The investment sum in the customised production line exceeded €6m, Walki wrote.
The new investment will support customers in the food and non-food segments with barrier boards, flexible packaging and industrial liner applications for corrugated boxes.
The production line, called The Bridge, has been tailor-made and combines an upgraded existing extruder line with a line for glue lamination and dispersion coating. With a width of three metres, The Bridge also the widest machine on the market, making the materials suitable for most corrugating and converting lines, while also ensuring larger capacity and production output.
During this spring, Walki made numerous test runs with excellent results.
"Glue lamination and dispersion technologies provide excellent barrier properties to fibre-based materials using significantly less plastics compared to conventional methods without compromising on functional features such as resistance to humidity, grease and mechanical stress," says Bernd Schröer, Technology Development Director at Walki.
The new machine in Steinfurt is part of a bigger capex project in central Europe. In January 2024, a new barrier-board production line was augurated in Steinfurt’s sister plant in Wroclaw, Poland. Together the two plants offer a unique full-service production hub for customers in Central and Western Europe.
As part of EU’s Green Deal policies, the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive Regulation (PPWR) are setting a clear path towards recyclable and circular packaging across Europe, building on established recycling streams for paper-based materials, says Walki. This latest investment will not only enable market launches of recyclable board and lining materials, but also facilitate substitution from plastic to fibre-based packaging and thus significantly reducing carbon-footprint.
Walki has been part of Japanese Oji Holdings since May 2024.
Source:https://www.euwid-paper.com/