Flexible packaging manufacturer Scientex Bhd, based in Malaysia, is planning investment of 300 million Malaysia ringgits ($91.4 million) over three years to expand its polyethylene and biaxially oriented polypropylene film production capacity, as well as enter the cast PP film market with new production lines.
Scientex announced Sept. 24 it will construct a BOPP film manufacturing plant in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, Malaysia, in collaboration with Japan's largest BOPP film producer Futamura Chemical Co. Ltd. In 2013, Scientex bought Malaysian BOPP film producer Seacera Polyfilms, and its new plant will expand group production capacity tenfold from the current 6,000 metric tons per year to 60,000 when it is completed in 2016.
Scientex's wholly-owned subsidiary Scientex Great Wall will oversee the project and issue 10 million new shares to finance the project. The agreement with Futamura will see Scientex and Futamura inject capital of 40 million ringgits ($12.1 million) each to acquire five million shares representing 5 percent equity stake in SGW. Futamura is also entitled to purchase up to 20 percent of the issued shares of SGW over the next five years.
The Japanese market is a key one for the Port Klang plant, and Futamura would be involved to oversee quality management to Japanese BOPP quality standards. Scientex said that Futamura plans to import 18,000 metric tons per year of BOPP films from SGW, which would account for more than 35 percent of Japan's annual import market of 48,000 metric tons.
The project also involves Scientex starting cast PP film production in 2015 with annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes. Scientex's also will boost its PE film production in Rawang to 48,000 metric tons per year from the current 24,000 by the end of 2014.
Scientex's plans are supported by investments in new extrusion lines supplied by Japan Steel Works (JSW), Reifenhäuser Group and Windmöeller & Hölscher (W&H).
JSW will provide the machinery to SGW for the production of BOPP film, which is expected to achieve higher-performance BOPP film at a wider and higher speed than JSW's previous model.
Reifenhäuser said it is building two 5-layer cast PP film lines from its Midex series for the production of lamination film and metallizable film for SGW. Advanced components such as the Reicofeed 2.1 feedblock will be installed in the lines.
The German group said: “The technology enables to achieve excellent film qualities and thickness tolerances and the distribution of layers can be adjusted during running production. Designed for a maximum net film width of 3,250 mm and an output of up to 1,288 kg/h, each of the line will produce about 300 meters of film per minute.”
W&H, based in Germany, will continue its long-standing relationship with Scientex by providing the latest machinery for PE film production, including a Varex II 9-layer blown film line. W&H will also provide SGW with a Miraflex CM 10 flexographic printing press. Both the 9-layer line and flexo printer are the first of their types to be deployed in South East Asia, according to Scientex.
