Research and development centres are in fashion! After DS Smith and Fedrigoni, it is now the paper and packaging manufacturer Saica’s turn to inaugurate its R&D and innovation center, on its 80th anniversary. Located at the El Burgo de Ebro mill (see photo) in Spain, this new 4,000 m2 entity will work for the group’s four divisions, namely the manufacture of recycled paper for corrugated board (Saica Paper), waste management and environmental services (Saica Natur), corrugated packaging (Saica Pack) and flexible packaging (Saica Flex). The Spanish group also unveiled its new automated reel warehouse, located in Burgo de Ebro (Zaragoza, Spain). It serves the mill’s three paper machines and has a total capacity of up to 65,000 tonnes of paper. More than 26,000 reels are stored there. The Saica Group, with more than 10,000 employees, achieved consolidated revenue of €4,394 million in 2022.

Fedrigoni, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of premium papers and self-adhesive materials, has asked ABB to install its L&W Lab Management System (LMS) at its new RD&I site in Verona to optimise efficiency and reduce the duration of laboratory procedures. The Fedrigoni Innovation Center is a very important step in the group’s growth strategy. It will officially open in early 2024.

After Krakow in Poland, it was Seville in Spain! Pro Carton carefully selects the destinations of its gala dinners for Pro Carton Young Designers Award and this year the event sponsored by the main Turkish packaging specialists, Duran Do?an and Kartonsan, took place on September 21st in Andalusia, in a magnificent hacienda. Pap'Argus was there. The event rewarded the best young design talents in Europe. The winners were announced by Horst Bittermann, Pro Carton’s General Manager, in front of an audience of packaging industry leaders. The evening ended in jubilation with magnificent Sevillian dances. A special shout-out to Winfried Mühling, Pro Carton’s Director of Marketing and Communication, who showcased all the young talents. The results and photos will be published in the next Pap'Argus. Do not miss it! The creations were innovative and surprising!

Last Thursday the Pavillon Gabriel, next to the French President House, hosted the Parisian stop-over of the Creative Power Tour organized by Antalis to present its new portfolio of creative papers and in particular the historical papers Conqueror and Rives. They also presented the Olin and KeayKolour ranges, which were manufactured by ArjoWiggins Scotland until their final closure last year. The General Manager of Antalis France and Benelux, Thierry Griselin (pictured) and the Director of Papers and VisualCom of Antalis, Xavier Jouvet, rightly congratulated themselves on having succeeded in manufacturing these iconic papers again. The Rives, for example, requires marking during manufacturing, while the paper is still wet, not to mention the distinctive Conqueror watermark whose placement and repetition that are sources of some headaches! During the second part of the evening, 6 mini-stands highlighted the artistic possibilities of these creative paper ranges. The Creative Power Tour will continue from city to city in France and Europe to meet its users.

The new Fedrigoni Symbol Card & Pack collection goes beyond traditional markets to the packaging and publishing industries. In addition to the 28 references in the Symbol Pack range (1sided coated graphics card with satin finish, ECF cellulose, FSC certified), it also includes new textured surface papers as well as papers dedicated to shopping bags and packaging boxes manufacturing. “Thanks to the strength of our R&D, we now have a multifaceted range that allows us to express the most creative ideas in all fields,” said Micaela Di Trana, Director of Marketing and Research and Development at Fedrigoni Paper.

Congratulations to Paptic who, with its recyclable pouch to replace plastic in vegetable packaging, received the WorldStar award. Paptic is a fibre-based substrate intended to replace plastics in packaging. The lightweight material is soft, with excellent puncture and tear resistance and heat sealing properties. Marvaco proposed a simple and durable design for onion packaging by reducing ink consumption and the number of colours used in printing. Only three colours were used. With Flint Group’s water-based supply, the use of heavy metals was eliminated and waste minimized. Note also that ‘CradletoCradle Material Health’ certified inks were used. These inks are also certified for OK compost. 2022 was a good year for Paptic, headquartered in Espoo, Finland. The company had a turnover of more than 11 million euros.

Hot news from Antalis with the 'Creative Power by Antalis' initiative, which now hosts the group’s high-end creative paper collection, following the purchase of Arjowiggins' world-renowned brands. This includes the Olin range, which consists of 4 sub-ranges: Olin Design, Olin Colours, Olin Millesime and Olin Origins. Note also the Keaykolour range, an emblematic range of paper and board, is available in 45 colors as of March 2023. In April, new references in white and black with new embossing patterns will be available.

How can we support the packaging industry without plastic? This is a crucial question for paper manufacturers. Fedrigoni’s response is their new Materia Viva Metamorphosis range: a new generation of ‘super power’ papers. The papers which compose the range are distinguished by their resistance to scratches, greases, stains, molds, shocks, tears, their transparency, and their metallic appearance. These papers can wrap soap, make waterproof shopping bags or single dose containers for liquid products, makeup pallets and much more, depending on the needs of the brands.

Pantone revealed its color of the year for 2023, Viva Magenta 181750.  Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of Pantone Color Institute, described it saying, “Pantone 181750 Viva Magenta comes from the red family and is inspired by the cochineal, one of the most valuable dyes in the natural dye family and one of the strongest and brightest in the world. […] Pantone 181750 Viva Magenta reconnects us to the original matter […] and galvanizes our mind, helping us to develop our inner strength.”

