UPM Grada™ The new composite formula

UPM Grada composite technology enables plywood to be formed after manufacturing. Whereas the current form pressing process contains much labour intensive and low value phases, UPM Grada Plywood only needs to be heated, formed and cooled. Heating and forming can also be applied to a selected part of the board, enabling even very large objects to be formed affordably. Furthermore, form pressing with UPM Grada Plywood can be fully automated making significant efficiency improvements easy to achieve.

The Grada adhesive is free from formaldehyde and other harmful compounds. This makes products made of UPM Grada Plywood safe to use. As the plywood is also stronger than traditional form pressed structures, the durability of the furniture is better, reducing need for maintenance and renewal. UPM Grada Plywood is manufactured of certified wood raw material, ensuring that sustainable forest management and harvesting practices have been followed. The material can also be safely recycled or used as a carbon neutral source of energy at the end of life.

(UPM, Lahti, 27 January 2011 at 12:00 EET) UPM Plywood has developed a new way to manufacture layered composites. The first application of the new technology is formable plywood which will be introduced at the furniture industry's international Interzum trade fair in Cologne, Germany on 25-28 May 2011.

The core of the new technology is a special adhesive film which allows the plywood to be formed after manufacturing. Formable plywood can be used to make bent wooden structures for example for furniture easily and effectively. Owing to the new adhesive technology, the products will also be stronger and more stable. UPM has applied for patents for the technology and its applications.

The forming process starts by heating the plywood boards after which they can be bent to the desired shape. As the plywood cools down, it will remain in the given shape and maintain its original strength properties.

The Finnish furniture manufacturer Isku will be the first to take formable plywood into use in mass production. The company has also been a partner for UPM in applying the new technology to furniture manufacturing. "By using the formable plywood instead of traditional form pressing technology, we can simplify and enhance our production and make stronger and more durable products easier than before. Easy formability of the plywood allows furniture designers to explore whole new opportunities. The stability and accurate formability of the new plywood will also decrease production loss significantly", says Kari Soljamo, Product Development Director at Isku.

The new adhesive bonds not only wood but many minerals (rocks, ceramics etc.), glass, metals, textiles, paper and cardboard. Materials can also be combined to create multi-material composites. However, the uniqueness of the technology is best seen when bonding together flexible materials - especially wood veneer, as in plywood.

Formable plywood is very well suited for many end uses such as furniture and various industrial applications. Applying the technology to other materials will broaden the end use field still further. "Formability allows plywood to enter many new end use areas were superior strength to weight ratio is needed. It also diversifies the usage of plywood in many existing end uses", says Kaido Kukk, Director, New Business Development at UPM Plywood.

Formable plywood will be introduced at the furniture industry's international Interzum trade fair in Cologne, Germany on 25-28 May 2011. UPM's stand number is C-080 in hall 5.1.

For further information please contact:

• Mr Kaido Kukk, Director, Development, UPM Plywood, tel. +358 40 7764751

(UPM, Lahti, 4 April 2011 at 12:00 EET) UPM announced in January a new technology to manufacture layered composites. Products and services, which are based on the new technology, will form a new UPM Grada product family. The first product group to be launched under the UPM Grada family - formable plywood - will be called UPM Grada Plywood.

WISA®, the leading trademark of high quality special plywood and veneer products, will remain as the trademark of UPM's traditional plywood and veneer products.

Plywood products based on the new technology have been located under the new trademark as their technical capabilities are fundamentally different from those of traditional plywood. The end use areas of formable plywood are also significantly more versatile. In the future, many of them may also be offered other UPM Grada products and services based on other raw materials than wood.

Premiere at the Interzum fair

The first member of the UPM Grada product family - UPM Grada Plywood - will be introduced at furniture industry's international Interzum trade fair in Cologne, Germany on 25-28 May 2011. UPM's stand number is C-080 in hall 5.1.

