ACTEGA is significantly expanding its production capacities for water-based and UV overprint varnishes. 

As a result, the global production output increases to more than 150,000 tons per year. 

Around €2 million have been invested in a new integrated site in Brazil. Here, in the future, a total of 180 employees will be located to support the business.  

"Production and warehousing will occupy most of the 12,000 square meter facility with new high-efficiency equipment installed to produce overprint varnishes," said Andrei Sotkeviciene, managing director at ACTEGA in Brazil. “Research and development activities will take place in an ultra-modern, 500 square meter research laboratory set up for this purpose." 

Moreover, ACTEGA records a significant increase in production capacities, especially for UV coatings, due to the integration of Schmid Rhyner AG. 

This company, based in Adliswil, Switzerland, with almost 80 employees and a turnover of around 50 million euros, specializes in solutions for print finishing and digital printing.

"ACTEGA consists of 11 companies with worldwide production facilities and sales offices," said Andreas Gipp, senior VP of Global Business Line Paper and Board. “Due to our production sites in Europe, North and South America as well as in China, we can not only better serve internationally operating printing groups and be closer to our customers but also proactively support them in their growth."

This also makes it possible to react in a more flexible way to local customer requirements.

A focus on new technologies

For differentiation, more and more customers rely on UV Touch & Feel coatings or coatings for special visual effects such as MotionCoat, UV Silver and UV Micro Structure to apply them to sophisticated folding cartons, including food, beverage, pharmaceutical, tobacco packaging, and other printed products. 

Apart from the further development of such products known in the market, among them coatings for direct and indirect food contact, ACTEGA will continue to focus strongly on new technologies and products.

One focus here is on digital printing and digital varnishing. As early as 2016, competence and technology centers for digital printing were established at the Lehrte site near Hannover, Germany and the Cinnaminson, NJ facility.

Here not only all R&D activities are bundled, but also inks, primers and overprint varnishes required for the use of digital printing technologies are provided. Moreover, ACTEGA offers – based on the DiVar technology developed and patented by Schmid Rhyner – a wide range of digital coatings suitable for both FCM applications and general printing on sheetfed and web-fed printing assets.

Another example of the focus on new technologies is EcoLeaf. In development and productization at ACTEGA since 2017 and soon to be commercially available, EcoLeaf enables metallization without foil and thus improves the sustainability of all related processes. 

"Already now we achieve more than 25% of our turnover with new products and R&D investment represents 10% of our sales turnover," said Gipp. "It is in our interest to conduct intensive research and to continuously improve products. Thus, we are currently working on the next generation of barrier coatings, enabled by novel aqueous thermoplastic elastomer dispersions of the YUNICO technology, which are free from emulsifiers and solvents."

Product safety and sustainability

Legally compliant product solutions, specially designed for the high safety standards of the food, pharmaceutical and toy industries, and meeting the exacting needs of customers determine ACTEGA’s innovation roadmap and activities. 

This is achieved by highly developed analytics, in-house migration test laboratories, regional experts for product safety as well as reliable knowledge of regulations and legal requirements in individual countries.

"With the new future ACTGreen product line we have recently taken another important step in this direction," said Dr. Lisa Schönenberg, global portfolio manager Paper & Board. “This is a new, sustainable portfolio of water-based coatings for mainly folding cartons and labels. All matt and gloss coatings have been formulated based on renewable or recycled raw materials. Depending on functionality and desired properties, the products can thus have sustainability of more than 60 percent.” 

As such, ACTEGA is also in line with the objectives of the ALTANA Group. By 2025, the specialty chemicals group will be reducing its CO2 emissions from production and energy procurement to zero worldwide to consistently protect the climate and the environment.