Avery Dennison has increased its coating and laminated capabilities for self-adhesive label and packaging films at its plant in Gotha, Germany. The company made the investment to respond to growing market demand for filmic products with high levels of clarity and cleanliness.

Gotha facilities include a tandem silicone/adhesive laminating line, an additional slitting area and a new shipping hall. This increases topcoating capacity by 50 million m2 and adds 33% to the operational space of the plant. This allows Avery Dennison to meet expected short-term increases in demand and also to support longer-term growth.

“This investment in our Gotha plant is an important development for Avery Dennison, and our customers will benefit from improved effectiveness and efficiency, not only of our own operations, but also of theirs,” says Angelo Depietri, vice president and general manager for Avery Dennison Materials Group Europe. “We are now able to optimize our wider European film coating operations, creating a significant increase of overall laminating capacity in Europe.”

Avery Dennison has increased plant capacity through investments in new machinery and also by converting existing offline machines. Silicone and adhesive coating and laminating are now carried out using an integrated inline process. The tandem coater machine is housed in a closed-off and separated area, under positive air pressure. This dust-free coating area ensures minimal contamination, improving product surface quality and cleanliness for enhanced printability. The tandem coater also offers increased production flexibility.

The finishing space is larger and separated from coating and laminating to enable more efficient material flow handling. Allowance has also been made for in-sourcing of warehousing, further driving the plant’s efficiency and speed of response.

The plant extension was officially opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 20, 2014, with representatives of the Gotha municipality and a celebratory dinner with a large group of regional customers.