Sture Noreus

"Our strategy to be a competent and practical partner for our customers, working in close cooperation with the mills, yet strictly neutral, is still valid," says Sture Noréus, who ten years ago started MoRe Research. "It is more efficient to share resources compared to all companies having a full range of pilot equipment, analysis instruments and skilled staff for all possible scenarios."

As MoRe celebrates its 10th anniversary this year we have talked to Sture Noréus, the man who founded MoRe and worked as its first MD.

"At the end of the 1990's, MoDo investigated how its research and development should be organised without reaching a decision. When MoDo Paper and SCA Fine Paper merged into Modo Paper, MoDo R&D ended up in this new company. We had surplus capacity in the laboratory when the Holmen part disappeared, and this capacity was sold to other companies on a consultant basis. After only eight months Modo Paper was sold to Metsä Serla, later M-real."

"The new owners were not interested in keeping such a large laboratory in Sweden so a solution had to be found. I took on the task of creating a research and development company in order to preserve the competence and the equipment which had been built up during the MoDo years. At the start I had a company but no owners. Eurocon showed interest in becoming part owners, and later M-real, the Kempe Foundation and Domsjö Mills joined. They all had different reasons for the ownership, but the combination was a good one. Carl Kempe has also been an excellent chairman all these years."

"On 3 January 2001 we started operations, with owners but without a proper name. We could not use the MoDo name, but I wanted a name in green, looking like MoDo, as MoDo's R&D had a good reputation. This resulted in the name MoRe Research, chosen because of how it can be interpreted. We also managed to get hold of the web address www.more.se, a simple and good one."

"MoRe has no restrictions from its owners regarding which customers to choose. Our secrecy policy is valid for all, including our owners. They do not know the projects we are working on or for whom and this has never been a problem. The important thing for our owners is that the company is developing."

A cornerstone in MoRe's operations is the Hela vägen® concept ("All the way concept"), drawn up by Stefan Svensson and his colleagues. MoRe can test all relevant points in a mill and compare with its reference mill, MoRe's own data bank. This is a way of measuring how well the mill is running and if optimisation activities need to be taken. Single processes as well as complete pulp lines may be studied and compared with those of MoRe's reference.

"During MoRe's ten years, six forest industry laboratories in Sweden have been closed, but no company like ours has been started. This makes our strategy to share resources even more valid today than ten years ago."

What do you do nowadays?
"I may have reached the age for retirement but my services are still sought for. My biggest interest has always been to trim mills, and I work with such projects but I also work with development. And I work mostly during the winter months!"

So being retired does not necessarily mean taking it easy - but on the other hand, who had believed that regarding Sture Noréus?