Innovation in Three: MULTIVAC, LEIPA, and Koehler

The FachPack 2018 packaging trade fair has come to an end and there seemed to be an overarching theme: out with non-recyclable plastics and in with recyclable packaging materials. This includes recycling as well as various forms of composting.

Koehler: A Reliable and Competent Development Partner

Even though the Koehler Paper Group will not be represented with its own booth until next year, the efforts towards sustainable packaging are casting promising shadows. This year, Koehler has already lived up to its reputation as a reliable and competent development partner.

The companies MULTIVAC Sepp Haggenmüller SE & CO. KG and LEIPA Georg Leinfelder GmbH have started a joint development project with Koehler with the aim of developing a carton for packaging fresh foods, such as meat, in order to meet the market requirements for alternative packaging materials. The challenge was to produce a board barrier-seal composite that would have the stiffness of a flat tray and, at the same time, be able to be rolled up to be processed as a roll on a thermoforming packaging machine.

Multilayer Composite for Skin Packs

Initial results show that this multilayer composite from LEIPA and Koehler can be excellently imple-mented according to the requirements. Skin packs can thus be produced from this material in a thermoforming packaging machine, which not only securely packs the product but also attractively presents it to the end customer.

“Together with LEIPA, Koehler achieved an excellent result in a very short time,” says Reinhard Ruhland, Director Corporate Innovation Center at MULTIVAC. The board not only offers the required stiffness, but can also be processed particularly well on thermoforming packaging machines due to its rollability.

Material Suitable for Coating and Printing

MULTIVAC, LEIPA, and Koehler have jointly supplied an important innovation for this year’s FachPack in Nuremberg, which aroused a great deal of interest among the professional audience. “We were impressed by the commitment displayed by Koehler during the development of this product,” says Matthias Haux, Commercial Head Flexible Packaging at LEIPA. The processability during coating and the printability of the material in particular have to be specially emphasized and form a good basis for additional projects in the future.

This is also what Dr. Markus Wildberger, corporate director of technology at Koehler, would like to see. “The cooperation with MULTIVAC and LEIPA is a very good example of how innovative cross-industry projects can be quickly initiated and implemented,” he says. “We look forward to more exciting projects with these two partners.”