With its factory located about 18km north of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region, FEPA SpA was founded in 1960, originally known as Scatolificio Sandra SpA.
FePa, which is an acronym for Ferretti Packaging, was renamed in 2023 to reflect the generational change of the company. Today, FEPA employs about 550 people across its two production plants, San Polo di Torrile and Mezzani. The San Polo plant runs a 2.5m corrugator installed, which was originally installed in the late 1980s, but significantly enhanced and updated many times over the years with technology from BHS Corrugated.
Since 2010, the plant in Mezzani runs one of world largest corrugators, a 3.35m BHS Corrugated Width Line. It has a maximum production speed of 350m/minute at 3.35m working width and able to produce more than 46,000 sqm per hour.
In order to expand the variety of its corrugated packaging portfolio and step into new and increasing market segments, FePa decided to increase their maximum production capacity by an additional 250 million sqm, by adding a new Flex Line from BHS Corrugated. The machine is a 2.8m machine with a maximum production speed of 400m/min.
Fausto Ferretti, CEO, FEPA SpA
Good Start-Up
Since July 2023, the box plant extension called ‘Mezzani2’ went live with the new Flex Line and an immediate increase in production and quality was seen.
“The Flex Line which was selected by FePa, is a dedicated machine to operate in the context of the integrated box plant concept with outstanding flexibility and variety of operation modes,” says Thomas Zitzmann, Area Sales Manager, BHS Corrugated. “The Flex Line integrates high production performance levels and is already prepared for BHS iMotion concept for a fully automatised reel supply to the corrugator in order to increase operational safety and save human resources in the future.”
Market Drivers
Digitalization and variable data processing will be the new market demands, believes FePa; therefore the Flex Line corrugator and its machine technology is ready to integrate with the latest Industry 4.0 technologies. The concept is rounded off with the option of integrating an inline single pass digital printer and a digital pre-print concept in the dry-end when the time comes.
FePa are happy with the new Flex Line, saying that already in a short period of time, it has proven to be easy to operate, requiring only four operators. In addition, their line is reliable, with proven machinery design, which enabled a quick ramp-up of the line soon after commissioning.
The BHS Flex Line at FePa is able to run all kind of flutes and flute combinations and after a steep start-up, the line was proofing its outstanding performance values up to 45,000 sqm/h.
“BHS Corrugated provided perfect support during the project management phase, installation phase, training and start-up phase,” states Fausto Ferretti, CEO, FePa Group. “We are happy to say that the expectations of BHS Corrugated and the performance potential of the Flex line have been fulfilled.”
Future Ready
The Flex Line which FePa has selected, is a dedicated machine to operate in the context of an integrated box plant with outstanding production volume demand. It features:
- iMotion ready: prepared to integrate a comprehensive fully automated reel supply logistic system with less human involvement;
- Jetliner® Monochrom Print System ready: immediate option to give access to new market mega trends, with an inline digital pre-print production process;
- Flexibility: upgradability of machine set-up via machine lifecycle and multiple utilisation, i.e. single faced web rewind in combination with outstanding single wall production.
Partnership is Strong
Zitzmann adds, “BHS Corrugated is pleased that FePa renews their trust in the outstanding machine performance powered by the new Flex Line concept in combination with a Box Plant 2025 ready machine set-up. The Flex Line is serving scalable success, thanks to steep performance curves and is equipped with a future proof machine combination to cover the entire market demands.”
“With this investment, Fepa continues a partnership with BHS Corrugated that has characterised the growth of the respective companies and consolidated a relationship that goes beyond a simple supply relationship,” concludes Ferretti. “In fact, it confirms and emphasises a parallel success story between entrepreneurial families who study, research and invest to see their technological performance and that of those who use the technology improve year after year, both of which are aimed at continuous and constant improvement in quality and performance.”
