BOPP film specialist Treofan America, Winston-Salem, N.C., installed a new 8.7-meter-wide production line at its Neunkirchen, Germany, facility. The production line boasts an annual capacity of up to a billion square meters of premium 5-layer label and packaging film, which is equivalent to a daily output of around 2.7 million square meters – roughly the area of 400 football pitches.
Custom-configured in partnership with Austria-based plant engineering group Andritz, the $33.3 million plant represents Treofan’s largest single investment in recent decades. Over the past two years, Treofan has invested $66.7 million in upgrading Treofan’s entire manufacturing infrastructure in Germany, Italy and Mexico to the latest technology. This spring, the control system of an existing production line in Neunkirchen received a $44.4 million upgrade as part of the investment program, and at the company’s site in Zacapu, Mexico, a metalizer was installed.
The new line will produce premium label and packaging film for the European market and for export to Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
“The demand for mono-materials that can be fully recycled and the increasing use of global packaging concepts by major brand manufacturers are important worldwide trends,” says Dr. Walter Bickel, chief executive officer. “This means that films have to offer more and more functionalities when it comes to protective effects, barrier properties and processing methods. At Treofan, we have an abundance of expertise in these areas. With our new plant, we now also have the latest manufacturing technology at our disposal, allowing us to meet our customers’ high expectations.”
