Stoppage of paper machine 1 in Dueñas due to strategic plan investment

Recycled paper machine 1 in the Dueñas factory will have a production loss amounting to 20,000 tons in the next two and a half months, the time needed to implement an investment as planned, but will result in increased speed and production width, from the current 2.25 metres to 2.50 metres after the investment has been applied.

• The investment will result in increased production speed and machine width, which will be increased to 2.5 metres, thus equalling the width of paper machine 2
• Standardisation of widths results in increased profitability, as well improving the efficiency of the production process and the service offered
• This investment corresponds to the second phase of the Proyecto Estucados (Coating project), that will enable paper production with double coating in 2016

In this manner, recycled paper machines 1 and 2 in the Dueñas factory will have the same width. This will result in the company offering a better service to their clients, based on rationalisation and a more balanced share of the paper produced in each machine. Additionally, this sharing of production implies increased profitability and efficacy of the manufacturing process by specialisation of machine 1 in brown paper and machine 2 in white paper.

Rafael Ballester, Commercial Director of the Europac Group Paper Division, highlights that “this investment means that each machine can specialise in manufacturing specific paper, which will enable improved planning, optimising production and increasing the efficiency of the process. This results in improved recycled paper service in the Dueñas factory and increased profitability for the company”.

Coating Project

In accordance with the 2015-2018 Strategic Plan, during this year and the next, a series of investments currently in progress will conclude, among which we can outline the optimisation of the recycled paper machine in Rouen (France), the commissioning of an integrated packaging factory in Tangier (Morocco) and phases II and III of the Coating Project in the Dueñas factory.

With regard to the factory in Palencia, the production of coated paper destined for the manufacturing of packaging requiring high quality printing began last year. With the aim of producing double-layer coated paper in 2016, characterised by the top quality printing that can be applied onto it. This required the current investment, which enables equalling the width of the two existing paper machines in order to specialise and improve the service.