TAGS: Inks UV/EB Technology Sustainability / Natural Coatings
ACTEGA, a manufacturer of specialty coatings, inks, adhesives, sealants and compounds for the printing and packaging industries, announces that the consolidation of its three Brazilian sites into a new 22,500 square meter facility in Araçariguama, São Paulo, is now officially complete.
The state-of-the-art production and R&D site is the result of a major investment of $7 million, offering innovative solutions that meet the highest safety standards and deliver unprecedented results.
Investment of $2 Million
With an investment of around $2 million and a total area of 12,000 square meters at that time, the new location had explicitly invested in new high-performance dispersion units for the printing ink production and corresponding equipment for the production of water-based coatings.
ACTEGA, thus, became the largest production site for oil-based printing inks and water-based coatings in South America, particularly serving customers in the metal packaging and paper and board markets.
While the existing building was subsequently expanded once again to accommodate and strengthen the sealants business for two- and three-piece cans, ACTEGA's third Brazilian site in Santana de Parnaíba has now also been integrated into the new location. This represents a capacity expansion of another 10,500 square meters.
The additional investments account for $5 million and make ACTEGA the largest manufacturer of specialty UV and solvent-based coatings as well as sealants in Brazil for the packaging industry.
The new expansion particularly strengthens the activities of the metal packaging solutions business with additional potential for coatings and adhesives in the flexible packaging sector. This step completes the major project and the overall investment.
Exploring New Technologies & Growth Opportunities
The new overall site will serve as a hub for the company's administrative, production and R&D activities. ACTEGA is thus ideally positioned to focus on the established markets it serves, but also to explore new technologies and growth opportunities.
For example, the new premises will house an expert team focused on innovations like INNOCAN™. ACTEGA, in cooperation with Brasilata Labs and HP-Indigo, launched this novel, cost-effective technology that meets demand for smaller volumes with special designs in metal can production.
INNOCAN™ enables digital offset-quality decoration of metal sheets for 3-pieces products (such as aerosol, food and general line cans), whilst still meeting the required protection and migration standards of decoration materials.
Focus on UV Coating
In addition, the focus for the development teams in Araçariguama is a market first solution - UV DIRECT TO METAL. Allowing a UV coating to be applied directly to a surface pre-treated substrate with atmospheric plasma, this advanced process represents a major step forward in terms of sustainability.
Requiring only a UV lamp to cure the coating, this new process eliminates the need for excessive, energy-consuming gas ovens required for drying solvent-based coatings and replaces them with more efficient and sustainable UV systems. The result is significant energy savings, faster production, reduced costs, lower VOCs and 40% less CO
2 emissions.
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Our expansion in Araçariguama gives us a unique opportunity to progress innovations like these across different market sectors. It also allows us to meet our customers’ needs faster than ever before, while keeping quality and safety standards at the highest level,” said Antonio Galhardo, R&D manager for Metal Packaging Coatings.
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Our specialist teams combined with this cutting-edge facility are sure to make significant contributions to the continued growth and development of the print and packaging industry in South America,” added Galhardo.
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The inauguration of our new facility marks an important moment for our customers and our presence in the South American market,” said Dr. Thomas Sawitowski, global head of business line, Flexible Packaging.
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This move demonstrates our commitment to the region and further improves our offerings in regard to inks, coatings and other innovative products and technologies for flexible packaging solutions. It also strengthens our capacity to serve the needs of our local customers from one central location with an even more targeted and customer-centric approach," added Dr. Sawitowski.
Source: ACTEGA