(UPM Plywood, Lahti, 2 May 2011 at 10:00) UPM's new ground-breaking UPM Grada Plywood will be introduced to the furniture industry at the Interzum trade fair in Cologne, Germany, 25-28 May 2011 (stand C-080 in hall 5.1). UPM Grada Plywood enables furniture manufacturers to revolutionize their form pressing supply chain, cut costs and to enhance production efficiency easier than ever before.

UPM Grada Plywood is based on UPM's patent pending Grada composite technology which enables plywood to be formed after manufacturing. Whereas the current form pressing process contains much labour intensive and low value phases, UPM Grada Plywood only needs to be heated, formed and cooled. Heating and forming can also be applied to a selected part of the board, enabling even very large objects to be formed affordably. Furthermore, form pressing with UPM Grada Plywood can be fully automated making significant efficiency improvements easy to achieve.

Due to the special adhesive used in UPM Grada Plywood, components made of it are stronger and more stable than traditional form pressed components. UPM Grada Plywood's glue line is highly homogenous and behaves in a uniform way on every press. As a result, variation between formed components is minimized. This, together with higher overall strength, will reduce production rejects and quality claims dramatically.

Furniture made of UPM Grada Plywood has major benefits also to the end users. The adhesive is free from formaldehyde and other harmful compounds. This makes UPM Grada Plywood particularly suitable to conform to ever growing demand for safer furniture. As the furniture is also stronger, their durability in hard wearing uses is better, reducing need for maintenance and renewal. UPM Grada Plywood is manufactured of certified wood raw material, ensuring that sustainable forest management and harvesting practices have been followed. The material can also be safely recycled or used as a carbon neutral source of energy at the end of life.

UPM at the Interzum

UPM's stand at the Interzum is C-080 in hall 5.1. During the fair, UPM will showcase - in practice - how easy form pressing is with UPM Grada Plywood. There is a fully functional form press at the stand manufacturing form pressed giveaways for the stand visitors. In addition to stand activities, UPM will give a presentation titled "The Magic in Plywood" at the Speakers' Corner in hall 5.1 on 25 May, 2011.

Furniture at the UPM stand features new innovative design demonstrating the exceptional capabilities of UPM Grada Plywood. The meeting room chairs - courtesy of Isku - feature the seat and armrests made from one single piece of UPM Grada Plywood. The chairs have been designed by the awarded Finnish designer Mikko Laakkonen as a concept of form pressed furniture which has been impossible to make affordably until now.

In addition to UPM Grada Plywood, UPM will also have its WISA-Structural veneer and WISA-Parquet veneer presented at the fair.

For further information please contact:

• Mr Kaido Kukk, Director, Development, UPM Plywood, tel. +358 40 7764751

(UPM Plywood, Lahti, 14 Sep 2011 at 11:00) UPM Grada Plywood's unique formability and strength inspire young design students. A group of Finnish and Japanese students designed a new concept for the Finnish maternity package using UPM Grada Plywood. For more information about the project and the design process, please visit the project website at www.tupafinland.com

(UPM Plywood, Lahti, 8 Dec 2011 at 11:00) Two Finnish design houses, Vepsäläinen and Artek, together with Furniture Factory Korhonen and UPM have launched a new Aalto chair called "Nousukausituoli" to boost the economic climate in Finland. The backrest of the chair is made of UPM Grada Plywood.

The Nousukausituoli chair ("The economic boom chair") is Alvar Aalto's chair model 66, designed in 1935. All the blue chairs sold during the campaign have been numbered and are sold as collector's items. The backrest of the chair is manufactured using UPM's new Grada technology. "UPM Grada Plywood's, safety, durability and ecological features, are perfect for the backrest material of the classic chair. In addition, the formability of plywood enables a more cost effective form pressing process", explains UPM Grada's sales manager Sirkku Heinonen.

