New Development and Testing Capabilities at Innovation Campus

The packaging machine, a ROVEMA BVC 260 vertical form fill and seal machine, is a valuable addition to the company’s existing pilot systems, which include a test coating machine, and is accordingly helping lay the ideal foundation for continuous end-to-end development. With it, new paper solutions can be produced at pilot scale and can also be evaluated directly in terms of their processing properties on packaging machines before being adopted for large-scale production. “With this system, we’re taking a strategically important step: Our material development and application efforts are becoming more closely interlinked, not to mention that we’re systematically expanding our packaging know-how further. Ultimately, our goal is to make development times shorter and reduce market launch risks,” says Dr. Christian Kölmel, the Corporate Director of Technology at Koehler Innovation & Technology, while explaining the rationale behind the purchase decision.

The new packaging machine is part of the technological equipment used by Koehler Innovation & Technology in Oberkirch, where experts work on the paper-based solutions of tomorrow. With a combination of basic research, applied research, and disruptive development approaches, the team is creating new technology platforms for sustainable products designed for circular economies. “We want to take our findings from pilot tests and squeeze every last bit of usefulness out of them, improve quality and safety, and make innovation faster,” explains Fritz Brümmer, Head of the Specialty Paper/Process Development Department at Koehler Innovation & Technology.

At the inaugural celebration, Dr. Christian Kölmel welcomed the Koehler Group Executive Board and representatives from the Flexible Packaging Paper Division. Also invited were colleagues from Central Plant Engineering who helped make sure that the project was implemented smoothly, as well as the company’s new packaging machine experts, who will be bringing their know-how to the table so that the development process for innovative packaging solutions can continue to be optimized. “With this investment, we’re keeping our promise of being there for our customers as development partners along the entire product lifecycle. Our goal is to create solutions that meet the needs of brand-name manufacturers and are perfectly matched to modern packaging machines,” adds Thomas Kratochwill, Director Flexible Packaging Paper Division at Koehler Paper. With this step, the company is reinforcing its role as a leader of innovation in the field of sustainable packaging paper development while also charting a clear course for the future of paper-based packaging solutions.