Jakarta. APRIL Group, a leading pulp and paper producer with operations in Indonesia, recently took the floor at an international conference to address how the industry should operate sustainably to support continued growth.

At the recent Siemens Fiber Industry conference, APRIL Group’s president Praveen Singhavi highlighted how sustainability could be the impetus for long-term growth in the energy-intense pulp and paper industry. APRIL is a member of the RGE group of companies.

“Sustainability will become crucial for companies operating in this industry over the next decade, as consumers become more sustainability-conscious. The ability of companies, and the industry as a whole, to operate sustainably will remain key through 2030 and beyond,” Singhavi told the conference.

According to Singhavi, securing raw materials or sustainably produced fiber and increasing productivity will be critical success factors for companies in the future.

“The anti-plastic movement is also likely to become even more pronounced, which will increase the demand for paper-based products,” he said. 

As climate change looms, companies must balance continued development and stick to their sustainability commitments. 

According to Singhavi, the demand for fiber is currently rising due to the increasing use of tissue and sustainable packaging. This sets a challenge for the fiber industry to boost yield without expanding land banks or concession footprint. In response, APRIL Group is embracing science-based solutions for more yield from the same land bank.

"We have achieved a 29 percent increase in fiber yield over the past four years without expanding our land bank or concession footprint. Science-based solutions and continued research enables us to produce more from the same land bank is essential for supply and sustainability,” Singhavi said.

Last November, APRIL Group also reinforced its commitments to the sustainable development goals with the launch of APRIL2030 - a series of commitments and concrete actions for the business to move forward sustainably over the next decade. This includes achieving net-zero emissions from land use.

“We hope that with APRIL2030, we are demonstrating that an Asian company can be part of the global movement to deliver on the SDGs and have a positive impact on climate, nature, and people, while also continuing to run our business sustainably to produce high quality renewable fiber-based products,” Singhavi said. 

Digitalization

At the conference, Singhavi also spoke of APRIL Group’s move towards digitalization. 

He revealed APRIL had made full use of technology by implementing digital solutions across the organization, from forestry to mill operations to logistics and sales. Centralized systems at mill processes enable the company to gain valuable insights in terms of data analytics.

“For example, for our paper customers, we created a mobile customer portal, which allows a lot of our customer engagement activity, like product catalog viewing and order tracking, to be done on a smartphone. This is integrated with production planning and logistics and has, in turn, resulted in improved productivity and customer service for our operations,” Singhavi said.