Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik: Danish sheet manufacturer Færch Plast favours German manufacturing

High-speed extrusion line working for two
The new high-speed PP extrusion line Photo from Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH (www.bex.battenfeld.com) handles about 20 per cent of the total annual sheet production of about 50,000 tons at R. Færch Plast A/S (Holstebro, Denmark, www.faerchplast.com). To cater to the steadily growing rigid food packaging market, the innovative sheet manufacturer operates a total of seven extrusion lines, mainly producing PET, PP and PS sheet, of which three have come from Germany; a fourth has al-ready been ordered.

With the beginning of close cooperation between the machine manufacturer and the processor in 2000, Færch initiated a "new era" in its PET sheet production: both the first and second PET lines, installed in 2002 in rapid succession, operate with co-rotating twin-screw extruders from Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart. Thanks to effective melt degassing, high-quality sheet can be produced without material pre-drying, which saves costs as well as time. Battenfeld Extrusions-technik accepted complete line responsibility for both lines. Henrik Andersen, techni-cal manager at Færch, comments: "The lines that have been installed stand out by their high output, flexibility and favorable price-performance ratio. Battenfeld Extru-sionstechnik offers us optimal reliability as prime contractor."

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Perfect interaction
This close cooperation with the machine manufacturer has its advantages not only for the processor. Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik makes use of the practical experi-ence it gains from it for continuous further improvement of its machine components. Færch has played a major part especially in the development and optimization of Battenfeld´s new high-performance flat film line incorporating a high-speed extruder. The processor was the first customer to decide on having such a high-tech line in-stalled, thus initiating another "new era" at its facility, this time in PP sheet produc-tion.

With the development of the BEX 1-75-34 high-speed extruder, Battenfeld Extru-sionstechnik has succeeded in bringing to market a comparatively small single-screw extruder model with an enormous output. With a screw speed of 1,500 revolutions per minute, the new extruder reaches more than three times the output of conven-tional extruders of the same size, and that with a smaller footprint, improved handling properties and lower energy consumption as well. Thanks to its complete line com-petence, the machine manufacturer has been able to perfectly synchronize the entire downstream equipment with this high performance level, so that the high-speed line with a 75 mm extruder yields an output of 1,400 kg/h in PP film production.

Flexibility and readiness for innovation
Because of their decisive advantages, such as transparency and functionality, to-gether with ample scope for design and a high degree of convenience, rigid food packaging has seen a steady annual growth of 3 to 4% for a considerable time, which is also expected to continue for the next few years. In this growth market, Færch has almost doubled its production capacity within the last four years. One fac-tor contributing to such growth is the processor´s readiness to venture on new, inno-vative solutions again and again, such as PET sheet production without pre-drying and PP sheet production on a high-speed line. Moreover, the consistent out-of-line operation of the company´s 94 automatic thermoformers also makes a significant contribution to its success. Thanks to the separation of semi-finished product manu-facturing from end product manufacturing, Færch is able to respond very flexibly at any time to changing demand with quick, easy changes of color, dimensions and materials.

Expansion not only in Eastern Europe
With about 85 %, Western Europe is still Færch´s main sales market, although the significance of Central and Eastern Europe has been growing especially in the most recent past. To be in a better position to develop these new growth markets, the pro-cessor has opened a new production facility on a greenfield site in Liberec, Czech Republic this March. Here, six automatic thermoformers will produce exclusively PP trays to begin with. Already in April, Færch is planning to buy more automatic ther-moformers and transfer its high-tech PP line from Holstebro to the Czech Republic. In the long run, the entire range of Færch products will also be manufactured in Liberec, so that the local and surrounding markets can be served from a short dis-tance.

At the Danish location in Holstebro, Færch will focus its activities even more on PET packaging in future. Today C-PET is the packaging material of first choice for food-stuffs with a longer shelf life, and in the fresh food and convenience food segments, crystal-clear, functional packaging solutions made of A-PET are increasingly replac-ing conventional PS packaging, so the processor is planning to start up its third PET line shortly. Complete line responsibility for the flat film line incorporating a twin-screw extruder once again rests with Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik. Similar to the second line, this new, third line will also yield an output of about 15,000 tons annu-ally, so that the overall capacity will remain on the same level even after the PP line has been moved to the Czech Republic.

Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

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