Estiko-Plastar’s new technologies: 10-color printing machine and laser perforation
Estiko-Plastar invested 2.5 million euros in new production equipment and can now offer customers easy-to-open packaging printed with up to 10 colors.
The main focus of Estiko-Plastar's investments in recent years has been the modernization of its manufacturing technology and the continuous development of packaging materials. In the past, the company has offered its customers packages with a very high print quality. They will now be taking the next step and providing customers with the option of using up to 10 color prints in their designs. “In recent years, Estiko-Plastar has focused on supplying flexible packages for the food industry in Scandinavia. With the development of the packaging industry and products, there has been a growing interest in improving the functionality of packaging and the attractiveness of design. We are using more and more customized surface coatings, giving our customers unique packages that stand out from the rest. This means the printing machine has to have a larger selection of printing decks. In addition, there are a number of methods that make packages easier to open. We can achieve this using a new laser perforation technology, which to our knowledge is the only one in the region. With our new laser perforation technology, we can cut the packaging material layer by layer, fully through, do it in any shape, and even engrave numbers or letter combinations onto the packaging,” said Triin Anette Kaasik, CEO of Estiko-Plastar.
Estiko-Plastar is the market leader of film packaging manufacturers in Estonia and one of the leading manufacturers of flexible packaging in the Baltics. The company exports 70% of its products, mainly to Scandinavia, other Baltic countries and Iceland, and aims to steadily increase its share of exports. This year, Estiko celebrates its 100th operating anniversary, having started out making combs in 1918. Since 1969, it has been manufacturing various films and film packages. Today, the main product groups are film packaging materials for the food industry: for milk and cheese; meat; fish; bread and bakery industries; chips, sweets and vegetables and other sectors of the processing industry: peat and fertilizers; hygiene and household products; textiles. Thanks to the 5-layer extruder, we can produce PA films with very good barrier properties and EVOH films with excellent barrier properties. In addition, we can meet our customers’ requirements for packages that are easy to open and close, have great processability, excellent strength, gloss and transparency. This results in material and overall resource savings. For product development, the company cooperates with the leading universities and research institutes of Estonia.
“Our goal is to provide customers with innovative and hassle-free packaging solutions. Our product portfolio is significantly more extensive than before, which means the customers’ designers are free to let their creative juices flow,” said Kaasik.
The film packaging manufacturer AS Estiko-Plastar had a turnover of 28.2 million euros in 2017, an increase of 9% year-on-year. This spring, the company finished constructing a new warehouse, which means it can grow even further. The company employs 154 people.