Constantia Ecoflex has started using a new vacuum metallizer from Bobst at its Ahmedabad plant to increase shelf life and product barrier. The investment has been made to strengthen Constantia Flexibles’ Ecolutions product line.
The state-of-the-art Bobst Expert K5 vacuum 1350 millimeters metallizer has been added to the facility’s equipment which further establishes itself as the first plant on the planet designed and dedicated to recyclable flexible packaging, Constantia said.
Constantia Flexibles on providing high barrier metallization for foil replacements
The machine metalizes heat-sensitive substrates and processes high barrier films as the base of the company’s more sustainable laminate EcoLamHighPlus. Constantia Flexibles can offer high barrier metallization for foil replacements and increased shelf life with the metallizer.
“Bobst AluBond technology is an approach to vacuum metallization that can achieve metal adhesion beyond the levels of conventional inline plasma pre-treatments without the need for an additional inline or offline treatment. The technology vastly improves anchoring properties of the base substrate after tailoring coating stoichiometry (reactant – AluBond and Al product) realized via a uniquely designed coating gradient,” says A K Nema, head of the competence center, Films at Constantia Flexibles India.
Other than AluBond technology, there is Hawkeye which is an inline optical density deposition control and defect monitoring system. It detects, counts, and categorizes pinholes and other defects bigger than 0.1 millimeters at full metallizer speed.
This investment follows Constantia Flexibles’ vision 2025 strategy and allows the company to provide more sustainable packaging solutions produced in the Constantia Ecoflex plant in Ahmedabad. The increasing customer demand for EcoLamPlus and EcoLamHighPlus with high oxygen and water barriers to extend shelf life boosts the company’s growth. With in-house metalizing facilities, Constantia Ecoflex can provide an even faster time-to-market, the company said.
