UPM Raflatac Inaugurates its State-of-the-Art Labelstock Factory in Poland

UPM Raflatac is celebrating the opening of a new labelstock factory in Kobierzyce, close to Wroclaw in south-western Poland. The new world-class manufacturing facility serves the European labelling industry with a wide range of high-quality film and paper labelstock featuring water-based acrylic and hotmelt adhesives.

“This new production and logistics centre has an excellent location in the heart of Europe. It supports UPM Raflatac’s strategy and assists the future growth of labelstock customers in Europe. UPM Raflatac aims to be the leading supplier of label materials in Europe, where Eastern Europe is a key growth area,” said Jussi Vanhanen, president of UPM Raflatac.

The construction work of the Polish factory started in the autumn of 2007 and production started as planned at the end of 2008. The €90 million facility is the final part of UPM’s strategic development program for the global expansion of its self-adhesive label materials business. In addition to Poland, greenfield production facilities have been built in North America and Asia.

“With this platform we are very excited to offer improved service reliability and quality to our customers, and the new factory also enables the introduction of new benefits such as the improved line of hotmelt products. The start-up of the operations has proceeded extremely well, and our customers can already take advantage of these benefits,” says Jon Lenck, general manager for UPM Raflatac in Poland.

The new factory features the industry’s latest technology to ensure the best quality and reliability of the products. The entire production process is highly automated and very energy efficient. It emphasizes waste reduction in all areas, and advanced technology, such as a new wastewater treatment process, reduces the environmental impact. All self-adhesive labelstock from UPM Raflatac is manufactured with solvent-free adhesives and silicones.