Emballator invest millions in their aluminium lines

Posted 2020-02-11

Johan Törner was appointed the new acting CEO of Emballator Tectubes a few months ago. Currently his main mission is to automate and digitise the company’s aluminium lines in Hjo.

– Our owner has contributed 8 million SEK to the project and the idea is to complete it by 2021. The efficiency and safety of the process at our lines will increase which means an increased amount of tubes produced per hour, he says.

Emballator Tectubes has a long tradition of developing, designing, and producing tubes. The company has manufacturing facilities in Hjo and Åstorp and is planning to produce about 300 million tubes during 2020.

Anders Andersson ended his position as CEO last autumn in order to take on new challenges. He was replaced by Johan Törner as acting CEO. One of his first assignments was to represent the company at Näringslivsgalan in Hjo.

At this event Emballator Tectubes received Näringslivschefens pris (“The Enterprise Manager’s Prize”). The motivation statement stressed the company’s social involvement locally.

– It means a lot to us to be awarded this prize. We are the major private employer in the municipality which puts a great social responsibility on us. It is also a part of the core values of Herenco, the green bag, to take care of the community where we operate, he says.

Johan Törner is 45 years old and is living in Hjo with his four sons. He joined the company in 2010 as a controller, became the CFO in connection with Herenco’s acquisition of the company, and is, as from May last year, also the site manager of the facility in Åstorp.

As from December 1 he is also the acting CEO of the company.

– Our aim is to grow as a company, which entails several challenges. First and foremost, we will be investing in our aluminium project in order to improve our competitiveness. The purpose is to regain customers that we have lost to our competitors, but also to find new customers and markets, he says.

Sustainability and the environment are other important issues which will require a great focus on the part of the company going forward. Emballator Tectubes produces close to 200 million plastic tubes per year, and plastic is currently a hot topic.

– We work to improve our products from a lifecycle and sustainability perspective in order to find ways to reduce our climate footprint. That work includes, for example, developing alternative materials such as herbal plastic, he says.

There are ten production lines for aluminium at the facility in Hjo. Much of the monitoring, adjustments and controls is currently managed manually. This process will be automated and digitised with the help of the new investment.

This means, among other things, that vision cameras will be installed on the printing units, as well as various types of sensors monitoring different parts of the processes.

– These new appliances will require new and different skills of the operators, but we will continuously educate the personnel in the new systems and have a rather extended implementation period before everything is in place, he says.

Johan Törner grew up in an entrepreneur family in a rural area. He has a background in sports, and besides being the chairman of IFK Hjo he is also the coach of a youth football team, as well as a player on the P35 team of IFK Hjo – a “team of old men” as he jokingly calls it. When talking about his leadership he happily makes connections to the world of sports.

– My leadership is about keeping the team or group together so that we all work towards the same goal. As leaders it is important to listen to ideas contributed by our co-workers, in order to make use of them, when steering the company towards its visions and goals. Through involvement and participation, and by respecting each other’s roles and skills, you create a winning team, he says.

The plan for 2020 is to produce 85 million aluminium tubes at the facility in Hjo. It is therefore an important cornerstone for the company.

– Aluminium is a clean material without additives, and consequently it is easy to recycle our aluminium tubes, which in turn makes them sustainable. In view of this we see great opportunities to reach new markets where aluminium tubes have not previously been used, he says.

Back to news