Already a centre of excellence for PET injection and airless packaging manufacture, the factory now boasts a 900m2 facility with five high-capacity decorating lines and eleven assembly machines.
Shorten delay
The facility is part of Quadpack’s strategic plans to become a leader in decoration in the industry, following the acquisition of Wicklein Kunststoffveredelung GmbH in October 2021. The increase in assets and know-how, along with a significant investment in the Kierspe plant, means that it now offers an extensive range of decorating services.
The new facility should help the company to streamline manufacture and shorten lead times through décor operations in Europe. As of today, the new decoration and assembly lines allow Quadpack to finish proprietary and bespoke solutions manufactured at the plant, for a fully streamlined workflow.
“The new decoration centre positions the Kierspe plant as a European leader in sustainable manufacture and decoration. Our increased decoration capability allows us to bring in-house a service that was previously outsourced. In doing so, we will be able to speed up delivery times and cut carbon footprint of our ‘Made in Europe’ solutions,” said Ernesto Cara, Head of Industrial Process at Quadpack.
A reduction of up to 50% in average lead times for finished packs is expected at the Kierspe plant, according to the company’s forecasts. Early projections estimate an annual saving of 170 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
A EUR 1 million investment
About EUR 1 million has been invested in the creation of the decoration centre, stated Quadpack.
The site is supported by a four-tonne metal structure to create an open space with room to expand. A climate control system and air filters create the ideal conditions for decoration. The centre is staffed by 36 employees, with specialist training in decorating techniques.
With the new centre, Quadpack’s in-house decoration services in Europe now include silk-screening, hot-stamping, pad printing, metallisation, colour matching, digital printing and laser etching, with new techniques soon to be included.
Quadpack plans to add more machines in the next months, totalling 10 decoration lines and 14 assembly machines.
Earlier this year, Quadpack had announced a EUR 6 million investment in order to expand the injection-moulding and assembly capacity of manufacturing facility in Kierspe.
The opening of the centre conforms with the company’s operational strategy to deliver solutions as close as possible from its customers. Quadpack’s plant in Dallas, Texas, for instance, also has decoration capabilities, as well as lab testing capabilities.
