BOPP film manufacturer Treofan is investing around 30 million euro in the construction of a new production line at its largest manufacturing and innovation site, Neunkirchen in the German state of Saarland. The 8.7-meter line has been specially designed for Treofan by Andritz for production of a highly differentiated portfolio of top-quality packaging and label films. It will allow the company to manufacture films with a wide range of thicknesses and densities. Starting from mid-2015, Treofan aims for the plant to produce an annual quantity of around a billion square meters of film. The innovative concept with five-layer extrusion allows the production of films with a great variety of properties and makes it possible to structure films with exact precision. This means special functionalities can be integrated directly into the film, leading to greater sustainability and efficiency for converters and brand owners - for instance, by eliminating the need for certain laminations. The ability to quickly switch between products will boost flexibility in manufacturing. Provisions for a possible extension of the plant and the addition of further process innovations and new products, including outside the food industry, are already built into the design. Neunkirchen was chosen for this investment partly because its central European location allows for rapid continent-wide delivery. Besides quality, reliability and flexibility, the new asset provides a quantum leap in terms of energy-efficiency. Specific energy consumption, measured in kWh per kg of manufactured film, will be at least 20% below the existing local assets.