The Paper Industry in Transition: Why Leadership Makes the Difference Now

The European paper industry is undergoing structural change. A recent McKinsey analysis highlights the forces reshaping the sector: weaker demand, volatile raw material and energy costs, growing international competition, and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.

The central takeaway is clear:
Market growth alone will no longer be enough to compensate for operational weaknesses.

Increasingly, the greatest potential lies within the company itself.

Many paper manufacturers have already invested in automation, digitalization, maintenance, and process optimization. The next stage of development is to connect these capabilities intelligently and manage them as an integrated system.

Production, sales, supply chain, energy, procurement, and capital investment need to be managed as an interconnected whole. Technologies such as predictive maintenance, digital twins, automated quality control, and intelligent energy optimization can increase productivity and asset availability while simultaneously reducing costs.

Digitalization is therefore evolving from an IT topic into a management imperative.

New Requirements for Leadership

From our perspective, this transformation is fundamentally changing the requirements placed on leaders in executive management, engineering, and plant operations.

Technical leaders do not need to be able to answer every technical question themselves. What matters is their ability to combine technical expertise, commercial acumen, and the capacity to drive change.

The industry needs leaders who:

• think entrepreneurially
• consistently drive operational excellence
• understand digitalization and automation as levers for business performance,
• prioritize investments based on their actual value contribution, and
• engage and inspire people to embrace change.

Because even the best strategy and the most advanced technology will create little value if the organization cannot be brought along on the journey.

The Paper Industry Needs Transformation Leaders

Industry experience and technical expertise remain indispensable. But on their own, they are no longer sufficient.

Increasingly, success depends on the ability to lead transformation, manage economic pressure, and develop organizations sustainably.

The paper industry therefore needs not only strong managers, but entrepreneurial leaders who can shape and deliver change.

For many years, we have supported companies in the paper, packaging, and process industries in addressing these challenges from appointing key leadership positions and driving transformation initiatives to addressing strategic business questions.

We see ourselves not simply as advisors, but as sparring partners: combining deep industry expertise, a strong and trusted network, and a clear focus on pragmatic solutions.

Let’s discuss what kind of leadership your company needs to reach its next stage of development.

Insight and source: McKinsey & Company, “Reinventing the European pulp and paper operating model,” August 2026.