Advancements worth $10 million will add to the production capabilities of UPM Raflatac’s
UPM Raflatac, one of the global suppliers of innovative and sustainable labeling materials, is strengthening its position and service capabilities in the Americas market with a new state-of-the-art two-meter slitter and increased production automation in its Mills River factory over the next two years.
“We are excited about the ability to provide better service to our customers through improved capacity, capabilities, and productivity. We are continually advancing our production sites to increase our output in the Americas and exceed quality benchmarks,” stated Tim Kirchen, senior vice-president, UPM Raflatac, Americas.
These advancements worth $10 million will add to the robust production capabilities of UPM Raflatac’s three US-based factories and eight slitting and distribution centers across the Americas. It will enhance the quality of the company’s filmic products, while also reducing the need for manual handling.
“We are committed to supporting our customers as our industry continues to face unprecedented growth,” states Gabrielle Whittaker, director, Films and Specials business, UPM Raflatac, Americas. “As well, we recognize that when we excel in quality, we enable our customers to meet the quality and performance expectations of brands and end-users.”
UPM Raflatac continually invests in technology, equipment, and its people to increase capacity and advance the output capabilities of its global network of 10 factories and 27 terminals. UPM Raflatac is celebrating 20 years of operations in Mills River. Located in North Carolina, the factory today employs over 200 people.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.
The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.
Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.
As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.
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