Inteplast Pioneers Mass Balance Certified BOPP Film

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring and Valmet are building a demo plant in Äänekoski. The plant will manufacture new 3D fibre products for food packaging and other purposes. The demo plant reached its full height on 23 March 2021 with construction work proceeding as planned. The main equipment delivered by Valmet will be installed in the autumn 2021, and the first test runs should begin at the end of 2021 – approximately 12 months after the start of the construction. “The demo plant will test the production of new 3D fibre-based packaging. New packages will be tested with different partners to receive feedback on their market feasibility,” says Veli-Matti Hulkko, Technology Manager at Metsä Spring. The advanced production process is efficient and flexible. Wood fibre from Metsä Group’s mills could be used to produce large volumes of completely ready packages for different purposes.

January–June 2020 (compared to 1–6/2019) • Sales were EUR 945.2 million (964.2). • Comparable operating result was EUR 94.2 million (102.8), or 10.0% (10.7%) of sales. Operating result was EUR 100.3 million (118.3). • Comparable earnings per share were EUR 0.19 (0.23), and earnings per share were EUR 0.21 (0.27). • Comparable return on capital employed was 10.7% (11.7%). • Net cash flow from operations was EUR 152.3 million (67.1). April–June 2020 (compared to 4–6/2019) • Sales were EUR 473.1 million (477.1). • Comparable operating result was EUR 60.5 million (41.0), or 12.8% (8.6%) of sales. Operating result was EUR 66.5 million (46.4). • Comparable earnings per share were EUR 0.13 (0.09), and earnings per share were EUR 0.15 (0.10). • Comparable return on capital employed was 13.9% (9.7%). • Net cash flow from operations was EUR 72.3 million (30.7).

Ox Industries has announced it is opening a new converting operation in Sturgis Michigan. The new plant will expand Ox’s geographic reach for converted products in the Midwest. The facility will be approximately 150,000 square feet of production and warehouse space and house two fully automatic high-speed protective packaging and tube and core lines from TCM Solutions, as well as a new high speed “SheetRunner” paperboard sheeter from BW Paper Systems. The facility will be vertically integrated within the Ox paper mill network and operational in the first quarter of 2021. Ox expects the project will create up to 50 new jobs.