04. February 2008

The world's most modern coating system for adhesive material / Additional €10m expansion phase announced / Unique multi-layer curtain coater / Comprehensive production system dispenses with manual transport routes

The world's most modern coating system for adhesive material / Additional €10m expansion phase announced / Unique multi-layer curtain coater / Comprehensive production system dispenses with manual transport routes

From virtually 0 to 1100 metres per minute in just a few seconds at the push of a button: the world's most modern coating plant for adhesive material is now in operation at the Filderstadt site following an official ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of the State of Baden-Württemberg Günther H. Oettinger. The company, a specialist in self-adhesive technology, invested around €35m in this initial expansion phase. This is the largest single construction project undertaken in the company's 102 year history and took 14 months to complete. The decision to proceed with the next expansion phase at the site has already been made: when bringing the plant into operation, the Managing Directors of HERMA Sven Schneller and Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner also announced the planned erection of a new cutting and packaging area at Filderstadt. The application for extension to the building has already been lodged with the authorities and building work is expected to start in 2009. HERMA is now investing roughly €10m in this second expansion phase which means that around 60 to 70 new jobs will be created in the areas of development, production, application technology and sales. The company will use the new facility to manufacture rolls of adhesive material. This product will be used in-house by HERMA and also purchased by third parties for production purposes.

State-of-the-art control technology

HERMA is already established as a leading manufacturer of adhesive material and the new plant further reinforces the company's pioneering role. HERMA is now the first company in this branch of the industry to use a multi-layer curtain coater: A fine "curtain" of adhesive falls vertically on to the medium being coated from the nozzle via which several adhesive layers can be applied simultaneously. "This makes it possible for us to develop adhesive material for special applications more effectively and also open up completely new areas of application for labels" commented HERMA Managing Director Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner who is also in charge of the Self-adhesive Materials Division, the fastest growing business area. In addition, all process parameters can be stored using state-of-the-art control technology. Once manufactured, a product can be quickly and accurately reproduced again and again at the push of a button; the necessary settings are made by the system automatically. The coating speed of between 1100 and 1200 metres per minute is considerably higher than the existing plant which is designed to produce a maximum of 800 metres per minute, and this speed is set to increase in the long-term.

It was necessary to construct the plant as existing capacities were stretched to their limit. "The Self-adhesive Materials Division has grown at a two-figure rate during each of the last ten years and has therefore exceeded the growth of the market" Baumgärtner remarked. "We also aim to increase production by 15 percent per year with the new facility." The basis for this is to be established through further intensification of international activities and expansion of the product range. This is due to the increasingly important role played by film materials that compliment the successful qualities of paper products.

Efficiency at Filderstadt

"This investment at the site in Germany is particularly worthwhile because it is more than simply an innovative coating plant, it is also a comprehensive, highly-efficient production system the likes of which our industry has never seen before" explained Baumgärtner. The entire material flow is based on the concept of the shortest route which means that the coating facility and the 28 metre high intermediate storage facility for raw materials and finished products operate virtually as one unit. This dispenses with manual transport routes for rolls weighing up to five tons with widths of two metres. Raw material is fed directly to the machine from the intermediate storage facility and rolls with the adhesive coating applied are subsequently removed back to the intermediate storage facility. The total output capacity of the HERMA facilities is set to increase – from 300 to 750 million square metres of adhesive material. "The increase in efficiency and productivity is important: the output per head will be twice as much as our existing systems" remarked Baumgärtner. After checking the feasibility of other locations – also in Asia – HERMA made a conscious decision to build at Filderstadt. "Synergic effects with existing facilities, the need for a highly-qualified workforce to implement these state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and the extent to which raw materials contribute towards the overall costs were decisive factors" explained HERMA Managing Director Sven Schneller. 

The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Günther H. Oettinger was obviously impressed by the functional principle of the new facility. "Medium-sized companies like HERMA are at the heart of our economy. They demonstrate that being competitive is not simply a matter of being cheaper at any cost but rather to achieve a better and more efficient level of production as opposed to the somewhat more expensive processes that exist in some areas of our industry.“

The Mayoress of Filderstadt Gabriele Dönig-Poppensieker also pointed out during her welcome address that efficient production also benefits the environment. HERMA is the first company in the industry to considerably reduce the energy consumption of the dryer using heat recovery. The close linking of storage and conveyance technology with the coating plant is also a unique development for the industry as a whole. "This means that HERMA only requires 50 percent of the area that facilities of this kind normally require."

Brief profile of HERMA

Herma GmbH, based in Stuttgart (Germany), is a leading European specialist in self-adhesive technology. The company has three Divisions – Self-adhesive Materials, Labels, and Labelling Machines – and about 800 employees at three production locations in the Greater Stuttgart region. In the 2006 financial year it achieved total sales of €200.0 million. Around 53 percent of its output was exported.

Technical data for new coating plant

Length of machine: 100 m
Weight of machine: 700 t
Coating speed: 1100-1200 m/min (and subsequently more)
Width of rolls: 2 m
Weight of rolls: up to 5000 kg
Length of building: 112 m
Height of building: 28 m
Width of building: 28 m
Capacity of new intermediate warehouse: 1150 paper rolls or 3700 pallets
Maximum storage weight: 5750 t
Enclosed space: 67,500 m3
Adhesive tanks: 10 x 20,000 l (capacity for roughly five days)

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