Displaying items by tag: Cham Paper Group Holding AG
Cham Paper Group conducts cooperation talks with the Delfort Group
The Cham Paper Group is conducting talks with Delfort Group envisaging apossible cooperation in the field of speciality papers.
The management ofthe two companies is currently examining all the strategic options thatcould further strengthen the market position of the complementarymanufacturers of speciality papers. The Cham Paper Group will issue astatement on the outcome of this project by the end of June 2013 at the latest.
Based in Traun, Austria, Delfort Group produces and distributes specialitypapers and has around 1,750 employees at five factories in Austria,Hungary, the Czech Republic and Finland. Similarly to the Cham Paper Group,the family-run company has a widely recognised market position in a rangeof areas within the speciality papers market.
Expansion plans at Brigl & Bergmeister – Cooperation with Cham Paper Group
Brigl & Bergmeister, producer of 1-side coated paper for labels and flexible packaging has signed a cooperation agreement with Cham Paper Group. Once base paper production at the facility in Cham, Switzerland, has been shut down, B&B in Niklasdorf, Austria, will take over the production and marketing of their silicone base papers (Clay Coated Kraft paper). Cham will provide its highly specialized technical expertise. The first products will be available during the second half of 2013, giving the Niklasdorf plant an additional pillar to its successful, wet strength label papers. Following this, there are plans to make further investments in expanding capacity at Niklasdorf in 2014.
In September 2013, the PM5 in Vevce, Slovenia, will receive a new film press which will increase capacity by 20,000 tonnes. It will become possible to develop new products in the label paper and flexible packaging range thanks to an improved pre-coating process.
2012 was a successful year for Brigl & Bergmeister. The volume of sales increased by 5 % to 155,000 tonnes compared with the previous year, meaning that both plants in Niklasdorf and Vevce were running at full capacity. By acquiring the waste incineration plant ENAGES, B&B in Niklasdorf also has increased its independence from the volatile energy market and improved its carbon footprint.
Cham Paper Group makes CCK technology available to Brigl & Bergmeister
The Cham Paper Group has entered into a cooperative venture with Brigl & Bergmeister (“B&B”), of Niklasdorf, Austria, a manufacturer of single-sided coated speciality papers. B&B is assuming the production and marketing of silicone-base papers (CCK or clay-coated kraft papers) for release liners at its production site in Niklasdorf. The Cham Paper Group will be contributing the specific technological expertise required to this end. The first products manufactured at this site will be available in the second half of 2013.
The Cham Paper Group discontinued manufacturing these specialty papers in the course of transforming its production capacity in mid 2012. Cham produced inventory stocks for its customers in order to secure deliveries established under contract through 2013. Cham and B&B have agreed to maintain confidentiality pertaining to the details of this cooperative venture.
Cham Paper Group wins the Zug Innovation Prize with Barnamic®
The Cham Paper Group has won the Zug Innovation Prize 2012. The CHF 20,000 prize was awarded to the company today by the Mayor of Zug, Matthias Michel, to mark this year's Zug Innovation and Technology Day. The Jury selected the Cham Paper Group to receive the prize for the successful development of its ground-breaking speciality paper Barnamic®.
Barnamic® is a product range of innovative speciality papers, which can be used on their own as packaging solutions for food products. Barnamic® provides the protection required for packaged food,
with barrier functions directly integrated into the paper, and can therefore replace complicated composites made out of various materials (such as plastic and aluminium).
Over the past few years, the Cham Paper Group has invested around 20 million francs in the innovative curtain coating technology, which now enables it to utilise a production technique that is currently unique to the paper industry. The development of innovative speciality paper and its coating is something held very dear at the Group’s traditional place of manufacture in Cham. Products such as Barnamic® form the basis for the establishment of the Cham Paper Group's innovation and technology centre. The prize money awarded to the company will be used to purchase laboratory test equipment that the Group requires to optimise and refine the Barnamic® product range.
Cham Paper Group Holding AG: Further progress in the restructuring
The Cham Paper Group's transformation process is progressing more rapidly than expected. As the Group announced today, by April 2013 it will be ready to 
commence production of speciality papers for the tobacco industry, which are currently produced in Cham, at the Italian site in Carmignano and distribute the papers from there. The extensive tests on coating machines in Cham using externally produced raw papers are also proceeding with success and will be concluded by early 2013. These are needed to produce 'digital imaging' and 'BARnamic' speciality papers, which will also see future production in Switzerland. The second paper machine in Cham will therefore be decommissioned by March/April 2013.
The development and sales teams are systematically preparing themselves for the completion of the transformation and the new direction that the Group will be taking in spring 2013. The market has thus far responded well to the changes announced. In August 2012, the Board of Directors assigned management the task of planning a new innovation and coating centre, located away from the current company site, in or around Cham.
On 1 September 2012, Marcello di Giacomo took up his role as the new site manager at Carmignano, also becoming a member of the Management Board at the same time. From April 2013, the Carmignano site will become the most important production facility in the Cham Paper Group and the backbone of an efficiency-oriented production and logistics platform in the eurozone.
Leaving the Cham Paper Group, however, is CFO Patrick Schmid. Patrick Schmid has been with the Cham Paper Group for 17 years, working in various positions. In 2005, he became Head of Finance at the Swiss site and since 2010 he has been the Group's CFO. The Board of Directors and the management team would like to thank him for his huge commitment, particularly in the planning and implementation of the transformation process over the last two years, and wish him the very best both personally and professionally for the future. The Group will release more information regarding the vacant position of CFO at a later point.