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Metsä Group and Qutwo, a Finnish AI and quantum technology company, are launching a collaboration aimed at deepening the use of artificial intelligence at Metsä and bringing next-generation AI into the core processes of the forest industry. Source: Timberbiz Next-generation AI refers to solutions that can take into account a broader range of variables and simultaneously optimise complex systems. “Metsä has been leveraging AI for a long time in its production facilities and wood supply operations. Our partnership with Qutwo takes this to the next level. Together we can address increasingly complex challenges and develop new intelligence to support our business,” said Anni Rasinen, Director, Business AI at Metsä. Qutwo will provide Metsä with its AI and quantum platform, Qutwo OS. The aim is to increase the value derived from wood raw material and strengthen Metsä’s international competitiveness. “The competitiveness of European industry will depend on how quickly it develops next-generation AI. Metsä Group’s commitment to long-term development together with Qutwo creates capabilities that neither could build alone. This allows European companies to be at the forefront of technology rather than follow others,” said Peter Sarlin, Founder and Chairman of Qutwo. The first initiatives focus on improving productivity in mill converting lines and optimising wood procurement. In wood procurement, AI will enable better use of multiple factors at the same time, helping to guide the use of wood more efficiently from forest to mill and increase overall value. “Our goal is to significantly increase the value derived from wood and reduce variable costs between the forest and the mill. Together with Qutwo, we are advancing completely new types of development with considerable potential,” said Juha Jumppanen, EVP, Wood Supply and Forest Services at Metsä. Metsä already uses AI, for example, in predicting forest damage, pricing wood trade and silviculture services, and in valuing forest biodiversity. At the mills, the collaboration focuses particularly on improving productivity in tissue converting lines. Converting is the stage in the production process where the base paper from the paper machine is processed into finished tissue products. AI enables the optimization of the production process, improving efficiency, increasing production capacity, and strengthening Metsä’s competitiveness in the market. Qutwo has rapidly emerged as one of Europe’s most interesting players in AI and quantum computing. The collaboration with Metsä demonstrates how next-generation AI can solve demanding industrial challenges and help build sustainable competitive advantage for European industry in global markets.

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In 1943, as World War II made materials like steel scarcer, the US Navy turned to timber to construct airship hangars at Moffett Federal Airfield, located at what is now NASA Ames Research Centre. Source: Timberbiz The structures were built in just 208 days using Douglas fir, widely assumed to have been harvested from the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and became part of a strategic West Coast hub for blimp operations during the war. In 2014, Planetary Ventures, a subsidiary of Google, entered a long-term lease of the airfield and assumed management of the historic hangars. Though Hangar 3 stood for over 80 years, the structure was compromised by substantial engineering challenges. Ultimately, ongoing efforts to repair and preserve the historic structure could not prevent progressing damage, prompting the difficult decision to remove the now hazardous hangar. A typical demolition would have routed this historic timber to the landfill, but Google’s sustainability and real estate teams saw a different opportunity: salvaging the wood for reuse in modern buildings. Once engineering assessments confirmed Hangar 3 couldn’t be preserved in its original form, the question became how best to remove the structure. Typical demolition wasn’t an option: the wood within the structure had been exposed to a variety of chemicals, creating a high risk of contamination. So, the 1,000-foot-long structure would have to be systematically dismantled. Teams used high-reach excavators to surgically disassemble the hangar, salvaging approximately 119,000 board feet of the most structurally sound Douglas fir boards (roughly 178 tons of material). Some of this salvaged wood wasshipped back up to Spokane, Washington, for evaluation and remanufacturing and is now destined for a Google mass timber office prototype in the Dalles, Oregon. Reclaiming used lumber on such a large scale is often dismissed as unpredictable, labour-intensive and costly. Modern building codes assume builders are using freshly milled lumber, so there’s no easy path to certify reclaimed wood. In the absence of a roadmap, the Hangar 3 project team created their own. They consulted wood scientists, structural engineers and mass timber manufacturers to rigorously test the structural integrity of the salvaged timber. After planing the contaminated outer layers, testing yielded incredible news: the historic Douglas fir still possessed robust, predictable structural strength. In the end, approximately 66,000 board feet of the material successfully met the rigorous requirements for mass timber remanufacturing. The Hangar 3 journey underscores the opportunity presented by deconstruction and reuse. It shows that if we can view our existing physical assets as “material banks” for future uses, then we can minimize the economic and environmental costs of purchasing new materials. The timber salvaged from Hangar 3 is getting a new life in showcase installations across Google campuses in the Bay Area, California, and for mass timber construction at supporting office facilities on Google data centre campuses. You can read more about this, there is a white paper Reclaiming Structural Wood at Scale: From Airship Hangar to Portfolio Reuse at https://sustainability.google/reports/circularity-reclaiming-structural-wood/  

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