Felix Schoeller will implement price increases of up to 10% on its decor paper products with effect from April 1st 2025. The global specialty paper manufacturer based in Osnabrück informs its customers in individual meetings so that they can plan ahead. The adjustment is “customer-centric, cost-sensitive and cooperative” to ensure stability and reliability on all sides.
Women have a hard time in the male-dominated technology sector and are taken less seriously. This is a media and societal misrepresentation that urgently needs to be addressed. In a time in which industry faces a shortage of young talent, it is vital that women are not discouraged from pursuing a career in this area. This is the view of Lisa Kagerbauer, an engineer at the pump and dosing specialist Lutz-Jesco in Wertheim, speaking on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Due to rising input costs, particularly but not only for pulp, Sappi Europe intend to increase prices for Coated and Uncoated Fine Papers by 8% effective from 7 April 2025. Sales teams will be in contact with our customers to discuss implementation details.
Chinaplas 2025, a technology-oriented plastics and rubber trade fair, takes place on April 15-18, 2025, in the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center (Bao'an). As a global technology company, W&H develops sustainable flexible packaging through innovative solutions in extrusion, printing and converting and will present these at Chinaplas 2025. The claim “get in the loop” emphasizes this commitment to the circular economy and resource conservation.
Siemens is presenting its new developments in industrial automation and digitalization for the intralogistics industry at this year's Logimat. Faced with global challenges like labor shortages, growing sustainability requirements, and demographic change, the technology company is introducing innovative automation and digitalization solutions that increase efficiency, adaptability, and sustainability in intralogistics.
Hunkeler Innovationdays
Muller Martini demonstrated its innovative strength at the Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025, which took place in Lucerne from February 24 to 27. The three smart factory solutions presented are revolutionizing production processes in the digital printing industry for the long term.
With 6,800 participants and 120 exhibitors presenting 40 live solutions, the event grew slightly once again. “We are proud that, together with our partners, we were able to present pioneering solutions during the four days of the trade fair that will shape the future of the digital printing industry,” emphasized Bruno Müller, CEO of Muller Martini.
Hunkeler Innovationdays
Kodak caused a stir at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025 in Lucerne, Switzerland, with a spectacular application printed on the Kodak Prosper 7000 Turbo Press. At an event for international trade media and industry analysts, Kodak demonstrated the speed of the world's “fastest web-fed inkjet press”, which was on show in Europe for the first time, by printing excerpts from the movie, “The Last Showgirl” and two music videos, Kesha’s Joyride and AntsLive’s Captain Ants that were all shot on Kodak Film to simulate the effect of a movie being projected.
The German company emtec Electronic GmbH will participating with its partner IDMtest as an exhibitor at SPAPER 2025, which is set to take place from March 4–6, 2025, at Feria de Zaragoza, Spain. The shown laboratory devices, used in the wet-end area and for base and final paper products, are said to focus on efficiency, precision, and sustainability, helping to optimize production processes.
Mondi collaborated with Sherwin-Williams, a global company in paints and coatings, to introduce re/cycle SpoutedPouch as a refill option for its concentrated paint, sold on the UK market. Leveraging the expertise in its Halle/Steinfeld plant in Germany, Mondi introduced a wider spout for easier filling and pouring, while ensuring the mono-material pouch is designed to protect its contents.
Until now, old clothes have mainly been incinerated. Using adapted processes from paper production, it is possible to recover the cellulose fibres from used clothing and use them to produce cardboard and other packaging materials. In Austria alone, around 220,000 tonnes of textile waste are produced every year, of which almost 80 per cent is incinerated. As a result, valuable raw materials are irretrievably lost. A team led by Thomas Harter from the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology has come up with a sustainable solution to this problem. The researchers have developed a process to recover the fibres from cotton-based used textiles and use them to produce paper for packaging materials. Compared to conventional recycled paper, the paper with textile fibre content proves to be significantly stronger.
Ranpak has announced the debut of its new Print’it!™ in-line printing solution. This solution allows customers to print full-color customized designs on up to 15 boxes of varying heights per minute. The Print’it!™ solution supports personalization opportunities by allowing operators to manage requirements for multiple brands or create emotional connections with end-customers through individualized messages. The solution removes the need for multiple SKUs of branded or pre-printed boxes while enabling downstream box customization and branding within a standardized automation setup: where packaging is right-sized, a lid is applied, and unique designs are printed without adding additional touchpoints. The Print’it! solution allows custom printing on boxes of varying heights, as well, delivering a unique capability in the market.
“While flexible and printed electronics companies are approaching 2025 with caution, there is evident confidence in long-term growth, particularly in key end-user industries such as consumer electronics, automotive and healthcare,” said Dr. Alain Schumacher, OE-A Chairman and CTO of IEE in Luxembourg, commenting on the results of the OE-A Business Climate Survey at the LOPEC Press conference on 26 February in Munich. The outlook for the flexible, organic and printed electronics industry has weakened compared to previous surveys.