FEFCO, the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers, honoured some of the most innovative and exciting names in packaging with awards in Vienna on October 13. The FEFCO Production Committee, chaired by Marc Van Damme, issued eight awards at the end of the three-day Technical Seminar.
The most prestigious FEFCO award was for Best Innovation, and this year there were two gold winners:
– BHS Corrugated for their new single facer Modul Facer MF-A. The FEFCO jury said this offered, “a solution to the ever-increasing complexity of flute changes. The Modul Facer MF-A makes it possible to change flute positions in a very flexible way, without losing all the advantages of the traditional module facer.” Thomas Murr collected the prize.
– BOBST for their introduction of the online gap control on bundled boxes. The FEFCO jury said Bobst, “was taking the request of our industry seriously to check the gap control on boxes after the counter ejector.” This could help the industry reach the goal of zero defect deliveries. Yves Bletterie picked up the award.
A bronze Innovation award went to Fosber, for their new Pro/Care, which the FEFCO jury said was “bringing to our industry a structured, well defined comprehensive approach on collecting and analysing available data.” The award was handed to Tim Straker.
The Best Presentation Award. Out of some 60 six-minute spotlights delivered during the Vienna seminar, this award was won by Göpfert. Lena Bördlein collected it for her presentation, ‘Göpfert, the Next Generation’.
The Most Inspiring New FEFCO Member Award went to Elitron, which has moved from a supplier of digital cutting tables for Italian leather to the worldwide corrugated industry. The award was handed to Luca Lui.
The Sustainability Award went to Metsa Board, which has invested in a next-generation bio-product paper mill in Finland, proving that businesses can support the goals of the circular economy goal by cutting the carbon footprint of paper production. The award was collected by Leena Ylinimie.
Two business leaders who have contributed hugely to the industry were awarded FEFCO’s first ever Lifetime Achievement Awards. One went to BP Agnati’s Renato Rossi, “in recognition of his lifelong commitment to developing the corrugator, enhancing the single facer to process lightweight papers and introducing ‘colder’ corrugators,” according to the jury citation. The other went to Daniel Tatti from Bobst, “for his long-term research and innovation in the field of printing and developing solutions for the Corrugated Industry.”
