In January 2017, Mondi announced the expansion of its heavy-duty corrugated capabilities at the Mondi Simet plant near Poznań, Poland. The technological upgrade included the installation of a state-of-the-art Fosber 2.8m corrugator with three single facers. The production of double wall board is fully operational and the production of triple wall board is ramping up according to plan with an expected production start in the first quarter of 2018.
Following the start-up of the Fosber corrugator in August, the installation of all converting equipment is now complete. The new plant layout and expanded production space allow for an excellent process flow. Experienced machine operators have relocated to Mondi Simet and additional corrugator operators have also been hired. The expanded plant will have quadrupled its capacity and triple its production space.
As part of the upgrade at the Simet plant, Mondi also installed a 2.40 metre box maker with a stitcher for converting heavy-duty board, enabling short production runs with boards of up to six metres in length. A rotary die-cutter for high-impact retail and shelf-ready packaging has also been installed.
Armand Schoonbrood, COO of Mondi Corrugated Packaging, notes that, “The expansion of Mondi Simet represents the biggest capital expenditure in the history of Mondi Corrugated Packaging. Our customers face a diverse range of packaging challenges and we are excited that our new independent board production capabilities can contribute to their success. The modern quality control features of the new corrugator, such as closed-loop process control for the automatic adjustment of paper temperature and moisture, as well as real time camera inspection to detect defects, will further support consistent high-quality deliveries to our customers.”
