Panther Packaging invests in the future again
As part of the group’s 90 million euros investment programme, Panther has ordered another new corrugator for its northern German plant Altonaer Wellpappenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Tornesch.
Investments continue to be made in the training of staff in particular. There are currently no less than 125 apprentices with a variety of professions working in the various companies within the group; that is more than 10% of the respective number of employees in each of the companies. As the quota of apprentices has been preserved at that level for many years now, the group continues to be in a position to maintain its rate of growth.
Following yet another successful year in 2014, the technical expansion of the group is being driven forward again. As part of the group’s 90 million euros investment programme, Panther has ordered another new corrugator for its northern German plant Altonaer Wellpappenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Tornesch. The new 2.8 m wide corrugator with a speed of 400 m/min. will feature all of the latest technical developments.
The line is to start production at the beginning of 2016 and will almost double the production capacity of the plant. At that point in time, all Panther corrugated-board plants will be equipped with a 400 m/min. line and will be able to cope with all future quality and productivity requirements. In particular, the processing of environmentally compatible, lightweight packaging papers will present Panther corrugated-board companies with no problems.
In addition, Panther is investing double-digit millions of euros in internal logistics, a new inline machine and another fully automatic Mastercut flatbed die-cutter featuring robot technology at the western German plant RRK Wellpappenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Bottrop. What is already a high level of productivity and quality at the plant will be enhanced once again by these further investments.
At the group’s eastern German corrugated-board company Wepoba Wellpappenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Wustermark, the plant’s new logistics centre was commissioned at the beginning of this year. In the process, pallet-storage capacity was expanded to approx. 30,000 spaces. The new centre is linked to the previous warehouse via a fully automatic street bridge and contributes to a substantial minimisation of truck transports and therefore to a reduction in CO2 emissions.
During the course of the expansion of logistics, the internal output of finished goods to the new storage facility was also fully automated. Another 2.8 m wide rotary die-cutter will also be installed at Wepoba Wellpappenfabrik in the spring of this year.
A further rotary die-cutter with identical specifications will be installed at Südwestkarton GmbH & Co. KG in Illingen at the end of 2015, so that clients will also be offered the best available quality and productivity by the group’s southern German corrugated-board company in the field of rotary-die-cut packaging.
Additional investments in machinery at the companies Panther Display GmbH & Co. KG (flatbed die-cutter) in Wustermark and Print-Pack GmbH & Co. KG (slotted-case gluing machine) in Schwabach round off the group’s 2015 investment programme.
The objective of all technical investments is to continue to create high product quality and a permanent ability to control the production process, in order to further enhance productivity and capacity in the group’s companies!
The group sees the biggest risks for the future in German energy policy compared to that of other countries in Europe, as energy is the highest cost factor, as well as in the continually and rapidly increasing level of bureaucracy in Germany.