Ahlstrom is celebrating the inauguration of a Service Center in Vilnius, Lithuania. The new center will manage most of Ahlstrom’s finance, accounting and customer service operations in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.

According to President & CEO Marco Levi of Ahlstrom, the company selected Lithuania as a location for the service center after a careful consideration of the country’s advantages and opportunities. “Our decision to establish a service center in Vilnius was based on existing infrastructure, availability of talented and multilingual staff and favorable cost structure. In addition, we were impressed by the attention and support the authorities provided to us,” Marco Levi says.   

“The arrival of companies such as Ahlstrom to Lithuania is very important for the whole country,” says Evaldas Gustas, Lithuanian Minister of Economy. “Finland is in the eighth biggest source of foreign investment in Lithuania. Globally operating Finnish companies bring not only capital, but also the international work culture and the drive for continuous personal development and improvement of products. Ahlstrom particularly stands out in this area with an emphasis on innovation and aspiration for the highest standards.”

Arvydas Arnašius, director of the foreign investment development agency Invest Lithuania, has stated that Ahlstrom and Lithuania are an ideal combination: “The company’s goal is to be the best in their field but not the biggest in the world. We saw what this means in practice while working with Ahlstrom: the final decision was taken quite quickly and processed smoothly. This shows that the company is not only able to respond immediately and take a quick decision, but is also well aware of where it is going.”

Ahlstrom is known for its social responsibility standards, which are reflected in its products. EcoDesign principles are applied to Ahlstrom’s products, ensuring maximum product performance, minimum costs, and environmental friendliness in all stages of their life cycle.

Ahlstrom plans to employ approximately 70 highly skilled professionals in Vilnius to provide customer and financial services in nine languages in the EMEA region. Ahlstrom established a customer service center in North America last year.