With the investment package of more than €60m announced in the autumn of last year, the Panther Group’s shareholders underpinned their strategy to shape Panther Packaging’s future through continuous modernisation. This comprehensive investment programme is now showing its importance in the current situation, which was unforeseeable last year.
The extensive package comprises state-of-the-art machines, the renewal of intralogistics systems and the expansion of production and storage capacities. It is already clearly showing its effect, since the aim associated with the investments, namely a further increase in flexibility and speed of response together with reliable production at the highest level of quality, gives Panther Packaging the ability to meet both current and future challenges.
High-end machinery
Additional high-end die-cutting lines were commissioned simultaneously in three Panther Group plants in August, strengthening supply security, reliability and capacity at the individual sites.
Altonaer Wellpappenfabrik GmbH in Tornesch.
Despite the impacts of the pandemic, all the preparations for installing the new, fully-automatic Göpfert Evolution rotary die-cutters with working widths of 2.4m and 2.8m respectively, were successfully completed on time at Altonaer Wellpappenfabrik, at Südwestkarton and at Wepoba Wellpappenfabrik.
Südwestkarton GmbH in Illingen/Württemberg
These Evolution die-cutting lines will cover production of the entire product range of crates, trays, shelf-ready and other die-cut box styles for all sectors of industry. The plants are designed for maximum precision, and are highly automated. As additional elements, two of the plants have a pre-feeder and a layer palletiser and robot palletiser respectively.
Wepoba Wellpappenfabrik GmbH in Wustermark
The high levels of sophistication on the Göpfert lines are aimed at production at a most demanding quality level in which errors are excluded as far as possible, or detected at an early stage by monitoring devices and corrected. This has a positive effect on punctual manufacture and the entire logistics chain, and thus on customer satisfaction.
“Overall, these rotary die-cutters allow even greater production flexibility and on-time delivery to customers,” says Carin Hilmer-Brenzinger, Managing Director. “The higher capacities improve long-term security of supply and all the specific customers’ requirements for individually customised die-cutting geometries, dimensional accuracy and product quality are fulfilled. This widens Panther Packaging’s abilities to manufacture recyclable, environmentally friendly corrugated board packaging and equips us for the challenges in the current highly unusual months, and for the future.”
