Displaying items by tag: Bags

Switzerland: Clothing company Elephbo is selling backpacks made from used Thai cement bags for as much as Euro120. The products have caused amusement in Thailand on social media, according to the Independent newspaper. Used cement bags from Siam Cement and Insee Diamond brands are being used with leather by the Swiss company to make a variety of fashion products including wallets, caps and trainers.

Pakistan: Cherat Packaging, a producer and supplier of packaging to the cement industry, and Austria’s Mondi have made over half-a-billion cement bags since 2002. The local bag manufacturer has a bag production capacity of 600m/yr. It holds country-specific exclusive rights to use Mondi’s brown sack kraft paper to produce cement bags and has bought only Mondi paper for its use in the last 15 years.

“The bags had to be suitable for rough handling and fast, dust-free filling, and we wanted to deliver further benefits, such as material and cost savings. Mondi’s Advantage Select paper was the perfect choice. The 80/85gsm variant has revolutionised paper bag sales in Asia as it has provided us as well as our customers with high quality, low cost solutions. It has allowed us to use two plies instead of three and to dispense with perforation, which has significantly reduced paper consumption and dust at our clients’ premises. The bags are lighter, yet stronger than the previous three-ply versions,” said Amer Faruque, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cherat Packaging.

The company’s paper division has exclusive rights from Mondi for procurement of sack kraft paper in Pakistan and supplies two-ply 80/75gsm 50kg bag to Cherat Cement, a sister subsidiary within the Ghulam Faruque Group. In October 2017 Cherat Packaging commissioned a Windmuller & Holscher universal paper sack line.

Germany: Beumer Group is promoting its new mobile bag tester. The testing device is intended to help users to determine the venting capacity of any type of valve bag, such as those used in the cement industry, including all paper and plastic layers, and glued areas. The determined parameters can be used to optimise the manufacture of bags or check conformity with specifications.

The bag tester is intended to give users with information on the filling behaviour of each bag that is useful for the manufacture of bags and filling technology, as well as for transport and logistics. The 14kg apparatus is housed in a stable hardtop case on wheels making it mobile.

A pressure-compensated flow control valve on the device constantly increases the volume flow rate until a steady pressure of 50mbar is reached. With this pressure, the user can read the current volume flow rate, which indicates the air permeability, from the flow-rate meter. A filling spout with inflatable sleeve seals the bag valve during the airflow measurements. The scope of supply includes an additional inflatable sleeve for valve widths of up to 200mm.

Vietnam: Vissai Cement has launched QuickFill Clean (QFC) cement paper bags at its Vissai Ninh Bình cement plant. The bags are produced by Sweden’s BillerudKorsnäs. Vissai and BillerudKorsnäs signed a letter of intent about the packaging in April 2017, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. Under the agreement, Vissai will become the only company to use BillerudKorsnäs cement packaging in Vietnam for a period of two years.

Egypt: The board of Suez Bags has approved Mondi Paper Sales to conduct a due diligence financial and technical review. The subsidiary of Austria’s Mondi was one of two companies considered for the review, according to Arab Finance. Suez Bags is a bag producer for cement, gypsum and other building materials based in Cairo. It is owned by Germany’s HeidelbergCement.

Brazil: Bag producers Cocelpa Companhia de Celulose e Papel do Paraná (Cocelpa) and Arpeco Artefatos de Papéis have both filed for bankruptcy protection. They cited rising production costs, the country’s economic crisis and an unsuccessful sale plan, according to the Valor Economico newspaper. The companies operate plants at Curitiba and Araucária and they mainly produce bags for the cement industry. Despite being market rivals the two companies have filed for protection together due to structural links between them.

US: Three Mondi Industrial Bags plants in North America have won awards for plant safety from the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association (PSSMA). The winning plants were Louisville in Kentucky, Arcadia in Louisiana and Salt Lake City in Utah. The Arcadia and Louisiana plants also achieved zero incidents rates in 2016. The awards were presented at the organisation’s seminar in Vancouver, Washington in April 2017.

Vietnam: Sweden’s BillerudKorsnäs has signed a letter of intent with Vissai Group regarding the use of its QuickFill Clean (QFC) cement paper sack product line. The deal was agreed at a workshop organised by the Embassy of Sweden with the Vietnam Ministry of Construction, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. The new type of cement bags are intended to reduce leakage although their use will require changes in the handling of sacks throughout the supply chain. Representatives from the Vietnam National Cement Association, Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Associations and other ministries also attended the event.

Nepal: Arghakhanchi Cement has launched Arghakhanchi MP OPC Cement in new waterproof packaging. The cement producer says that the new packaging will protect the cement from moisture and prevent leakage of cement, according the Kathmandu Post. The new bags are also intended to ensure a standard weight for the product. The company plans to increase its production capacity from its plant at Mainahiya, Rupandehi to 60,000 bags/day from the end of 2017.

Austria: Starlinger is targeting its Ad*Star block bottom valve sacks for the Chinese market based on their environmental performance. The packaging manufacturer says that a recent life cycle analysis study compared Ad*Star cement sacks favourable against cement sacks from sewn sacks made of recycled woven polypropylene tape fabric from China and paper sacks from Saudi Arabia. Starlinger also hopes that widespread adoption of its products in China would aid the automation of the entire chain of cement filling and transport processes, further modernising the sector. The company is preparing to exhibit at a Chinese plastic and rubber exhibition in May 2017.