PFFC - November 2007 - (Page 31) RELEASE LINER SPECIAL REPORT uConverter Infot uIndustrias de Transformación de Andoain, S.A. (Itasa) | Bº Sorabilla, s/n Apdo. 67 | 20140 Andoain | Spain | +34 943 30 42 00 | www.itasa.es the European Union in the late 1980s, Itasa’s management team saw major development opportunities in the “common market” and decided to invest in meeting these opportunities in terms of plant, technology know-how, and personnel. Today, 80% of Itasa’s production is exported—50% within Europe and the balance Capable of coating at 800 in the US, Latin America, mpm, the BMB machine Mexico, Asia, and Oceania. In features a five-roll coating an age of globalization, howhead, convertible to six rolls, ever, Itasa chooses to pursue a for thermal-cured solventbusiness strategy that enables free silicone coating. it to maintain its ISO 9001accredited production at the one site, while developing sales The demand created by established by two local fami- in selected key markets across that reputation for quality lies in 1974. Its original vision the globe. has led Itasa to invest €16 was to meet the demands Ideally Situated million in new equipment, for siliconized paper in two particularly a new coater specialized end-use segments: Says Itasa’s managing direcfrom Bachofen + Meier the personal hygiene business tor, Francisco Pagola, “Our (BMB), now in its startup and as a backing for Formica- location in northwest Spain is logistically ideal. We are phase, that will nearly double brand surfacing products. close to the ports of northern the company’s current capacItasa’s target market was ity when it is fully onstream. simply its home region, then Spain and southern France as well as to transcontinental poorly supported in this Family-Owned Company air connections.” field, and the company comItasa—Industrias de menced production with a With demand growing, Transformación de homemade coating machine. Itasa installed its first roll-toAndoain—is privately owned, However, when Spain joined roll coater in 1989. It was a WWW.PFFC-ONLINE.COM 1.65-m, 300-mpm, five-roll solvent-free or solventgravure Pagendarm machine with a roll-curing tunnel, auto-splicing, and other convenient features. Says quality manager Eduardo Arocena, “This very compact and flexible machine, which is still in continuous use for short and trial runs, new product development, and pilot coating, allows us to make a variety of ‘specials’ at a very high level of quality. As the business developed, however, we needed higher productivity and the ability to be even more flexible in terms of web width, so it was time to look for a second coater, a big BMB, which was installed in 1997.” This 1.65-m-wide machine offers 500-mpm production via a five-roll coating head and air flotation drying. It features a web-cleaning facility, an electrostatic discharge facility, and in-line trimming. The coater runs papers, films, and thermal-sensitive webs and optionally can offer ultraviolet curing and corona NOVEMBER 2007 | 31 http://www.itasa.es http://WWW.PFFC-ONLINE.COM
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