Giovanni Bettini, Sales Director of MHI Europe, has confirmed JSC Proletary has placed an order for a four colour EVOL 100 flexo folder gluer, complete with MPF pre-feeder. The new machine is part of an extensive expansion and modernisation project being undertaken by this Russian corrugated packaging manufacturer.
Located in Surazh city, in the Bryansk region south-west of Moscow, JSC Proletary signed the order for the new four colour converting line in late December 2020, although the Board of Directors had unanimously made their decision during November. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision-making process had been slow due to lock-down and travel bans. Engineers and representatives of the company had made several visits to other plants in Russia and Europe to see the EVOL in action, as well as a detailed study trip in Japan, prior to the travel restrictions that came into effect in the spring of 2020.
“We wanted to see how the machine performed with lots of different qualities of corrugated board, so we visited many different plants in different countries around the world,” explained Nikolay Kovtunov, General Manager, JSC Proletary. “We wanted to see it being run by different operators, from companies with different mindsets. We were impressed with what we saw and the build quality is second to none.”
The casemaker and pre-feeder are scheduled to be installed at the plant, which is located only 15km from the border between Russia and Belarus, in February 2022. Kovtunov confirmed that the new machine will replace two older casemakers.
“We thank Proletary for their trust in MHI and choosing an EVOL for their new, modernised plant,” added Bettini. “We are happy to secure this deal, as we have been working closely with them for some time now. This will be the sixth EVOL casemaker to be installed in Russia, once again proving its suitability to this growing market. We hope this is just the first of many collaborative steps we take with JSC Proletary.”
Left to right: Nikolay Kovtunov (General Manager, JSC Proletary), Yasushi Miyamoto (General Manager, MHIE) and Giovanni Bettini (MHIE).
