Impressive gravure investment

1 March 2007



With a claimed 25 per cent of the Polish market and growing exports, home owned Kety has invested some €40M in the last six years up to January, 2007. Pauline Covell reports from the 20,000t capacity company


In today's European packaging flexibles scene, how many converters have installed five new presses over the past five years? That's the proud boast of Polish company Grupa Kety. Situated on two sites in the south of Poland and quoted on the Polish stock exchange the company has changed dramatically since the immediate post communist era. And, despite continuing investment by global flexible packaging companies entering into Polish based manufacture, it now claims to be the clear market leader in its home market and is seeking to increase its already extensive exports by looking to the west of Europe.

“Twelve years ago we only had two old five colour gravure presses,” said Marian Stojek, production director of the Flexible Packaging Segment. Now the company has two 10 colour gravure presses (dating from1998 and 2002) and one nine colour gravure line (2006) in Kety, and one 10 colour gravure press (2006) and two eight colour flexo presses at its plants at the Alupol site (installed in 2004 and 2005). Another 10 colour Cerutti supplied gravure press was being installed in a newly built extension there when Converting Today visited in January. The company is basically a Cerutti house with all but one of the presses, a Rotomec installed in 1999, from the Italian specialist.

“We are definitely the leader in flexible packaging in Poland with a 25 per cent share,” claimed Mariusz Biesik, commercial director of the Flexible Packaging Segment. “And I am pleased to say we have taken share away from the multinational converters.” How has this been achieved? “The scope of our clients has increased. When the overseas competition moved in we prioritized and focused much more,” he explained. “And we started to look at widening our exports and adding value to our production. We do focus on the multinationals, which now account for over 50 per cent of total home sales. Our clients include such well known names as Nestlé, Kraft Foods, Dr Oetker and, Unilever.“ The arrival of the big retailers should also prove fertile ground on the own label front.

But perhaps where Kety differs from the global converters who produce in Poland is the attention it pays to domestic customers. “Half of our home market is with these smaller companies,” he added. “They gain from our work with the multinationals. By developing and learning of new specifications and technology we can then apply solutions for the regional leaders. Almost 80 per cent of our production goes to the food market (food concentrates especially) with the rest mainly to the pharma and chemical fields.”

Exports account for about 30 per cent of production. “Eight or nine years ago only aluminium foil was exported,” recalled Wojciech Kosowski, export manager. “Today export turnover is 10 times higher than nine years ago and the products are becoming more and more converted and of higher value”. He added: “Most is going to places such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, The Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic states, but we also now have customers in Scandinavia, Germany, France and Italy. We have agents in Western European countries. Quality and service are a given in both eastern and western countries”.

The company produces all its gravure cylinder requirements from Kety. The armoury comprises two galvanizing machines (the latest was installed in 2003) and three Ohio and three Daetwyler engravers dating from 1994, 2003 and 2006. Manager of the packaging plant Antoni Niemiec said: “We produce 1,300 cylinders every month on average.”

Following a serious fire in January 2006 in the Kety factory, the company refurbished its press armoury, renovating the 1999 installed Rotomec 10 colour and the 2002 installed 10 colour Cerutti. It also installed a nine colour Cerutti with Eltromat inspection with insetting option. “Even with the fire our turnover last year was a few per cent higher than the previous year, thanks to an enormous efforts of the Grupa Kety employees,” stressed Mariusz Biesik. The plant is operating on a three-shift system. Six hundred people are employed across the two locations.

“We are very satisfied with the latest Cerutti presses,” said plant engineering and development manager for the Flexible Packaging Segment Wojciech Ociepka. Like the others it uses a trolley system for job changes (a complete change runs at about one hour according to Antoni Niemiec). The 960/2 press is equipped with independent drives.

Two new Nordmeccanica laminators were installed at Kety last year. One of the Duplex systems is a universal solvent/solventless machine and the other operates only with solventless adhesives. The slitting rewinding section comprises 15 machines including two new Jurmet automatic models, and one Uteco, as well as Italwork and Tecmo lines.

Between 2005 and 2006 the company entered the sleeve making market and operates two DCM sleeve seamers and three doctor machines. “It is a very interesting area for added value,” said Wojciech Kosowski. Production has increased significantly over the last year and now accounts for 8Mm2/year.

The company operates its own ink and adhesives kitchen with Inkmaker systems. It uses inks from major worldwide suppliers.

So far as substrates used are concerned, aluminium foil rolling was the original entry point of the company into packaging back in the 1950s. It has three aluminium rolling mills in Kecty. Built originally by Innocenti, they were modernized by Achenbach five years ago when computer controls were also added. Coiled 0.5mm thick aluminium is rolled to 0.006mm (six micron thickness). PE film is sourced from its Alupol plant (see below). All other films, for example polyester and OPP, are purchased from reputable suppliers. Some metallized materials are produced at Alupol in its own Galileo metallizer (part of the 2004 investment programme - see below). “Our metallized films often replace alumnium foil for certain less demanding applications. Just because we roll our own aluminium does not mean we want to use it at any cost,” explained Wojciech Kosowki. “We are also in close discussions with Mobil as to how to implement their much more sophisticated new metallized films.”

At the turn of the millennium the 100 per cent Kety owned Alupol plant was built in a special economic zone at Tychy, taking advantage of tax breaks geared to encourage investment in the old coal mining area and bring jobs to the region. And it is an impressive investment, with the company very much still in the process of racking up capacity and growth. Since the fire at Kety the group is keen to make sure it is able to meet demand without putting all its eggs in one basket. “We have learned a lot from the fire, with a contingency plan, back-up facilities and two separate independent production sites,” said Mariusz Biesik.

