Alizay - VPK Group orders 450 KT paper machine rebuild. photo vpk group
Valmet will supply a grade conversion rebuild to VPK’s Alizay mill in France. In the project, the paper machine, which currently produces fine paper grades, will be rebuilt to produce recycled lightweight containerboard grades to support Alizay’s plans for long-term sustainable development in circular economy. The start-up is scheduled for the end of 2022.
The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the fourth quarter 2021. The value of the order will not be disclosed.
“We have excellent relations with VPK Group from earlier projects, for example Blue Paper’s grade conversion rebuild in France. I felt we were able to adapt well to the customer’s needs in this project as well – as the machine in question is familiar to us, we were able to offer proven and reliable technical solutions that fulfilled the requirements cost-efficiently,” says Markus Laitila, director, Large Projects, Valmet.
The board machine with a 9,550-mm-wide fabric produces fluting and testliner grades with a basis weight range of 75–135 g/m2. The design speed of the new parts will be 1,300 m/min with an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
