UFlex commissions BOPET films plant in Nigeria

UFlex, India’s largest multinational and a global leader in polymer sciences, has commissioned its BOPET film manufacturing plant in the Ogun State of Nigeria with a production capacity of 45,000 TPA. Spread over 37 acres, the plant houses a first-of-its-kind 10.6-meter wide BOPET film line in Africa and also has two metallizers with a total production of 15000 TPA. The plant that created over 200 direct jobs, is set to cater to the packaging film demand coming from the fast-growing economy of Nigeria, ECOWAS (Western Africa) and the USA.

In Q2 2021, UFlex also added a fleet of new value-added products and solutions to its portfolio.

Flexible Packaging Business

1. High-barrier mono-material recyclable bag for snack packaging for KIMS – UFlex has developed a mono-material bag for Danish brand KIMS for its snacks packaging segment for the European market. UFlex claims that the ‘high-barrier packaging’ is made of mono-material under polypropylene extreme and bears recyclable ‘logo 5’ mark enabling easy recycling in the existing polypropylene recycling streams while ensuring that the snack packed remains fresh as ever. The snack packs are being used by KIMS to pack food products such as chips, wafers etc.
2. MOPE-based mono-polymer recyclable bag for large quantity rice packaging for EBRO – UFlex has developed a new MOPE/PE recyclable structure with registered matt coating and special PE mono-polymer-based laminate film for EBRO rice brand Peacock. In the company’s view, the newly developed structure possesses similar mechanical and other properties allowing easy recyclability of PE in conventional extruder and easy run on existing packaging line with minor adjustments. According to UFlex, the new structure has cleared all tests related to handling, post filling of the pack content, and has successfully fulfilled required barrier properties throughout the defined shelf life of the packed rice thus positioning itself as a suitable packaging application for large quantities.
3. 50% higher barrier PET film structure for Asal Coin Parota – Frozen and refrigerated food needs a special barrier structure to pack the food content such that it doesn’t lose it integrity even months after opening it. Customizing the requirement for the brand Milky Mist, UFlex says it has developed a three-side sealed pouch packaging structure to pack Asal Coin Parota through use of a special high barrier PET film that increases the barrier properties by 50% under ambient conditions and allowing the parota to stay fresh for a longer duration.
4. Value added packaging in two sizes for Fidele Pet Food – UFlex has developed two packaging sizes of 3 kg and 12 kg to pack pet food for the brand Fidele. The packaging structure comprises of specialized Matt finished PET polyester and its pocket slider allows reclose-ability thereby adding to consumer’s convenience. The side gusset handle in the 3 kg variant helps easy carrying and pouring whereas the 12 kg variant comes with bottom pinch pasting allowing multi-dimensional display thus helping the brand to leverage as much branding opportunity as it can and make it stand out on the retail shelves.
5. Transparent high-barrier laminate sachet to pack dairy whitener for Namaste India Foods – To enhance the ease attached with use of dairy whitener, UFlex has manufactured a transparent high-barrier laminate to pack 26 gms of Gold Standard Dairy Whitener for Namaste India Foods. The packaging structure allows the brand owner to showcase the product through a see-through window and at the same time provide the barrier required for packaged dairy whitener.

Packaging Films Business

1. Flex Films USA launched its patented BOPET high barrier film F-UHB-M, designed to replace aluminum foil in flexible packaging applications. With its new specially formulated BOPET structure, UFlex claims F-UHB-M comes with superior gas and water barrier while achieving one of the lowest oxygen and moisture barrier values (0.1 cc/ m2-day & 0.1 gm/m2-day respectively) and industry-leading metal adhesion of 1200 gm/25 mm that aids improvement and extension of product shelf-life. In the company’s view, F-UHB-M helps the converting industry to move from a ‘difficult to recycle 4-ply laminate structure with aluminum foil’ to a ‘much simpler, easily recyclable 3-ply laminate structure comprising of F-UHB-M film’ without compromising on barrier performance.

Chemicals Business

1. Flexbond WB White Adhesive – Flexbond WB White Adhesive is a water-based white adhesive designed for flexible film and paper laminates used in food and non-food packaging applications. Since white color holds a significant importance for printing applications, UFlex recommends it for production of laminates having higher proportion of white print area as compared to other colors thereby substantially reducing the use of white ink and processing cost of printing inks.
2. Flexgreen laminating adhesive – Flexgreen series UV flexo adhesives are formulated for high-end label and tag printing applications. According to UFlex, HRK09990 has excellent rheology characteristics of smooth flow and non-stickiness, thereby making it ideal for most printing equipment and various product applications in the label industry. This has been specially formulated for use with UV LED curing lamps of wavelength 385-395 nm.
3. Flexcure Opaque White Ink – Flexcure White Ink is specially designed to meet the demand of flexo white ink shrink sleeve applications. According to UFlex, the UV cure ink provides consistent cure at the highest speed, imparts good adhesion and post shrink performance on shrink substrates and offers excellent printability and transfer with finer aniloxes.

Engineering Business

1. Trim Line 1000 – UFlex Engineering Business of has developed a trim rewinder Trim line 1000 which is an extended portfolio to the community of range of slitters it offers. Its robust speed of 1000 mpm has been appreciated by its patrons and has already bagged two orders. Not only has the rewinder been perceived as an add-on machine with new slitters but also has the capability of retrofitting.
2. Pre-formed pouch making machine – To arrest the challenges of counterfeiting among brands in various sectors, UFlex Engineering Business has developed a new series of pouch making machines that integrates holographic strip within the pre-printed film with 100% ‘i mark to i mark’ registration accuracy. In addition, the machine’s D-motion sealing technology provides enhanced dwell time for sealing thus improving aesthetics and seal integrity allowing repeat use.