Magog is the third largest chlorate
factory in the world and
among the most efficient of Eka
Chemicals’ 12 chlorate factories.
Professional pride among employees
is high.
“To produce chlorate you need
electricity, salt, water – and
know-how. We’ve got plenty of
the last,” says Pierre Marchand,
stand-in plant manager.
■ Many people in the province of Quebec are
familiar with Magog as an idyllic, small summer
town on the banks of lake Memphremagog. The
citizens of Montreal like to come here for weekends.
The Eka Chemicals plant is situated near
the town center and right beside the Magog Riv-

er that leads into the lake. The river water is used
to cool down the manufacturing equipment.
Pierre Marchand has been acting plant manager,
standing in for Cynthia Martin while she
has been on parental leave. He has worked here
since 1989 and his regular position is plant engineer.
“There are many people here with long experience
of producing sodium chlorate. This is then
sold to the pulp mills who use it for paper making.
It is needed to make fine white paper for glossy
magazines and diazo paper,” says Pierre.
Enormous amounts of salt are used for making
chlorate, and this comes from the salt mines in the
neighboring province of Ontario. The largest single
expense for the factory however, is the purchase
of electricity from local Hydro Quebec.
“We use approximately 100 megawatts. We
work constantly in the interests of reducing our
power consumption.
The factory floor is empty; those who work here
Eka Chemicals factories in Canada are
located one on either side of Montreal,
the largest city in the province of Quebec.
Pierre Marchand is proud over the
Magog plant producing a worldclass
product. “But we have worked
hard for it, and we need to keep it
up!” he says.
monitor the process from the control room. The
plant is operating 24-hours a day.
“This kind of production works best if it keeps
going non-stop. We don’t even stop production
during the summer. We count a longer halt in production
as being 24 hours, and this has to be
planned in detail,” says Pierre.
WE MEET ANOTHER PLANT VETERAN, Martin
Poulin, in the control room. He has worked here
since the factory was new and is now a production
manager with a team of 18 working shifts.
“We’ve been running at almost full capacity the
last two years. Last year we broke our production
record,” he tells us.
The factory works in close cooperation with the
engineering faculty at the University of Sherbrooke,
located nearby. Future chemicals engineers do a
three month practical stint with Eka Chemicals, and
many students find summer jobs here.
“This plant is a pure dream for them. Everything
THE MAGOG PLANT
> Situated in the town of Magog (over 23,000
inhabitants), 120 km east of Montreal.
> Manufactures: Sodium chlorate, but also sells
the by-product, hydrogen.
> Number of employees: 60
> In operation: 24 hours a day, seven days a week
> History: Erected in 1978, Magog was Nobel
Industrier’s first chlorate plant in North
America.
ake pride in their work
they are studying they find here; solids, liquids, gas
– and we have all the equipment they need. Additionally,
they can see how we pipe over our hydrogen
surplus production to the neighboring
British Oxygen Company factory (BOC),” says
Pierre.
The final product, in the shape of small white
crystals, is loaded onto railroad cars for transport
to customers. Eka Chemicals in Marietta, USA, look
after all sales of all sodium chlorate for the four
North American plants.
Text & photo: Monica Rossing
Footnote: Eka Chemicals in Columbus, USA, is
the world’s second largest chlorate factory. The
largest, run by a competitor, is the Canexus factory
in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
ekaeko | # 4 2007 13

From left: Hans Östling (Expancel), Christian Blom, Lily Xu, Fanny Liang, Olivia Liu, Bobby Tang, Ross Howat, Paul Coates and Patrick Zhou
Chinese producers
introduced to ECF bleaching
The demand for papermaking fiber and lack of wood has made
non-wood fiber an interesting base for papermaking in China.
The fact is that China is the biggest producer of non-wood
fiber in the world with more than 10 million tons annually.
■To develop and evaluate modern bleaching
technology on non-wood pulps Eka Chemicals
and South China University of Technology (SCUT)
had already started joint research efforts seven
years ago.
In conjunction with the exhibition a conference
was arranged in Guangzho at which Eka Chemi-
14 ekaecho | # 4 2007
cals participated with a presentation of ECF
bleaching (see adjacent article). Christian Blom
from Global Marketing made a presentation he
had written together with Jiri Basta and Thomas
Greschik from R&D.
The presentation, interpreted into Chinese by
Lily Xu Technical sales engineer at Eka Chemi-
cals China, with the long name “ECF Bleaching of
Non-wood Pulps from China – an Eka Chemicals
Perspective” included the prediction that nonwood
pulp will continue to play an important role
in the future and bamboo will be the growing segment
taking shares from straw pulp. Non-wood
pulping has some key issues to address, one of
them being obsolete chlorine bleaching.
ECF BLEACHING CAN BE the solution, since it
both reduces the effluent output to international
standards and improves the pulp quality. In
the presentation some highlights of the bleaching
technology, developed together with SCUT,
were given.

