Nordic film producer Rani Plast plans to install what it claims could be the world's biggest agricultural film manufacturing line next year at its main plant at Teerijärvi in Finland.
Rani Plast's new unit, due to be operational from summer 2016, will enable the family owned extruder to turn out a new product range with seven layer films in widths of up to 22 meters, the company said in a news release from Davis-Standard LLC, which is supplying the equiipment. Davis-Standard said it will be the biggest seven-layer blown film line it has ever built.
Teerijärvi-based Rani Plast's latest machinery addition is part of a 13 million euro ($13.9 million) expansion project involving the construction of a new 50-meter high production hall at its base site to accommodate the big line. The building is 20 meters taller than the current extrusion hall, according to the firm.
Its new high-output blown film line will raise Rani Plast's films capacity by 12,000 metric tons per year, it said.
Davis-Standard is customizing the biggest line it has ever built to meet the Rani Plast demand for production of both high-barrier agricultural film and conventional non barrier polyethylene based films from 30 to 200 microns thick.
“The new line is so modern that one could say we are leading the way for the whole field,” commented Rani Plast group's chief executive officer Mikael Ahlbäck.
“It will enable [us to produce] completely new products. Since price pressure is constant, one of the goals is, of course, to make at least as good films as we make today using less raw material,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the group's Finnish offshoot, AB Rani Plast Oy, has appointed a new managing director. Jari Palosaari, already a group board member and a production director for 17 years, assumed the role in October 2015.
Palosaari, 52, has been a director of other Rani Plast group businesses including Rani Plast Kaluga, the Russian films operation established in 2012. Other management changes at the Finnish business saw Simon Fagerudd take over as production director, Mats Albäck is development director and Dennis Granqvist became sales director
Rani Plast's Teerijärvi plant also turns out packaging and converter grade films, laminated and printed products for the food sector, hygiene films and industrial goods packaging.
The group runs nine plants in five countries including Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia as well as Finland. It exports production to more than 40 countries. It has annual sales of around 200 million euros ($215 million).