With this campaign Artek and Vepsäläinen hope to inspire consumers to invest in domestic production and competence during these times of economic turmoil. Design house Artek and furniture retailer Vepsäläinen, together with UPM as raw material supplier and Furniture Factory Korhonen as the traditional manufacturer of Aalto furniture, have made this exceptional campaign a reality through intense co-operation. "In the best case scenario, the consumer's decision may cause a reaction that really boosts the economy", says Mirkku Kullberg, the CEO of Artek, in the Vepsäläinen press release.

A limited edition of the Nousukausi chair will be sold at Vepsäläinen furniture stores in Finland starting December 5th for the price of 195 euro.

One Nordic Company is a new furniture brand that bridges the gap between high-end design and flat pack furniture with clever digital and design solutions. Online thinking is the core of the brand, with their online store the main distribution channel. One Nordic Company focuses on interpreting Nordic designs in its collection, which customers can also influence by giving feedback.

One Nordic Company pre-launched its Bento chair and table in the design studio Form Us With Love in February during Stockholm Design Week. A new approach was also applied to the selection of materials. UPM’s Grada™ technology, which allows the heating and bending of plywood panels in simple steps, was used to make the prototypes of the Bento furniture presented in Stockholm.

Stefan Mahlberg, the carpenter who made the table and chair showcased during Design Week, was very impressed by UPM’s new formable material, UPM Grada Plywood, especially how perfectly it suited easy and quick prototyping.

“Grada Plywood enables a totally new way of form pressing. With Grada, the steps are simple. The panel is cut to the desired shape, heated and formed in a press and - voilà, the chair structure is ready. No time is wasted in waiting for the wet glue to dry,” Stefan explained. “I have experimented positively with Grada material in couple of projects and already it feels difficult to go back to form pressing in the traditional way.”

Find out more www.onenordic.com

UPM, Finavia, Martela, Fortum, Karelia-Upofloor and Clear Channel have created a lounge concept, called Suvanto, at Helsinki Airport. Suvanto is an oasis comprising work and rest locations, where people can work and relax. Suvanto also provides recharging stations for different electronic devices.

The Suvanto concept has been created as a joint World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project by UPM Plywood and partner companies. It will be a visible part of the Design Capital Year offering at Helsinki Airport all the way to 2013. A total of three Suvanto lounges will be built at the airport.

Suvanto furniture has been designed by Martela's Main Designer Pekka Toivola in cooperation with Interior Decoration Architect Iiro Viljanen. A plywood arc, which is made from UPM's formable UPM Grada plywood and "protects" the person using the chair, is the most striking feature of the furniture. "Implementing form-pressed pieces of this size by traditional means would be very expensive. However, the shaping features of the UPM Grada plywood enabled this at a feasible cost," says Kaido Kukk, Development Director at UPM Plywood.

UPM Grada Plywood is based on UPM’s patent pending Grada composite technology which enables plywood to be formed after manufacturing. Whereas the traditional form pressing process contains much labour intensive phases, UPM Grada Plywood only needs to be heated, formed and cooled. Due to the special adhesive used in UPM Grada Plywood, components made of it are stronger and more stable than traditional form pressed components.

UPM Grada Plywood is particularly suitable to conform to ever growing demand for safer furniture. The adhesive of plywood is free from formaldehyde and other harmful compounds. As the furniture is also stronger, their durability in hard wearing uses is better, reducing need for maintenance and renewal.

UPM Grada Plywood is manufactured of certified wood raw material, ensuring that sustainable forest management and harvesting practices have been followed. The material can also be safely recycled or used as a carbon neutral source of energy at the end of life.

As a frontrunner of bio and forest industry UPM takes part in design by developing new sustainable materials and businesses, which inspires architects and designers. UPM’s Plywood products are also impressively displayed also in the unique meeting place of WDC Helsinki, in Pavilion, which is a result from a collaboration between UPM, Aalto University, Design Museum, Museum of Finnish Architecture and World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 foundation.

Finavia's press release and pictures of Suvanto lounges:

Finavia press release
Suvanto lounge picture gallery