We’ve
added
Highlights!
A new page, Highlights, with
company information has been
added to our intranet. In addition,
the top menu has been enhanced
and the process of transferring
the old intranets into
Worknet has begun. And finally,
your start page has also been
modified.
■ In short, this is what’s new on the Eka intranet
since Friday October 19, when the latest modifications
of our company intranet were implemented.
Your start page, from today called Home, has
three columns as before. The left column is your
personal view and you can modify it. You can
take away or add content as you wish.
The middle column is company-managed and
is used by Eka to provide links to certain applications
and information. This column still holds
your favorite links but will soon be partly adapted
to your geographic location; e.g. employees
Leif Darner visits Eka
■ The Sundsvall visit started off with Leif
Darner and Johan Landfors, head of Pulp
and Paper Europe, making a customer visit
to SCA Ortviken.
After which they were shown round respective
plant by managers and personnel
and received information about company
history and production, the market
situation and future plans for the different
branches of operations, including
chlorine dioxide production and the On
Site Production unit. Stockvik included a
visit to Carbide Sweden AB and Akzo No-
16 ekaecho | # 4 2007
in The Americas have different regional links than
employees located in Europe or Asia Pacific.
When this is implemented, your favorite links will
be moved to the left column.
The right column is also company-managed
and will, as before, hold news as well as news
flashes from the new Highlights page. The information
you see under local news in this column
is based upon your location.
Highlights is the place to find information such
as updates on organizational changes, events,
marketing messages, messages from management,
business intelligence news feeds and more.
Go take a look!
If you need help, check out the new Help page
where you can find information on how to adapt
your personal view, for example. The Help page
will continue to develop as we learn more about
the kind of help you need. If you run into prob-
Permascand, the Alby plant, Expancel, Eka and Akzo
Nobel, Stockvik were all on the itinerary when Leif Darner,
of the Akzo Nobel Board of Management, paid a two day
visit to Central Sweden at the end of June this year.
New and better. The Eka intranet has been given a facelift and new functions.
bel Surfactants Europe. The arrangements
were organized by Björn Vedin,
Carl Robert Hansson, Marii Engberg, Helena
Falgén Nikula, Karl Axel Bergh and
Niklas Larsson. Eva Mörk-Månsson and
Magnus Karlsson from Pulp and Paper
Europe also lent a helping hand.
At Akzo Nobel Leif Darner is responsible
for Scandinavia. In addition to internal
visits, his visit to Sweden included customer
meetings and meetings with Eka
company management.
lems you cannot solve yourself, please contact
your local Service desk.
Workspaces remain unchanged - those of you
using workspaces can continue to work in the
usual way.
The project team will continue this year and
we have a number of improvements on the list.
One is to close the old intranet in Europe (Eka
Forum) and the North American intranet before
year end. North American users will find their
usual links on the new Pulp and Paper Americas
page. Those of you who are frequent Eka Forum
publishers will be contacted by the project
team but of course you are welcome to contact
us in the meantime if you have questions.
More information about future improvements
to follow soon.
Paul DesRoberts
Project manager, BU Information Systems
Leif Darner visited Eka in June, including Expancel. Peter
Sjölund is nearest the camera. Jan Bydén is sitting furthest
to the back and Peter Nilsson is standing.

