2 INDUSTRY NEWS
Pulp Paper & Logistics
UK sheet-feeding plant is ‘future proof’ after rebuild
T
he rebuilding and re- equipping of the DS Smith site at Blunham, near Bedford in the UK,
as a ‘future proof’ sheet-feeder plant has been completed aft er six months of work. UK-based DS Smith is the leading provider of recycled corrugated packaging in Europe. “We’ve eff ecti vely built a new
plant inside the old one without losing a day’s producti on,” said Adrian Swindells, DS Smith’s sheet-feeding managing director. Over the past six months two of the plant’s three corrugators were replaced with one new Fosber line, along with the installati on of completely new condensate, starch, warehousing and materials handling systems. “We’ve also created a new
layout which keeps vehicles and people apart,” added Swindells, “as well as making energy effi ciency improvements and refurbishing the building to make it brighter, cleaner, warmer in winter, and a bett er place to work.” From the placing of the order with Fosber to the start-up of the complete 2.8-metre wide corrugator line it took just 22 weeks, says Swindells. “It wasn’t
a simple installati on because we had concrete cross beams under the factory which had to be removed to allow the foundati ons for the new line to be laid. “It meant a lot of excavati on and a lot of dust, so we had an awful lot of plasti c sheeti ng protecti ng those areas that were sti ll running producti on. We got to a point where we only had one corrugator running, with a large percentage of our producti on being handled by our two other sheet-feeder plants at Kett ering
and Louth. From that point in ti me we really had to crack on and get the project completed as quickly as possible.” Gareth Jenkins, managing
director of DS Smith’s Packaging Division, said that customers were the driver behind the investment at Blunham. “We have to keep moving forward if we are going to stay in this industry and lead it, so we asked our customers what they wanted from us. The response we got was that they liked the wide range
of products we produced, but they also wanted us to look at diff erent models for the way we service them as customers.” Jenkins says that the plant at Blunham had gone as far as it could with its existi ng corrugator installati on, consisti ng of three lines with elements from a number of suppliers, and that the group understood that a substanti al step forward was necessary to give the plant the capabiliti es it would need through the next two decades.
Van Genechten buys Hungary plant from Stora Enso
European folding carton manufacturer Van Genechten Packaging Internati onal (VGPI) has agreed to buy a Stora Enso plant at Komarom in Hungary. With just under 100 staff , the plant produces microfl ute
September/October 2015
packaging with sales of €14 million a year. “By this acquisiti on we follow the demand of our multi nati onal and regional customers who are strongly growing in Central and Eastern Europe, off ering
them our trusted high quality standards and our rewarded innovati on capabiliti es,” said Lorenzo Delorenzi, chief executi ve of VGPI. “This represents the next step of VGPI’s long term growth
strategy focusing on chosen markets and driving business with its preferred partners.” VGPI is based in Luxembourg and runs 11 folding carton factories in eight countries with yearly sales of €295 million.
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