Packaging
SÜDPACK: The next generation of extrusion
Thursday 05. March 2009 - From April 2009, SÜDPACK Verpackungen GmbH from Ochsenhausen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) will produce their multilayered flexible thermoforming films on one of the most modern, high-performance flexible film extrusion lines in the world. Thanks to numerous layers and the latest production technology, the innovative machine allows packaging films to be produced with a considerably higher plywood effect.
“This new flexible film extrusion line is a real investment in the future for us. It’s our answer to a changed market situation, in which cost and price pressures, as well as the call for sustainable production, are just as much a focus for our customers as they are for us,” Johannes Remmele, Managing Director of SÜDPACK Verpackungen GmbH & Co. KG, explained. “This machine works more efficiently than any other that we have known in this market up to now. This means it uses less energy and fewer resources, produces higher quality goods and has a higher output capacity”.
This investment in the future was worth a figure in the two-digit millions for the medium-sized company – one of the largest investments that the family-run packaging manufacturer has made in the last few years.
High-tech for better sustainability
Thanks to the latest technology, in future SÜDPACK will be able to produce its flexible films more effectively than ever before, while at the same time using fewer resources than ever. “The variable parent roll widths and an optimised net usable width mean we can now isolate the customer rolls so efficiently that we hardly have any waste,” said Andrea Speidel, the Project Manager responsible for the implementation of the new machine. “An important condition for sustainable production; that is using as few resources as possible.”
In addition, the higher extrusion accuracy on the new SÜDPACK machine allows thinner films than before to be run, which offers the innovative film manufacturer and its customers several advantages at once. SÜDPACK can produce more films using the same amount of raw materials and generally offer thinner films on the market, which have characteristics that had only been achieved with comparatively thick films until now. This not only allows resources to be saved, but also considerably reduces SÜDPACK’s waste management costs. “The trend towards ever thinner films is continuing steadily. With our new machine, we are able to satisfy this demand without our customers having to put up with a loss in quality. Furthermore, the new machine of course gives us the freedom to develop completely new types of film,” Johannes Remmele explained.
But the new SÜDPACK machine doesn’t only reduce the raw material requirement for each film – the energy input is less as well. This is made possible by engines and direct drives with the highest energy efficiency and a much better degree of effectiveness than the machines used up to now.
The highest level of film quality
Unlike traditional flexible film extrusion lines, the new machine covers a large range of film thicknesses. Thus films with total thicknesses of between 40 and 350 ? can be produced here. Control technology of the latest generation and optimised film thickness measuring ensure that the distribution of layer thicknesses remains completely constant. In addition, the production process is completely documented via numerous cameras, allowing the Quality Management team at SÜDPACK to carry out twenty-four hour monitoring..
Keeping customer demands in mind at all times
By means of close team work between machine manufacturers and the Development, Production and Sales Departments at SÜDPACK, a machine has been created “that is exactly tailored to our requirements,” Speidel said. The close cooperation with the Sales Department, above all, guaranteed that the customers’ demands were always the central focus of the machine’s conception. “After all, the best machine is no use to us if it doesn’t achieve exactly what our customers want,” Remmele summarised.
“With this new technology, we’re giving our customers the chance to follow the trend towards functional flexible films without any loss in quality and thus allowing them to meet the important demand for economic use of synthetic materials. Our medium-sized customers in particular receive real advantages from this deal, because they too benefit in multiple ways, the necessary storage space is reduced, less waste is produced, less air is transported and stored, and all of this without any loss in functionality,” Remmele is convinced.