Mondi and its customer Royal Vaassen Flexible Packaging, a global specialist in packaging for food and drink, are taking product quality and production consistency to the next level.
Using Mondi Speciality Kraft Paper’s Advantage MG Coating – which has been monitored by a new web inspection system since 2016 – Royal Vaassen supplies market leaders within the food industry with solutions for spiral-tube packaging like pack and display chips.
Companies like Royal Vaassen Flexible Packaging rely on the expertise of suppliers like Mondi for consistency and high paper quality to be most efficient in production and to fulfil their customer demands and hygiene product-standards:
“We live in a very fast-moving consumer market that constantly challenges packaging solutions. On top, within the food-industry, our customers and we have to live up to very high quality and legal standards. Therefore, a lot of food applications and packaging require a special coating to provide barriers that keep the products fresh and shield them from outside influences.
“This crucially depends on the raw material of the paper, the coating and packaging quality. To keep us and our customers one step ahead in this challenging field Mondi is the perfect partner for us in sharing our spirit and ambition for highest standards and efficiency,” describes Huib Eijkelestam, general sales & marketing manager Royal Vaassen Flexible Packaging.
The process of coating paper for aluminium lamination, as used for spiral-tube packaging, is sensitive and requires the right choice of paper in terms of quality and consistency. “Even the slightest paper damage, like a tiny hole that doesn’t even meet the eye, can lead to the fact that the coating does not stick to the paper, which leads to material losses and higher production costs for us,” he added.
To take the paper quality to an even higher level, Mondi installed a web inspection system on its speciality kraft paper machine at its Frantschach mill in Austria in 2016. “Since the lamination process is very sensitive to irregularities in the surface of the base paper, they must be detected and eliminated at an early stage.
Through the web inspection system it is now possible to react early within the paper production process to possible starting issues and ensure a much higher paper quality. Along the value chain this helps customers to be more productive, quality-consistent and efficient,” said Gottfried Joham, managing director Mondi Frantschach.
“With Mondi Speciality Kraft Papers Advantage MG Coating we already had a paper grade on a very high quality level to match our further production steps for aluminium lamination.
However, since the new web inspection system has been in place, we monitor an increased runnability and converting quality – which leads to lower production costs and increased customer satisfaction. The challenges we were facing together with Mondi within our coating and converting process – like microscopic web damages – are almost eliminated to zero. Mondi has proven that it really understands our processes, listens to our needs, and constantly strives to improve to support our business best,” concludes Huib Eijkelestam.
B2B customers gave Mondi Speciality Kraft Paper a rating of 93% (out of a possible 100%) for “level and consistency of product quality”, and 95% for “runnability of the product” in the Group’s 2017 customer satisfaction survey. “Our customers tell us that the consistency of their own product quality is one of their main challenges – which crucially depends, especially in the coating fields, on the raw material paper. Our customer satisfaction survey showed us that we are on the right track.
However, at Mondi we strive to get better for our customers’ success at all times. Therefore, we invest in state-of-the-art technologies like the web inspection system to push production quality, runnability, and efficiency for our customers’ needs even further. Together with Royal Vaassen Flexible Packaging we are doing our utmost to ensure that consumers can enjoy fresh and tasty food,” explains Paulus Goess, sales director Mondi Speciality Kraft Paper.