Christopher Scherer, Manon
Gignac, Kathryn Lovetro,
Megan Watters, Marcus
Scherer och Billy Biggers
enjoys ice cream.
Gary Charles receives
the Safety Award from
Byron Smith on behalf
of the Purate Group.
Safety event in Marietta
Last June, Eka Chemicals,
Marietta celebrated “Site
Safety Day”.
■ Personnel from all operations gathered
for the event, and the company stood for
the ice cream. The activity was set off by an
exhibition of Eka’s activities and products in
North America, and SBU management took
the opportunity to highlight measures and
achievements of special value to safety.
Byron Smith, head of Pulp and Paper
Americas, made a speech and underlined the
importance of safety, both at work and during
free time. Using US incident statistics and
figures he provided examples of why safety
considerations are important, perhaps especially
so, outside working hours. The Safety,
Health and Environment Committee at
Marietta were praised for their efforts in increasing
safety awareness. An achievement
attained by means of various activities, such
as training for new employees, first aid instruction
and work with the Responsible Care
program. Additionally, there are plans to put
special focus on behavior-based safety.
The spotlight was then turned on other
praiseworthy performances within the company.
Marietta office personnel can be proud
of having operated for 13 years, or 4.3 million
working hours without a single LTI! Byron
Smith held up the logistics group as another
good example; the group having received
such awards as the Canadian Railway
Company’s (CN) Safety Handling Award 2006
and the CSXT’s Chemical Safety Excellence
Award 2006 (see article in Eka Echo no.
3/2007) for safe transport. While the Purate
group received a reward for their preventive
work when building their stock-room.
Text & photo: Steve Main
HI THERE..
✆Johan Nyander, IP Manager Eka Chemi
cals, and one of the 5000 participants in
the Paris-Brest-Paris 1220 kilometer cycle
race at the end of August.
■ How are your legs feeling?
”I’m dead tired! I came home a week ago and I’m
still full of aches and pains, although I’m pulling myself
together. I’ll probably be able to start exercising
and stretching out some muscles next week.
What makes a person want to bike 1220 kilometers,
and go pretty much without sleep for five days?
”Why does anyone want to go to the Moon? It’s a
challenge and I thrive on challenges, on having goals
and fighting to reach them. I’ve always participated
in some kind of sport or other. I’ve been cycling since
2000. This is the jewel of the European long distance
events, with every conceivable nationality on the
starting line.
How did you charge yourself up? Cycling back and
forth to the Nacka office can hardly suffice?
”I’ve cycled backwards and forwards to work plus
one day of cycling each weekend. Altogether I’ve
probably cycled around 7000 kilometers during the
year I trained for the event, plus some indoor spinning.
To take part you have to pass four qualification
races of 200, 300, 400 and 600 kilometers respectively,
and then I did a voluntary three day 1000
kilometer stretch, practicing cycling without sleep.
What was your finishing time?
”I took 86 hours, and the max time was 90 hours,
so I’m very pleased. About one third of the field failed
to finish, so to have managed that alone feels like a
big achievement. To come in under the max time you
need to cycle all day and so I slept a total 7 hours
in five days. Learning to cycle without dropping of
to sleep is an art in itself.”
And your next challenge will be?
”Well, the next race is four years off, in 2011. But
yesterday I saw something about the Pilgrim’s Way
in Spain…”
ekaecho | # 4 2007 17

PICK & MIX
New Names moves to the net
As from 19 October organizational
announcements and the
organizational charts can be
found under the heading People
on the move on the Eka intranet.
■ You can reach this section by selecting Highlights
from top navigation and then People on the
move.
Because this site has been opened on the intranet
we are no longer publishing news in brief
about changes among personnel, and Eka Echo
will now be coming out four times a year instead
of six.
If you have a ready-to-publish organizational
announcement for People on the move, or questions
on how to go about publishing, please con-
L>R: Byron Smith (SBU Pulp and Paper Americas manager), Nicolas Padovani, Nadine Scherer, Christopher Scherer, Akpojotor Shemi, Joanna
Stanton, Andrew Wenk, Courtney Clark, Fredrick Clark (Vice President, Process Applications and Technology), Megan Watters, Meghan Stewart
(not in picture Jacob Harcrow, Katie Blumsack, Kathryn Lovetro, and Emily Minday).
Summer students shine in Marietta
■ As part of their work with us, the summer interns
are asked to deliver a structured presentation
to Eka management, staff and their parents
before going back to school.
The presentation requirements include a short
introduction of the student, who they reported
to and on what project or task they worked on.
Each student also presented the results he/she
generated and offered some conclusions and recommendations.
Finally, students told the audience
what they had learnt this summer while at
Eka … a few interesting insights were revealed.
18 ekaecho | # 4 2007
Key in the following address on your web browser:
http://www.eka.intra/C14/Highlights/default.aspx
You will also find Eka organizational announcement templates for downloading at this site.
tact Ingrid Franzon, Communications,
ingrid.franzon@eka.com
In addition, open positions are now posted un-
This year’s event took place on August 7.
This year’s summer interns worked in Marketing,
Regulatory and Technical roles, in Market
Research for Specialty Oxidants, and for the
IT group.
The presentations were very interesting and
in addition to presenting, the “required content”
strong messages were embedded in their presentations
such as the value of patience, perseverance,
teamwork, flexibility, innovation, ambition
and nutrition (the students apparently raided
the cookie and sweet supplies at the Mariet-
der the Vacancies heading, to be found under
Provided links in the middle column of the intranet
Home page.
ta office on a regular basis!) to a successful project.
The event had an interesting development
when the team working in Process Applications
and Technology Department under the supervision
of Dr Patricia Wild, announced that they had
developed a patentable idea during the time they
had spent at Eka.
Byron Smith closed the event, thanking the
students for their dedicated efforts at Eka this
summer. He wished them well in their studies
and extended an invitation for them to return
next summer.

