Germany-based containerboard and corrugated board manufacturer Progroup is building a new PW15 corrugated sheetfeeder plant in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-west Germany, to produce corrugated board sheets.
The company will invest more than €90m ($106.18m) in the construction of the new facility. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate announced funding of €2m ($2.7m) to support the construction of the facility.
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Announced in August 2021, the new facility will manufacture up to 500 million m² of corrugated board sheets annually. The construction site preparations and connection to federal roads began in the third quarter of 2021 and were completed in the fourth quarter. The facility is expected to commence production by the second quarter of 2023.
The new plant will improve Progroup’s business opportunities in the Palatinate region, as well as expand its presence in the markets of northern France and southern Germany. It will also create about 67 highly skilled jobs in the region.
Location of the new facility
Progroup’s new facility will be constructed in the town of Pirmasens, near the villages of Petersberg and Höheischweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, Germany.
The facility will be located adjacent to German packaging manufacturer G&G Preißer’s production plant. The two companies will integrate the logistics and production processes of their respective facilities to operate more sustainably and efficiently.
The integration of operations will lead to the development of a new packaging park at the site, wherein G&G Preißer will receive just-in-time corrugated board deliveries from Progroup.
Details of Progroup’s corrugated sheetfeeder plant
The new highly automated corrugated sheetfeeder facility will occupy an area of about 28,000m². It will produce almost all customary grades of corrugated board at a planned production speed of 400m/minute for a working width of 3.35m.
The facility’s production line will manufacture single-wall and double-wall Next Board® corrugated board sheets with B, C, E and F flutes in all combinations. It will feature modern technologies, including completely automated transportation systems, high-bay warehouse technology and process control systems to interlink all the processes of the facility.
Sustainable features of the new facility
The facility is designed to meet high energy standards to reduce the heating requirement in winter and cooling energy requirement in summer. It will feature air-conditioning units equipped with efficient heat recovery systems and modern air circulation systems.
Progroup is investing approximately €2m ($2.3m) to integrate state-of-the-art, resource-saving production methods at the new site, such as an efficient trigeneration system to achieve carbon-neutral recycling in the long term.
The sustainable features of the plant will enable it to seamlessly support the company’s Green Hightech strategy, which aims to reduce usage of energy and raw materials, as well as lower carbon emissions.
Progroup’s product portfolio
Progroup manufactures containerboard, corrugated sheetboard and certified Next Generation Products, which include lightweight, high-performance, resource-conserving products such as Next Board® corrugated board and Next Fibre® containerboard.
The products are made from 100% recycled paper and manufactured using high-tech, state-of-the-art technologies. Next Board® corrugated board uses lower energy and raw material and has lower volume compared to conventional corrugated board sheets thereby reducing the storage and transport volume. Next Fibre® containerboard is made from 100% recovered paper and uses less water and energy during production processes.
The high-quality corrugated board is offered with a product range including profiles, such as F, FE, E, EB, B, BE, BC, C, AC, AAC, B NG, BC NG, single-wall, double-wall or triple-wall. They are supplied as both brown and white corrugated sheetboard.
The company also offers its customers a wide range of paper grades with its K-line and SWL-line product lines, as well as the option for customised products.
Marketing commentary on Progroup
Progroup was founded in 2007, following the establishment of its sister concerns Prowell, Proservice, Propapier, Prologistik and Profund.
The company operates across six countries in Europe, with 11 corrugated sheetfeeder plants, three paper factories, one refuse-derived fuel (RDF) power station and one logistics company. It has a workforce of more than 1,400 in Europe.
