Metsä Group's Wood Supply and Forest Services, Metsä Forest, has won the 2024 Finnish Quality Award granted by the Excellence Finland. The Finnish Quality Award is based on a thorough evaluation of the organisation's activities following the international EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) model. The prestigious award has been granted since 1991.

According to the jury, values are strongly present in the organisation's daily operations, and change is managed systematically. Metsä Group's Wood Supply and Forest Services offers its customers a wide range of services, and knowledge-based management makes the supply chain more efficient. Innovation is supported with the aid of developer communities, and operations are guided by a comprehensive set of metrics that support the achievement of strategic targets and cooperation.

"The excellent score that Metsä Group's Wood Supply and Forest Services obtained in the Finnish Quality Award competition reflects a strong commitment to quality development and continuous improvement. The company is a great example of how Finnish competitiveness is being systematically improved in the long term. The EFQM model is an excellent way to assess your organisation's performance and strategy implementation. It also challenges organisations to genuinely take action to continuously improve their operations," says Juha Ylä-Autio, CEO of Excellence Finland.

In addition, the Metsä Group Plus forest management model, launched in 2023, came second place in the 2024 Quality Innovation Award competition. Metsä Group Plus is a forest management model that pays increasingly close attention to forest biodiversity and forest nature in the implementation of forest work. In the Metsä Group Plus model, the competition jury highlighted the real ecological impact and long-term focus on climate sustainability.

"We have a great team, and I'm very happy on behalf of our entire organisation for this award and recognition. They show that our determined and persistent development work has paid off. The score we achieved in the Quality Award competition was so high that it would have brought a win in many previous years as well. Above all, it's about customer orientation, systematic implementation of strategy, a shared situational picture and the ability to work as a team, as well as smooth cooperation with various stakeholders. We'll continue to actively develop the operations of the best organisation in our field," says Juha Jumppanen, Metsä Group's EVP, Wood Supply and Forest Services.

Metsä Group's Wood Supply and Forest Services was also successful in quality competitions in 2023, when an artificial intelligence application for detecting forest insect damage, implemented with CollectiveCrunch Oy, won both the Finnish and international Quality Innovation Award competitions.