PICK & MIX
This year’s ECIP delegates: Front row, from the left: Roberta Matos, Hanna Kultanen, Patricia Wild, Chris Biggers, Butro Pongwattanavijit
Middle row, from the left: Elisabeth Andersson, Katie Mencke, Chantal Nicolas, Ana Maria Molina, Anna-Karin Ehn, Vuokko Tyni, Kathy Scott,
Ingela Eriksson, Jorge Ovando, Carlos Sanchez
Back row, from the left: Karl-Anders (Kalle) Asp, Ivan Lazo, Sofia Reveman, Johan Pettersson, Wallace Lewis, Philipp Gräfe, Mikael Forslin, Martin
Werner, Johan Wilhelmsson, Christian Bedicks
International business culture
and the future at this year’s ECIP
This year’s global introduction
program, the Eka Chemicals Introduction
Program (ECIP), was
carried out in mid-September.
The 24 delegates kicked off with
a round tour, conducted beneath
umbrellas, of the Eka Bohus
plant.
■ The more theoretical parts of the program
were held indoors with views of beautiful and tra-
ditional coastal scenes from the windows of the
Smögen Havsbad conference center north of
Göteborg.
International business culture was the first subject
on the agenda, and John Alexander delivered
a deeper meaning to the notion of inter-cultural
skills. This was a highly appreciated element
as was the chance to make new contacts
with colleagues from other parts of the world.
During days two and three, management and
personnel from different company units described
the various operations of the company,
before president Jan Svärd rounded off the pro-
ceedings with a talk on ”The future of and challenges
at Eka Chemicals.”
Some delegates had been with Eka several
years, and this is an advantage when the opportunity
arises to ask questions and talk over
matters with company management representatives.
The conference was organized by Akzo
Nobel Training and Development Center (TDC),
who will be pleased to provide further information
about ECIP.
Contact: Elisabeth Andersson,
elisabeth.m.andersson@eka.com
ekaecho | # 4 2007 19
Photo: Sofia Sabel

Eka Chemicals
445 80 Bohus
AT WORK
Keeping up with the conversation
in three languages
Steinar Wang emigrated from
China to Iceland when he was
eight. In order to complete his
studies for his chemicals engineering
degree he moved to
Sweden.
He describes himself as a professional
immigrant and he
sees no national limitations to
his future career.
■ Eka Engineering like to recruit personnel with
international backgrounds. Language skills and
cultural knowledge are an advantage when
starting up new plant around the world. Steinar
Wang, who was hired in March this year, was
sent off on a three week customer meeting trip
to China only two weeks after joining Eka. It
was part of his introductory training.
“I was taken along because I speak Chinese.
The meeting was held in English, but I could
understand everything that was said on the
sidelines, both in Swedish and Chinese. Although
I did find interchanging between three
languages difficult on that first day.”
What did the Chinese customers think
about you being there?
“I believe they appreciated us having a Chinese
on our side. They’re pretty good at English,
but there were a good many items on the
agenda to negotiate and agree upon, and I felt
I was doing a useful job.”
Steinar, or Wang Yan as he is called in Chinese,
has an unusual background. Both his parents
are from China and the family moved to
Iceland in the early Nineties.
“My father is a research scientist and took
a job at the University of Iceland. There were
almost no other immigrants in Iceland at that
time, and initially I had my own Icelandic language
teacher.”
The teacher suggested he should adopt an
Icelandic first name to make life easier, not
least for the Icelanders. The eight year old boy
When Steinar Wang joined Eka Engineering in the Stockholm suburb of Nacka six months ago
he found a student apartment, close to his job, in the area visible in the background. But now
he has bought his own apartment, even closer to his place of work, and will be moving soon.
chose the name of Steinar, keeping Yan as his
middle name.
IT WAS TAKEN FOR GRANTED that Steinar
would study at university. His mother too, has
an engineering degree (although she now runs
a travel agency for Chinese tourists).
“I’m accustomed to studying hard. I went in
for chemistry because, quite simply, I find it
enormous fun, said Steinar and went on:
“I read two years at Reykjavik, but because
there was no complete chemistry curriculum
at the University of Iceland I was unable to
complete my studies there. I chose to go on
to KTH in Stockholm.”
In his office there is a group picture taken
outside Stockholm city hall (where the Nobel
prize giving dinner is held each year). The picture
is from the diploma presentations last
spring, when Steinar received his engineering
degree.
He had only four weeks off before he joined
Eka Engineering as a process engineer. He finds
the job exciting and is looking forward to learning
everything he needs to know in order to
assume more of his own responsibility.
When Eka Echo asked 25 year old Steinar
what he thought he would be doing in five years
time he laughed.”
“They asked me the same question at the
job interview. Because this job means I can live
in Stockholm and travel to China, I think I shall
probably still be here. And it’s only a three
hour trip home to Iceland.”
Text and photo: Monica Rossing
T H E N E X T I S S U E W I L L B E P U B L I S H E D I N D E C E M B E R