The company at Alupol, Tychy comprises three adjoining buildings. The first was built to house the non printing sector of the group. “Alupol used to be the laminating centre for the whole group, before the new machines were installed at Kecty for back-up reasons,” said Wojciech Ociepka.

Included in Alupol 1 are two PE film blowing lines - a Nextrom installed in 1999 and the Macchi machine built in 2003. On the laminating front the building houses a Polytype tandem extrusion/coater/ laminator. Installed in 2000, it is still believed to be the only equipment in Poland capable of handling four-layer materials in line. “It is designed for the production of packaging for the soups and spices business,” he added. Typical constructions are paper, PE, aluminium foil, PE.

In addition, Alupol 1 has four other laminators including a Nordmeccanica Triplex solventless laminator and a Rotomec Duplex Universal.

It is in this plant that some of the most interesting slitting rewinding operations take place. There are six slitter rewinders, including three Kampfs from the first Alupol investment. Last year the group took the decision to invest in laser scoring/cutting equipment, deciding on Micro Laser Technology (MLT) systems from Germany. The first to be delivered is for transverse web operation. Converting Today saw how the company had cleverly adapted a Jurmet slitter rewinder to allow a central section fitted with four laser heads each operating in a square to be located between unwind and slit rewind stations. During our visit the equipment was being trialled scoring the top layer of a triplex film for easy opening. Another interesting value added operation was producing ice cream packaging, punching and winding foil paper laminate blanks into the traditional cones.

In the second Alupol plant a huge investment in printing presses has been made since 2004. Last November yet another Cerutti 960 10 colour press was installed. This one has four independent zone drying chambers designed for handling water based applications and paper coatings. “The dryer lets us improve the performance,” explained Wojciech Ociepka. The press features Eltromat control and when Converting Today visited the plant was running at 230m/min. Basically, depending on the material type, speeds range from 200-350m/min. Alupol 2 also houses the company's flexo department and a Galileo metallizer which was installed in 2004. The flexo armoury comprises two eight colour CI presses and CTP flexo plates are made in this plant. The company has a Hell laser system.

Between this plant and the new Alupol 3 construction are sited two Babcock supplied thermal oxidizers for heat recovery - again a recent investment.

Within the new plant is yet another new Cerutti 960/2, 10 colour press with space for one more in the same hall. Leading off from the press hall is the area destined for the slitting rewinding equipment. Already in place is a new Jurmet fitted with the MLT longitudinal laser cut system in the shape of eight heads across a 1.350m width. In addition, the company will fill the hall with at least a further three slitter rewinders. “One will be wider for PE film,” revealed Wojciech Ociepka.

Seemingly unending investment was viewed just round the corner in the shape of a new high racking store for cylinders and materials. This will certainly relieve the floor space from Alupol 1 in particular.

Kety has clearly settled on being a gravure house. Said Wojciech Kosowski: “Flexo presses are to develop different buinesses, for example frozen foods, washing powders, health care products and aluminium foil for sweets.”

All the plants operate to high levels and hold ISO 9002 and 14001, and HACCP. Naturally, they pay close attention to Health and Safety.

There is much more investment on the way by the group. “Planned for 2007 is another Windmöller & Hölscher film blowing line at Alupol and three more slitting and rewinding machines,“ said Wojciech Ociepka. The W&H contract was signed last September and the line will produce 2,400mm wide film. Perhaps most significant is a further expansion in the print cylinder department at Kecty where a galvanizing line and Daetwyler laser engraving equipment are likely.

Predictions for substantial increases in turnover and profit this year point to an exceptional future for the Polish Group.



Contacts

Kety Group
Tel: +48 33 844 6000
Cerutti
Tel: +39 0142 459373
Rotomec
Tel: +39 0523 493306
Nordmeccanica
Tel: +39 0523 596411
Daetwyler
Tel: +41 62919 3737
Eltromat
Tel: +49 5208 987 0
Jurmet
Tel: +48 5667 82777
Uteco
Tel: +39 0456 617 4555
Italwork
Tel: +39 06 6832369
Tecmo
Tel: +39 051 743123
DCM
Tel: +33 0141 37 52 70
Inkmaker
Tel: +39 01 1984 0044
Achenbach
Tel: +49 02732 7990
Galileo
Tel: +39 0574 564311
Mobil
Tel: +32 2 722 2111
Nextrom
Tel: +358 9 5025 1
Macchi
Tel: +39 0331 827 717
Polytype
Tel: +41 (0) 26426 1111
Kampf
Tel: +49 2261 9851 18
Micro Laser Technology
Tel: +49 (0) 8990 11966
Babcock
Tel: +1 330 753 4511
Windmöller & Hölscher
Tel: +49 5481 14 3669





External weblinks
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Windmoeller & Hoelscher
Kety Group
Cerutti
Rotomec
Babcock
Nordmeccanica
Daetwyler
Eltromat
Jurmet
Micro Laser Technology
Kampf
Polytype
Uteco
Italwork
Macchi
Nextrom
Mobil
Galileo
Achenbach
Tecmo
DCM
Inkmaker

Although a gravure house, Kety has not neglected flexo Although a gravure house, Kety has not neglected flexo
1,300 cylinders a month are engraved in-house 1,300 cylinders a month are engraved in-house
Recent lamination investments include two Normeccanica lines Recent lamination investments include two Normeccanica lines
The Kety Group boasts six Cerutti presses The Kety Group boasts six Cerutti presses
Thermal oxidizers and laser scoring part of state of the ... Thermal oxidizers and laser scoring part of state of the ...
Thermal oxidizers and laser scoring part of state of the ... Thermal oxidizers and laser scoring part of state of the ...


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