A year ago, Andritz Oy, part of the Andritz Technology Group, and the LUT University (LappeenrantaLahti University of Technology LUT) launched an extensive collaboration in the fibre technology field. Thanks to this partnership a new research laboratory opened on the LUT campus in Lahti on November 3rd, 2022. This partnership strongly supports the development of highly efficient and sustainable products and technologies. “The brand new lab allows us to study, test and analyze fibre and biomass-based fibrous products even better than before. The new facilities will meet the needs of LUT research groups, Andritz and regional industry,” said Mari Kallioinen Mänttäri, LUT University’s Dean.

The members of Eurosac (chaired by Olivier Tassel, Gascogne Paper’s CEO, whose general secretary is Catherine Plitzko-Kerninon) were delighted to get together at the annual congress held in May in Bilbao after two years.

The following awards were handed out: The Gold Award went to Tidy’s doypack which is a new construction to create leakless paper bags using a new glue application technique. The glue is applied evenly and leaks are minimized, reducing dust when filling. This not only leads to better health and hygiene in the working environment, but also extends the shelf life and reduces plastic barriers. 

Second place was given to the kraft paper trash bag developed by Nordic Paper in collaboration with the transformer Jonsac, the Karlstad taown and Paper Province. It aims to offer an environmentally friendly, paper-based alternative to plastic bags for non-recyclable household waste. The trash bag is resealable and made of durable kraft paper, so it is cleaner to dispose of and easier to handle by garbage collectors. It is also recyclable and biodegradable. The bag has recently been tested in selected households.

Third prize, the Bronze Award, went to Crown Van Gelder, Fiorini Packaging and Novidon’s eco-friendly paper bag based on sugar beet fibres. The bag consists of three layers of Crown Native paper from Crown Van Gelder: 20% of the virgin wood fibre of this paper has been replaced by local Dutch sugar beet fibre, reducing the environmental footprint by 16%. Glue for paper bags is based on apple starch.

The ‘Better with Less’  Design Challenge 2022 contest invites designers from around the world to create the zero waste packaging of the future. Specifically, it invites designers to showcase solutions made from recyclable materials from renewable sources and encourages designs that improve the consumer experience while reducing the use of resources and waste. This event was organized by one of the main European board producers, Metsä Board, which is part of Metsä Group. The jury will award the top three zero waste packaging designers with prizes of €10,000, €3,000 and €2,000 respectively. For design student participants, there will also be an award where the prize is an internship at the Excellence Center in Metsä Board, Finland. The contest ends December 1st, 2022.

A fun concept that won this year’s BillerudKorsnäs packaging design competition! The event’s objective is to offer innovative packaging solutions that highlight carton board. Inspired by the carnivorous plant Venus Flytrap, the winners of the PIDA Gold Award  created a packaging solution for a set of flavours of cocktail mixes called "Bite Botanical Bitters". The creation is playful and vibrant, with colors and a unique shape that really capture your attention. The ‘Grand Final’ of the competition will be held at Luxe Pack Monaco in October.

Print Against War is a non-profit organization of the newly established Meaningful Print Foundation which is intended to help Ukrainian companies active in the printing and packaging sector continue to operate. It is also dedicated to helping people return to work when possible. This collaboration is designed to mobilize all stakeholders in the printing and packaging sector around the world to help cope with wars, natural disasters, etc. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a certainly a challenge, thus the initiative of Print Against War calls on printers, processors, publishers, influencers and suppliers in the printing and packaging sector to join forces to support their colleagues who find themselves in an extremely difficult situation. In concrete terms, Print Against War offers printing and packaging companies a chance to add a voluntary donation option which is visible when paying for the order in their online stores. This option will collect contributions from a large number of graphic designers, agencies, print service providers and individuals from around the world. It is also possible to make a direct donation or offer other forms of material assistance (for example consumables, paper, etc., free of charge or at a reduced price). Finally, Print Against War strives to create partnerships between the European Union printers and the Ukrainian ones so that the former can share work with the latter, making their survival possible. Pap'Argus and its publisher MP Médias are partners in this initiative.

American giant HP has recently acquired Choose Packaging, a packaging development company based in Edinburgh (Scotland).  This move shows HP’s its interest in Choose’s patented technology, which offers an alternative to plastic bottles. In fact, Choose Packaging company invented the paper bottle.  The bottle, made up of a paper envelope which is lined with a PET-free waterproof coating, can contain different types of liquids. Choose company works with many large companies, such as Accolade Wines, one of the world’s largest wine companies (with over 50 brands)  Henkel, one of the largest consumer and industrial goods companies in the world and Malibu, one of the brands in Pernod-Ricard’s portfolio. With Choose’s integration into its customization and 3D printing business, HP will focus on scaling its technology. “Over 150 million tonnes of single-use plastics are produced each year and HP intends to revolutionize this market with 100% plastic-free, fibre-based packaging,” said HP. The paper bottle seems more and more of a reality…

The FEFCO Awards were presented at the Technical Seminar of the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturer (FEFCO) in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2th – 22nd, 2021. The Golden Award went to Dücker Conveyor Systems for the development of an automated corrugated plate pallet loading system. The Bronze Award was awarded to BHS for a paper sheet handling system on the corrugated machine. The Silver Award went to Kento Digital Printing and Javier Quesada for a hybrid press for corrugated board. Javier Quesada (in the center of the photo with the director of the FEFCO Eleni Despotou, in red), who managed carton and board mills in France before joining the team of EFI Nozomi  and going on to create Kento.  We presented the Kento press last year at the Digital Packaging Forum (organized in Paris in early February 2021). It is a equipment that brings together the best of both worlds, flexo and digital, thus allowing a reduction in ink costs thanks to flexo while retaining the agility of digital. More info on www.kentodigitalprinting.com