DS Smith, a leading international provider of sustainable and fibre-based packaging solutions, has installed a state-of-the-art Bahmuller and Goepfert Maschinen (BGM) combination machine and upgraded production line facilities at its packaging facility in Kunheim, France.
The €10 million investment underlines the company’s commitment to providing sustainable and fibre-based packaging solutions to customers in the region, including those with industrial, heavy-duty, or bulky product requirements. The new machine and its advanced capabilities also demonstrate the company’s dedication to spearheading technological advancement and innovation.
Technological innovation and capability
The BGM (Bahmuller und Goepfert Maschinen) machine is 65m in length and 11m wide, and it covers a total area of 515 m². The machine has a capacity to print, die-cut, fold, and glue large-format sheets of corrugated board in a single pass. Other technical features include an ability to manage formats up to 2000 and 5500 mm, production sheets of up to 7,000 per hour, two-colour printing, and flexible assembly techniques such as gluing and stapling, and with capacity for a combination of the two.
The new BGM machinery is anticipated to boost production speeds and enable DS Smith to respond to customer requests within even shorter timescales. This will benefit customers who need to create large-format triple-flute packaging solutions for heavy and bulky products in categories such as household appliances, chemical transportation, and building materials for the construction industry.
Sustainability and packaging solutions
The DS Smith packaging facility in Kunheim is also equipped with two corrugator machines and numerous converting lines, with an annual production capacity of around 60,000 tonnes (97 million m²) across a wide range of packaging solutions.
In addition, the Kunheim packaging facility has benefited from a new Automated Flow Management system incorporating a transfer shuttle and a double in-line centre (to centre and deposit stacks of cardboard sheets on a pallet). This additional new equipment will enable the DS Smith design and implementation teams to create a diverse variety of sustainable packaging solutions for customers from different industrial sectors.
Thibault Laumonier, President, DS Smith Packaging, France: “The inauguration of this BGM unit into our packaging facility in Kunheim represents an investment of €10 million and bolsters our ability to provide leading, fibre-based packaging solutions. In line with our sustainability strategy, Now & Next, it also reaffirms our commitment to help customers in the region transition to the circular economy, by eliminating waste and pollution by design and keeping materials and products in use for longer. We are proud to innovate for the sustainable packaging industry in France and follow our Purpose of Redefining Packaging for A Changing World, combining competitive industrial performance with a focus on carbon reduction and the environment.”