Sappi Technical Innovation Awards: shining a light on bold thinking

In the push towards a circular economy and operational excellence, innovation is the bedrock of practical sustainability and a driving force for industry success. It’s this innovation that Sappi places at the core of its culture and its operations. And that means continually investing in innovation to create the engineering breakthroughs and circular solutions of tomorrow.

At the heart of our drive to innovate is the?Sappi Technical Innovation Awards?(TIAs) – conceived in 2000 to celebrate technical innovation and sustainable innovation solutions within Sappi, and to help pave the way for the next generation of people, processes and sustainable products.

The annual global awards programme invites teams of enterprising visionaries from across all of Sappi’s regions in Europe, North America and Southern Africa to demonstrate technical innovation in action. Each year brings a new theme to inspire the teams, and alongside that, nominations for the awards need to demonstrate technical innovation, economic impact, market leadership value, product/process impact and customer satisfaction. Three regional finalists then go head-to-head with their cutting-edge solutions to find one overall winner.

Innovators unite

The teams entering the awards often have different areas of expertise and come from different business units, reflecting a multi-disciplinary approach towards sharing knowledge and learning from challenges that are common, company-wide. But one thing unites them all – they each put in practise novel concepts that shine a light on extraordinary creativity - not just within Sappi, but in the industry as a whole.

‘Regular cross-regional and mill platforms exist to share learnings, building the bench and exposure of our talented resources to engage in this exciting environment,’ says Group Head of Technology Gary Bowles.

‘This year, we have removed the previous limit to the number of team members that can be nominated for the TIAs. Nominations and recognition from all the regions, business segments, disciplines and functions that were part of the team that developed and implemented the initiative and solution?can be included.

We have also included a ‘Technical Excellence’ segment for recognition of those teams or individuals where the innovation is real, but the economic value threshold has not been reached. A commendation segment recognises those teams that have created the innovation foundation work, but need more time to bring the project to full market realisation.’

Shared vision

Fostering involvement is fundamental to a workforce that is collectively and passionately aligned to the same goals. For that reason, The TIAs are an important annual event - not only for engaging closely with employees to inspire positive personal and business outcomes, but for encouraging and realising future-oriented ideas.

‘Engagement, recognition and saying thanks are key values for Sappi,’ says Gary. ‘The TIAs are seen as a pinnacle in recognition, with learnings shared across the organisation. We have various scoring criteria pertaining to innovation, with customer focus and developing market trends on sustainability and circularity as key metrics. Our natural renewable resources, product portfolio and focus on recyclability and reduced carbon footprint certainly support circular solutions.’

A pioneering approach

The awards reflect Sappi’s can-do ethos towards innovation, as well as our strong belief that technological breakthroughs are well within our reach and often hidden in plain sight. Additionally, we place great importance on co-creation with customers and being bold in bringing those ideas to the market. In fact, innovative problem solving, partnerships, a commitment to sustainability and future-oriented thinking underpins the whole structure of Sappi’s workforce.

‘Innovation is embedded in our DNA as we continually improve the conversations to align with business pull versus technical push,’ explains Gary. ‘In line with the One Sappi approach and clearly articulated in our Thrive25 strategy, we have various governance structures such as the Group Technology Management Team, New Business Development Management Team, Innovation Management Team, Excitor Management Team, Group Sustainability Council and various other Technical Cluster focus teams. These teams have oversight aligned with business guidance for all operational excellence, R&D and innovation initiatives at Group level. Centres of Excellence, Competency and R&D centres exist in all regions and execute the various initiatives and projects and portfolios aligned with Thrive 25 strategy with defined roadmaps and timelines. These structures play the critical role of maintaining focus, avoiding duplication, removing barriers and providing resources to allow innovation to flow.’

Future thinking

Group CEO Steve Binnie sums up the incredible thinking and achievements of the teams: ‘The TIA Awards underline that innovation and the work you (TIA finalists) do are critical to us delivering on our Thrive25 strategy,’ he says. ‘Without the new thinking, new products and new processes you bring we will not succeed. You challenge the status quo using your deep knowledge and experience. All the TIA finalists across all three regions demonstrate that they understand how to add value for our new world.’ Well done to each and every team driving innovation at Sappi!

Discovery more about innovation at Sappi here.