MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nordic plastics film specialist Rani Plast Group has formed a new independent company, Tatrafan, including the group’s jointly owned flexible packaging operations in Eastern Europe, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
This new spin-off business comprises the joint venture bioriented polypropylene (BOPP) packaging film and conversion operations in Slovakia and the Ukraine. Together with specialised dielectric insulation film production, the packaging units were formerly run by Terichem, owned 50:50 by Rani Plast of Finland and the Slovak firm Chemosvit.
But, to differentiate between the group’s technical insulation films and flexible packaging operations, the specialist technical business will continue to be run by Terichem, renamed in January as Terichem Tervakoski, to reflect the product brand name.
"We wanted to separate the companies because they produce different types of products and live their own lives. This way things become clearer," explained Mikael Ahlback, CEO of Rani Plast Group. Most of Tatrafan’s packaging films are manufactured at a plant in Svit, Slovakia with packaging product conversion to bags carried out at Lutsk in western Ukraine. There, the company has invested several million euros in new machinery recently.
Further investment is promised for the Slovak site where output is set to grow. “We will also invest in the factory in Slovakia and expand the capacity there, as we want to be involved in building the packaging industry in the region,” announced Ahlback. Meanwhile, Teerijarvi, Finland-based Rani Plast, a leading extruder of agricultural film, has begun commercial operation of what is the world’s biggest agro-films extruder turning out film up to seven layers as wide as 22m.
The new line, custom-built by US blown film extruder supplier Davis-Standard, required a roof extension in the machine hall to fit the line’s 50m high production tower. Part of a €16m project by family-owned Rani Plast at its Teerijarvi unit, the line started up in January 2017.
From the summer, the line has been running full out to meet increased demand for wider agro film in Europe, in part required for ever bigger farm silos. The widest film is also used by biogas plants and in the turf industry, said Rani Plast.
"The machine is operating at full capacity, which means that we will be able to deliver films to the very end of this season," predicted sales manager Christer Vidjeskog back in May. The project is the group’s single largest investment in its history.
The agro film capacity at its Teerijarvi plant has doubled with the arrival of the new line and production overall there has grown by 10%, according to the group.
MRC